April 13, 2025

Good morning, everyone!

The long-awaited third and final installment of the Hawaii newsletter series is here.

Where to Eat & Drink on O’ahu

Marukame Udon Waikiki — Thanks to Hawaii’s geographic proximity to Japan (and the Japanese chefs inside), this is as close to an authentic udon experience as you’ll get outside of Tokyo. The line out front looks intimidating but moves fast. Just don’t show up starving.

Duke’s Waikiki — Named after the island’s honorary ambassador, legendary surfer Duke Kahanamoku. It’s touristy, I won’t lie. But skip the dinner and come for a pre-sunset cocktail on the sand. The live music is genuinely excellent.

Hula Grill Waikiki — One floor above Duke’s, slightly more upscale, slightly pricier. Worth one evening. Make a reservation. There’s a jazz club on the same floor you can drift into afterward.

Maguro Spot — Our absolute favorite. Breakfast, lunch, dinner — every meal, every time we were hungry, this was the move. Every fish is absurdly fresh, every bowl is absurdly good. My number one.

Pig and The Lady — Hidden in Chinatown, this Vietnamese kitchen does street food for lunch and fusion for dinner. One of my top spots on the entire island. Go.

Shrimp Shack — Extremely famous. I personally didn’t love it (I’m not into unpeeled shrimp), but it’s iconic enough that you should know about it.

Where to Swim

Every beach in Hawaii is public. Yes, even the one in front of the most expensive resort on the island. No hotel staff will give you a dirty look. Every sea, every gorgeous stretch of sand is open to everyone.

My Personal Favorites:

Waikiki Beach — Always packed, so come early morning. Also lovely for sunset cocktails at nearby spots like Duke’s.

Lanikai Beach — Consistently ranked among the most beautiful beaches in the world, and for good reason. But its fame means it’s crowded. Come at dawn. Download a wind-tracking app; the waves here can get wild, but when the conditions are right, the white sand and ice-blue water are otherworldly. (Neighboring Kailua Beach is also great if you can’t find parking.)

Pro tip: Windy (windy.com) is a great real-time wind app. Surfline has live camera feeds of popular O’ahu beaches — check conditions before you commit.

Laniakea Beach — Where I saw the biggest sea turtles of my life, chilling among jet-black cooled lava rocks. Genuinely Avatar-scale.

Shark’s Cove — Don’t let the name scare you; the water is shallow and shark encounters are rare. What you will find: dozens of species of tiny, brilliantly colored endemic fish nesting in the reef. The water’s barely knee-deep in spots, but once you dip below the surface, it’s a fashion show of electric yellow, fire red, and royal blue fish dressed by Earth’s most talented designer. Come early — at the wrong time, the underwater scene is as crowded as Times Square. (Side note: your brutal jet lag is actually your superpower. Use those first 5–6 days of waking at dawn to hit all these beaches before the crowds.)

Ko Olina Lagoons — Four man-made lagoons in a row. When the island is getting slammed with wind from every direction, this is your safe haven: zero waves, totally calm water. Surrounded by big resorts, so non-hotel visitors are rare, meaning it’s blissfully uncrowded. Our go-to spot for sunset-watching, moonrise, stargazing.

Hanauma Bay — The living coral reef spot, also where the Hawaiian Royal Family had their summer home. The water is breathtaking. But they limit how many people can enter to protect the reefs, so buy tickets well in advance. In peak season, they sell out fast.

Waimanalo Beach — This isn’t a swimming beach — the waves are intense. But the shore itself is so peaceful that you can spend an entire day under the palms doing absolutely nothing, not even reading, just staring at the sky and feeling reborn.

For actual diving (wrecks + sharks): Reef Pirates and Aloha Scuba Diving are both solid. We dove with both.

What to See & Do

HOMA (Honolulu Museum of Art) — Genuinely surprised me with its quality. Beautiful curation, beautiful building. Hours disappeared. The cafe and museum store are also excellent. Dedicate a full day.

Shangri La — Doris Duke’s extraordinary Hawaiian estate. Open only certain days, certain months. You can’t drive yourself; HOMA’s vehicles take you. Worth every ounce of its notorious difficulty-of-access. I fell in love the moment I saw it. (You’ll remember the model we dedicated to Doris and her vision.)

Byodo-In Temple — A 1968 full-scale replica of Kyoto’s 950-year-old Bydodo-in Temple, built to commemorate 100 years of Japanese immigration to Hawaii. Inside: a massive Amida Buddha statue, a lotus pond with koi, hundreds of birds, outdoor meditation areas, and a traditional Bon-shō bell you can actually ring. The drive up winds through multi-faith cemeteries — the energy is extraordinary. Go early.

Royal Hawaiian Center — The premium open-air mall. Shopping under palm trees with LV, Hermès, and Bottega stores beautifully adapted to the tropical setting. Evening hula shows — sounds cheesy, I know, but these 15-minute performances are genuinely wonderful.

