Oahu, (The Gathering Place), is the third largest of the four major islands, and by far the most populous. A gem among the Islands, some of the most unique and lovely Bed and Breakfast Inns are on Oahu. Home to Waikiki Beach, Hanauma Bay, Pipeline and Waimea Bay - Oahu has myriad gorgeous scenic vistas, combined with a metropolitan array of choices in entertainment and activities.

Honolulu, the capitol of Hawaii since the 1840's, is located on Oahu's south shore. Waikiki, our best-known tourist destination, is at the south edge of Honolulu near Diamond Head crater.

In 1792, a British merchantman stumbled across the entrance to Honolulu harbor and thus ensured that Oahu would eventually become the center of commerce in the islands. The harbor offers the best shelter of any in Hawaii, and room enough for hundreds of ships to lie at anchor.

Oahu was formed by two large volcanos, Ko'olau and Wai'anae, which created the mountain ranges which separate the Windward side (the Ko'olau range) from the rest of the island, and which separate the central plateau (the Wai'anae range) from the Leeward coast. There are two major passes across (actually, through) the Ko'olau range. The Pali highway follows Nu'uanu Valley and crosses over at the site of the final battle in Kamehameha's conquest of Oahu, and the Likelike highway crosses at the apex of the Kalihi Valley.

Windward Oahu is generally wetter than the Leeward side. The Ko'olau range rises high enough to force the warm trade winds up to the cooler, high altitude winds, where the moisture condenses and falls as rain. In consequence, the windward side is green and thick with tropical vegetation.

Oahu's North Shore is another of Hawaii's most recognizable locations, still a largely rural area, with quite a bit of small-scale agriculture and numerous small businesses. The town of Haleiwa hosts some of Oahu's best non-pretentious eateries along with a bunch of surf shops, arts and crafts galleries and tiny stores of all sorts.

Central Oahu, once a heavily forested region, is an elevated plateau nestled into a triangle bordered by the two mountain ranges to the east and west, and Pearl Harbor to the south. In the 1830's and 1840's, much of the land was cleared to make way for sugar plantations and, a bit later, pineapple plantations. Waipahu and Wahiawa (now the home of the U.S. Army's Schofield Barracks) were the major plantation towns. Oahu's first suburb, Mililani, lies between the two towns on the site of former plantation.

The Leeward coast, that stretch of the west shore bounded by the Wai'anae range and the ocean, is less affected by development. Like rural Windward Oahu, the west coast is populated mostly by Hawaiian and other Pacific Islanders. The Ewa Plain, west of Pearl Harbor has been developed in recent years as Kapolei - Oahu's "Second City" in an effort to ease population pressures in Honolulu proper.

Waikiki . . . well, Waikiki is almost as much an alternate universe as Las Vegas or Disneyland. It's a nice place to visit, but you wouldn't want to have to park your car there every day :-O Still... If you are going to stay on Oahu, you MUST see Waikiki Beach - for shopping, activities, Honolulu Zoo, Parks, stage shows, restaurants and cultural exhibits galore!

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