Wahiawa

We lived near Wahiawa at Schofield Barracks for four years. There is nothing in Wahiawa to take pictures of, we used it to get driver’s license, car registration, dry cleaners, WIC checks and to turn in coins at a grocery store. It is a quiet community. There are no beaches near there—a highway runs right over it past Schofield Barracks eventually goes to North Shore. There is a main bridge that goes in Wahiawa there homeless people lived under it until the police come to run them out. I wouldn’t walk in the town alone at night very dangerous—many criminals live in the town. I was followed once by car going to the dry cleaners by car. I hardly went there only if I had to. The places to go outside of Wahiawa and Schofield Barracks that are worth visiting is the zoo in Honolulu, Sea Life Park, Ko Olina 4 lagoons—beautiful beaches/calm water/can snorkel, Pearlridge Mall in Aeia which has Sears, Macy’s, 16 theatre complex as well as a tram that goes in between North and South Pearlridge Mall. Also Circuit City and Toys’r’us is near there. Ala Moana shopping center in downtown Oahu had only seafood restaurants to eat from, great Christmas plays, Disney store and The Sharper Image. Otherwise my husband was bored with this Mall. The Windward Mall had small stores but a better variety of food to eat—my husband was bored there too. Across the street was a huge theatre complex. Our favorite restaurant is the three story aquarium called Oceanarium at the Pacific Beach Hotel in Waikiki. To get a window seating you need to make reservations and buffet is the best in choices of food/seafood/beef/pork/desserts/salad. We easily spent $100 for three adults and one small child. Best Luau we went to was at Paradise Cove in terms of entertainment and Hawaiian activities to do like learning to Hawaiian dance, Hawaiian bowling and making leis. As for best buffet style in Hawaiian food was Germaine’s Luau. We loved the Atlantis submarine ride—we got the tickets at Hilton Hawaiian Village. We also loved the Navatek cruise—food/entertainment okay as well as the Star of Honolulu dinner cruise where we got the tickets at Pier 6 Clock Tower—very romantic, great food and fun with the staff in terms of entertainment/dancing. Polynesian Cultural center was great too—staff too nice due to being mormon run but very educational and asks for audience participation. Buying a house in Oahu—I would not advise—they are very small and very expensive $300,000 when you buy the house that is all you own not the land/property. If you want a spacious house on the beach you need millions of dollars. Jobs there pay little money for rent, often people there are having to work two part time jobs with no benefits. Traffic is horrible from September to May due to school. One can’t get to the airport or to Waikiki once there is an accident on that highway if coming from Wahiawa. ICE is an epidemic there as well as car racing on highway at night—one has to watch one’s back. There are no interconnecting highways between islands, air fare is expensive in between islands and a ferry is being built to go in between at a future date. Majority of people there are very nice and friendly especially at Schofield as well as on boat, restaurants and stores. But on occasion we ran into people who had other intentions. One time my family and I drove to North Shore to see the sunset on a beach and a car followed us. The man in the car parked behind us and thought I was driving alone with my three year old son. He had bad intentions for us and drove away in his car once my husband jumped out of our car to confront him. I would advise females not to drive alone in a car to North Shore. Also at Schofield when my husband was sent overseas—a man came to the door of my house 7:30pm at night he said he was a newspaper reporter which I found out later he wasn’t. He was angry when I didn’t open the door to him and he had bad intentions too. So just be careful there—don’t open doors to strangers. I would say it is a nice place to visit and not to a good place to live. It is too expensive to live there in terms of grocery prices, gas prices and housing prices.