Royal Hawaiian Hotel — Right behind the mall, one of the island’s most iconic and historic hotels (opened 1927, served as US Navy HQ during WWII). Known as the Pink Palace of the Pacific. Moorish arches, Spanish stucco, Art Deco + Hawaiiana interiors, all open-air lobbies and hibiscus-scented breezes. You absolutely do not need to stay here — just visit, grab a cold Hawaiian coffee at the cafe, browse the excellent gift shops. And find the tiny Panama hat shop in the shared garden with a magnificent banyan tree. The owner Jim will give you a mini masterclass in how to choose and wear a real Panama hat. Incredible man.

Chinatown — Take me to any American city and the first thing I want to see is its Chinatown. Hawaii’s is one of the best I’ve ever encountered, thanks to centuries of Chinese immigration. Layer after layer of history buried in the right alleys and stairwells. Incredible florists, exquisite Chinese and Asian restaurants, jewelry, textiles, bookstores, record shops, vintage stores — and the dawn flower, fish, and produce auctions are the most non-touristy thing on the island. I’ve been dozens of times and I’m still not done. Cindy’s Lei & Flower Shop is my favorite lei maker here. Get a ginger flower lei — putting those ice-cold flowers around your neck in that heat is transcendent, and the scent is divine.

Waimea Valley — Sacred to the native Hawaiian people, used for centuries by kahuna (priests) and ali’i (royalty) for ceremonies. A gentle 40–45 minute walk through a botanical garden with 5,000+ tropical plant species and endangered endemic birds following you along. Ancient heiau (temples) and stone structures dot the path. Don’t miss the hibiscus collection — centuries of cross-breeding have produced spectacular color variations. (Fun fact: hibiscus is Hawaii’s state flower, blooms for exactly 24 hours, and locals traditionally wore it behind the right ear to signal “single” or the left for “taken” — like a wedding ring, even the direction matches.) Bring your swimsuit: there’s a small waterfall at the end that you can swim in. After the walk, it’s heaven. Filming location for Jurassic Park, Lost, and Jumanji.

Bishop Museum — The most moving museum on the island for me. Founded in 1889 to preserve the legacy of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, the last descendant of the Kamehameha dynasty. 2.4 million artifacts. The Hawaiian lunar calendar, traditional basket-weaving, royal heirlooms, ceremonial weapons, canoe-building techniques, and interactive exhibits on Hawaiian mythology. Plus a sweeping Pacific Islands wing covering Tahiti, Samoa, Tonga, and beyond. Absolutely go.

Packing & Practical Notes

Go with as empty a suitcase as possible. Beach gear is cheap and everywhere on the island. If you rent a house, your host usually lets you use their beach chairs, umbrellas, and coolers.

SPF 50, head to toe, all day every day. You’re close to the equator. The dangerous thing about Hawaii is that the trade winds keep the air feeling mild — it’s never above 30°C — so you don’t feel the sun burning you. But the UV index hits 10–11 during the day. Don’t underestimate it just because you never needed sunscreen that much in Turkey or Greece. Consider full-body UV-protective swimwear like Korean and Singaporean beachgoers wear.

Make sure your sunscreen says “reef-friendly.” Thousands of people slathering on chemical sunscreen and jumping into the ocean is devastating to the living coral reefs.

Rent a Car

Definitely rent a car. The island is enormous; getting from one spot to another can take 2–3 hours. Uber also works. Try Turo or the airport rental agencies. Most international licenses work for 30 days. Don’t forget insurance tho!

A Note on Lei Culture

Hawaii’s lei tradition traveled with the first Polynesian settlers and has been woven into every ceremony since — from births to funerals. Each flower, each color, each weaving technique carries a message: ginger for courage, plumeria for grace, orchid for love. It’s a language spoken entirely in flowers.

Which brings me to our Hawaii collection. Every model in this collection pays homage to the island’s history, and every name comes from the Hawaiian language. Pikakae and Pikakae Mini (moonstone and real pearls on red silk) are named after the white ginger flower lei. Pō (labradorite, blue-green shimmer like a Hawaiian night ocean) means “night” in Hawaiian. Banyan (green aventurine quartz) honors those magnificent trees you could sit under all day. Hibiscus (dual-colored jade, pink and red) takes its name from the state flower. Oahu (ocean-blue) and Maui (forest-green) represent their namesake islands. And Iwi — our first real bone model, hand-shaped and painted with ethnic patterns — takes its name from the Hawaiian word for “bone,” referencing the deep spiritual concept of iwi kūpuna (ancestral bones) that connects past and future.

And once again, I set out to write a short email and wrote a novel instead.

If I’ve injected enough Hawaii into all our veins, my mission is complete.

Aloha!