Oahu's West side

We decided to take a drive around the western side of Oahu. We came down from our room to get breakfast only to find out that breakfast was not included with our room. $180/night and not even a continental breakfast? They had a breakfast buffett but we chose not to pay to eat that much food. We ended up eating at a Zippy's Restaurant.

After we left Zippy's we drove off of Hawaii Highway 1 (there are only 3) onto Farrington Hwy, which is also known as Highway 93. This would lead us around the western edge of the island.  The views along this route are spectacular and mostly free of the congested commercialization that is found in Waikiki.

We drove through several beach areas such as Tracks Beach Park, Nanakuli Beach Park, Ulehawa Beach Park, Maili Beach Park and others.   Some of the beach parks are filled with tents. At first we thought they were campgrounds, but as we got close to them we saw they were all inhabited by homeless people. Or so we thought.

We later found out that most of these tents belonged to squatters, mostly Samoans who just choose not to own a home, or work for that matter. They feel that the islands belong to them so they just live wherever they choose to. The government clears them out a couple times a year, but they just return the next day.  We noticed several had power generators and even satellite dishes.

We drove as far as the road would allow us, it dead ended at a dirt road near a military establishment. The views were incredible as you can tell from the photos. We spent almost 2 hours just enjoying the area. This is the Hawaii we wanted to see, completely undisturbed.