Oahu - Hawaii with Kids - page 132

amount of time, and are surprisingly entertaining. But if you have young kids,
don't plan an all-day tour—it's a bit much for children under 7.
If you'd rather go touring independently, TourTalk-Oahu ( & 877/585-7499;
www.tourtalkhawaii.com) offers a complete package of 2 1 ⁄ 2 -hour narrated com-
pact disks (or cassettes), driving instructions, and a 72-page booklet containing
color maps, photos, site information, and Hawaiian facts, for $25. The self-
guided driving tour not only guides you around the island to see the most pop-
ular sites, it has cultural and historical information as well.
SIGHTSEEING TOURS
E Noa Tours, 1141 Waimanu St., Suite 105, Honolulu ( & 800/824-8804 or
808/591-2561; www.enoa.com), offers a range of tours for everyone in the fam-
ily, from infants to grandparents. Choose anything from island tours to explo-
rations of historic Honolulu. These narrated tours are on air-conditioned,
27-passenger minibuses. The Royal Circle Island tour ($58 for adults, $48
for children 6-11, $42 for children under 6) stops at Diamond Head Crater,
Hanauma Bay, Byodo-In Temple, Sunset Beach, Waimea Valley (admission
included), and various beach sites along the way. Other tours go to Pearl Harbor/
USS Arizona Memorial and the Polynesian Cultural Center.
Waikiki Trolley Tours , 1141 Waimanu St., Suite 105, Honolulu ( & 800/
824-8804 or 808/596-2199; www.waikikitrolley.com), offers three fun tours of
sightseeing, entertainment, dining, and shopping for all ages. These tours are a
great way to get the lay of the land. You can get on and off the trolley as needed
(trolleys come along every 2-20 min.). An all-day pass (8:30am-11:35pm) is
$25 for adults, $18 for seniors, and $12 for children ages 4 to 11; a 4-day pass
is $45 for adults, $27 for seniors, and $18 for children 4 to 11. For the same

Moments

A Bird's-Eye View

To understand why Oahu was the island of kings, you need to see
it from the air. Island Seaplane Service ( & 808/836-6273; www.
islandseaplane.com) operates flights departing from a floating dock in
the protected waters of Keehi Lagoon (parallel to Honolulu Interna-
tional Airport's runway) in either a six-passenger DeHavilland Beaver
or a four-passenger Cessna 206. The kids (only ages 4 and up permit-
ted) will love the feeling of the slap of the waves as the plane skims
across the water and then effortlessly lifts into the air.
Your tour will give you aerial views of Waikiki Beach, Diamond Head
Crater, Kahala's luxury estates, and the sparkling waters of Hanauma
and Kaneohe bays. The half-hour tour ($99) ends here, while the 1-
hour tour ($169) continues on to Chinaman's Hat, the Polynesian Cul-
tural Center, and the rolling surf of the North Shore. The flight returns
across the island, flying over Hawaii's historic wartime sites: Schofield
Barracks and the USS Arizona and Missouri memorials in Pearl Harbor.
Captain Pat Magie, company president and chief pilot, has logged
more than 32,000 hours of flight time without an accident (26,000 hr.
in seaplanes in Alaska, Canada, the Arctic, and the Caribbean). Any day
now, he'll break the world record for seaplane hours.