Wedding Adventure - Day 10 - Hawaii

Our last full day in Hawaii started off with a trip to the spa at Turtle Bay. This was quite an adventure for me as I’d never been to a spa before. After getting changed into robes we were escorted out to a little thatch-roof hut right beside the ocean for a very relaxing couples massage. The sound of the waves crashing ashore made it that much more enjoyable. After the massage we both had traditional pineapple pedicures. The process involved numerous steps, including soaking in warm coconut milk and scrubbing our feet and legs with red Hawaiian sea salt, (that part didn’t feel too good on my gashed up toes from surfing). They then poured honey over our feet and legs. This was followed by lots of crushed pineapple. Next they wrapped our legs up in Ti leaves and hot towels and let us sit for a good ten minutes sipping cucumber water. Cucumber water tastes awful but we just had the most relaxing massage ever so we didn’t care. After unwrapping our legs and feet and sealing everything with aloe, they massaged our feet and hands. After all that pampering we practically floated out of the spa.

During the afternoon we went to the Dole Plantation, the home of Dole Pineapple in Hawaii. I learned a few things here. The first was that pineapples are not native to Hawaii. They are actually native to Brazil and South America and we brought to Hawaii in the 1700s when a Spanish ship happened to wreck on the island. The second was that pineapples don’t grow from tress but instead grow on little spikey plants that look the top of a pineapple. Each plant produces three pineapples. Two are eaten/sold while the third is used for replanting.

There are many things to do at the Dole Plantation. We figured that the pineapple maze would be a bit muddy but we did ride the little train through the pineapple fields known as the Pineapple Express. We happened to catch the train boarding at 4:20. Yes, we rode the 4:20 Pineapple Express. We’ll never be the same.

The plantation has a huge souvenir shop and snack bar serving soft serve pineapple ice cream. It’s really tasty and makes a good float when combined with Sprite.

After the sunset on us at Dole, we headed back to Haleiwa. Tried of the hotel offerings, we wanted to eat at a local place in town. With the surf contest nearby at Sunset Beach, most of the seafood places were crowded and Amy had pretty much had her fill of fish (insert Futurama penguin joke), so we wound up at Pizza Bob’s. Pizza Bobs actually dated to the 1970s and was the fist pizza place on the North Shore, serving generations of hungry surfers since. Our pizza and cheese sticks were very good and Amy recommends the Longboard beer to anybody going to Hawaii (little did we know you can also get it at Kroger at home). It was fun and different, and a little less expensive than everything at the hotel.