Oahu- Revenge travel style

Revenge travel: I'm not sure if this is actually a new term or whether I have just added to the lexicon of my circle of friends.
My definition, for those who have never heard of the term before, is the travel you take in response to when your partner travels to some locale that you want to travel, without you. For example, earlier in the year Ben and I were thinking of flying to India to attend a friend's wedding. When we had finally decided that we were going to actually go, Ben put the kibosh on the trip. Mainly due to the fact that he couldn't take that much time off (traveling to India requires a significant portion of time to just get there and back regardless of the amount of time you actually spend in country), but it was also stated that he was tired of traveling  for the moment. While disappointed, I could understand, we did do a lot in 2012.
The term revenge travel came about a couple weeks later when Ben announced that he would be going to Puerto Rico for an extra long weekend for a bachelor party. Now it might be said (and trust me it has been said, mostly from our male friends) that this was a bachelor party and therefore does not count as travel and should not be subjected to revenge travel scrutiny. To this I say bulls**t. Regardless of the reason, my husband is getting/choosing to travel to a place that neither of us have been before and both of us wanted to go. We are a couple that like to travel together and enjoy that time together. Yes if we someday go to Puerto Rico together it is going to be a different trip than the bachelor party but still, it's really the principal of the thing.
Regardless, my idea for revenge travel took hold and planning began. One of my best friends and I were going to travel somewhere at some point this year and Ben could stay home with the lovable pup. After months of discussion we finally decided on a week in Oahu in Sept.
The timing was perfect for me, I ended up being in that wonderful period of unemployment where my last job had ended but my next job was already lined up and I could just enjoy my vacation.
Basically our plan was to relax, hit the beach, snorkel, hike, eat lots of fresh fish, and hit the beach some more. I think we were pretty successful, given that we didn't make it to the beach only 1 day out of our whole week.

Now that's the way to start a vacation!

We managed to drive to all of the various parts of the island throughout the week including to some of the more remote areas that even most locals don't always get to.

Lanikai Beach

 Lanikai is pretty popular but was a great way to start the vacation. We got to spend the day lounging around with another friend and her chill baby (he's Hawaiian born so I think that's a requirement).

Yokohama Beach

 Yokohama is at the end of the road (literally). And yes it was that deserted. There were maybe a handful of other people here even though it's only an hour outside of the Honolulu. The waves and current were pretty strong so we didn't swim but it was so nice to enjoy the view without the crowds of people!

Sunset Beach

The North Shore was great even if it wasn't the season for monster waves...

Haunama Bay

Haunama Bay was the main place where we snorkeled one morning. It's a marine reserve that you hike down into. You have to pay but it's worth it if you can get there early and beat the crowds. We arrived during low tide so it was a little difficult to not touch the coral that was so close to the surface. But we saw tons of fish, even if we had some gear malfunctioning (ie, leaking snorkel, foggy masks, etc). Of note this was the only day that either of us got burned. There's something about laying on the beach that only feels like 15 minutes but is actually closer to 90. Maybe someone should look into that for some weird time space continuum?

We hiked up Diamond Head one day...

Min enjoying the view

...and friends took up up the Manoa Valley ridge line another.

And of course we had to find a waterfall to swim in!

Waimea Falls

We also headed out to Pearl Harbor one morning. In addition we made sure we hit up some ocean side dining and had many cocktails with umbrellas!

Last day!

All in all we had a pretty successful revenge travel. That being said, hopefully I won't have to plan another one for a while!