WAVE OF NEW DINING SPOTS AND DIVERSIONS AROUND THE ISLANDS.
Don’t text on your cell phone or focus on your digital camera while crossing the street in Honolulu — as of late last year, you’ll be subject to a $35 fine, as well as the vagaries of traffic. Fortunately, there are plenty of new distractions for visitors to Oahu and the other Hawaiian Islands this year. Some highlights:
New activities
The concept of a sunset golf cart tour — ideal for those who want to ogle the scenery without swinging a club — is spreading. On the Big Island, the Mauna Lani’s South Course now offers daily tours for $45 a cart (up to two people). The tour starts with optional refreshments purchases at the clubhouse, then heads to stops at hole No. 7, overlooking Honokaope Bay; No. 13, with a view across lava rock and greens to the ocean; and No. 15, at Iliilinaehehe Bay, where guests can look for the green flash at sunset before returning to the clubhouse.
On Kauai, where such tours began at the Princeville Makai Golf Club a few years back, there’s now a second route at Poipu Bay Golf Course. Its sunset tours ($50 per cart), which take place Sunday and Wednesday, feature views of Haupu Mountain and Kawailoa Bay, known for Hawaiian monk seals and green sea turtles. www. poipubaygolf.com/events
On Kauai’s North Shore, Anaina Hou Community Park — created by a co-founder of E-Trade — recently renovated its Kauai-themed mini golf course and botanical gardens, and added a covered dining room and locally inspired gift shop. It’s free to hike the 4.5-mile Wai Koa loop trail through forest and a mahogany orchard to the picnic area and swimming hole at a plantation-era stone dam. www.anainanhou.org
On Maui, take a closer look at marine life with Maui Reef Adventures, which runs the only raft tours from Maalaea Harbor. Its 20- and 30-passenger high-speed craft head to Molokini and Olowalu’s “Coral Gardens” on four-hour morning snorkel tours ($110), with two-hour afternoon whale-watching tours ($50) available December through March. www. mauireefadventures.com
More than a million people hiked up Diamond Head last year; this year’s trekkers can take an audio guide with them and receive a certificate to document their experience. Check in at the visitor center at Diamond Head State Monument between 7 a.m. and 2 p.m. to receive headsets for the self-guided narrated tour and a souvenir map ($4, plus optional disposable ear buds for $1.50). During the 1.6-mile round-trip hike to the summit, the narrator shares some of the history, legends, ecology and geology of the crater known to Hawaiians as Le ’ahi, or “brow of the tuna.” A certificate saying “I Hiked Diamond Head” awaits on the return.
New dining
Just east of Diamond Head, let Kapi’olani Community College culinary students prepare and serve one of Oahu’s best fine dining values for you: a locally sourced meal at Ka Ikena, the campus’ dining room. Recently relocated from Waikiki Parc Hotel, where it was known as Leahi Concept Kitchen, the restaurant offers a three-course prix fixe menu for $40-$49, with entree options such as seafood laksa curry and filet of beef with port shallot butter crust. In lieu of tips, patrons may donate to college programs; there’s a small corkage fee for bring-your-own beer or wine. Dinner service runs Tuesday-Sunday, with lunch beginning March 20. http://culinary.kapiolani.hawaii.edu/ kaikena-lauae/
Taste the Stars, a new dining experience at Maui’s Pulehu, an Italian Grill, features a five-course prix fixe menu with wine pairings for $120. Seatings are at sunset, Thursday through Monday, in an outdoor dining area; dishes include caprese with local tomatoes and fresh burrata and porcini-dusted rib eye with Maui vegetable and mushroom risotto. www.westinkaanapali.com/pulehu
On the Big Island, Umekes now provides chef Nakoa Pabre’s fresh poke bowls and other local favorites at a counter service location in Waimea, as well as at the original Kailua-Kona to-go and sit-down restaurants; www.umekespoke808.com. The lunch and dinner menu at the new Hiro’s Ohana Grill in Hotel Molokai ranges from saimin to steak — make sure to save room for banana lumpia Fosters. www.facebook.com/ hirosohanagrillllc
It’s becoming easier to eat your leafy greens on the Garden Island. The
Greenery Cafe in Lihue, open 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays, prepares soul food made with organic chicken and local produce; www.thegreenerycafe. com. OurPlace Kauai hosts glutenfree, organic vegan dinner parties at 6:30 p.m. Thursday-Monday in a restored plantation cottage in Kapaa; www.eatatourplace.com. The newest outlet, Eat Healthy Cafe, serves acai bowls, smoothies and vegetarian entrees such as charmoula-spiced tofu from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday-Monday in Wailua; www.eathealthykauai.com