Oahu

You've visited the USS Arizona Memorial, done the Polynesian Cultural Center, explored the Bishop Museum, slurped shave ice at Matsumoto's and plunged into the beach scene at Waikiki. If you're thinking that's all there is on Oahu, think again. You can drink deeply of Oahu by walking some of its more unusual culinary avenues. Saturday morning farmers market, Kapiolani Community College. Chicken curry for breakfast? Why not?

A little bit of culture, a taste of history and perhaps a dash of shopping turns an ordinary Oahu trip into something much different. Here are some choices that will provide a refreshing twist to your time: Sunday morning service at Kawaiahao Church. If you're lucky, as I was, it will be an Alii Sunday, honoring royalty of old. I saw a colorful procession of Alii society members, resplendent in red and gold capes.

The first passenger-vehicle ferry between major Hawaiian islands says it will lay off more than 200 employees after suspending its service. The Hawaii Superferry is ceasing operations because the state Supreme Court rejected a state law allowing the company to operate while an environmental study was conducted. The Superferry, a car and passenger service that linked Oahu and Maui, has been under fire from critics who argued the use of its 350-foot ship could harm whales and damage the area's fragile ecology.

The Pink Palace of the Pacific isn't quite as pink anymore. The signature coral pink facade of the Royal Hawaiian hotel -- as much a part of Waikiki as Diamond Head and beach boys -- hasn't been tinkered with, but a multimillion-dollar renovation has given guest rooms and public spaces a more contemporary take. "Pink on top of pink on top of pink was not the right way to celebrate its history," said Rob Iopa, president of Honolulu-based WCIT Architecture, the project architects.

If you're Hawaii-bound, here's a deal that will have you playing in the surf for mere pennies. The deal: Pleasant Holidays is extending into June its deal for three nights in Oahu, including round-trip airfare from Los Angeles, starting at $299 per person, double occupancy, plus some taxes and fees. (I checked for an April 20 to 23 trip, and those taxes and fees added about $35.) Packages start around $400 for Kauai and Maui, and more than $500 for the Big Island.

A thunderstorm knocked out power throughout the Hawaiian island of Oahu after sunset Friday, forcing President-elect Barack Obama and his family to spend the night at their seaside vacation home in the dark as winds swept in from the ocean. The street lights outside Obama's compound in quiet Kailua started to shut off about 6:30 p.m.

You're on Oahu's North Shore at the Banzai Pipeline, the most famous big wave on the world's most famous big wave surfing coastline. You set up not 50 yards from the wave's rising peak, so close you feel the shivers as its water wall shakes the shoreline. On the bigger waves, the windows in the houses on the beach rattle as you watch lifeguards gun their wave-running machines to extract a downed surfer before the next wave hits and destroys them both.

Aqua resorts is partnering with the Oahu Visitors Bureau for its Travel Pink! Travel Oahu promotion, which means you can luxuriate while supporting the fight for a breast-cancer cure. This travel program is a benefit for the nonprofit organization Susan G. Komen for the Cure. The deal: Book three nights at any of Aqua's six Oahu hotels, and under the Pamper Me Pink package, you'll receive a 50-minute massage and a health-and-wellness bag. The package starts at $136 a night, and part of the proceeds from your stay will be donated to Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

A surge in toxic gas resulting from a new vent that opened on Hawaii's Kilauea volcano is killing crops on the Big Island and enveloping the area in a haze, sparking health concerns. Although residents of this volcanic island are used to toxic gas, the spike in sulfur dioxide from Kilauea has left people wheezing, and schoolchildren are being kept indoors during recess because of the "vog," or volcanic smog that is covering the area. High gas levels led Hawaii Volcanoes National Park to close for several days in April, forcing the evacuation of thousands of visitors.

Far from the bustle of tourist-filled Waikiki, a rare stretch of undeveloped Hawaii beachfront on Oahu's North Shore has long been under dark clouds of economic troubles and fears of irreparable environmental loss. Now, the state is stepping in to offer what Gov. Linda Lingle and others call a "green lining" -- an opportunity to buy and conserve land surrounding the Turtle Bay Resort that might not be available in better financial times. The owner appears open to selling the verdant shoreside land to the state and giving up ambitious plans to build as many as five hotels.