Fun and enjoyment is what living in Hawaii is all about. Here’s half a day of fun you won’t quickly forget—bring a camera and you’ll hold fun memories forever.

I’ll admit that this place is a little out of the way. It’s like a Harrison Ford looking for Calista Flockhart’s bra snap…

…It’s there, of course. It just takes awhile to find what you’re looking for. Fortunately, if you’re thinking Calista, you’ll get Dolly. Sea Life Park is that much fun.

The problem is that Sea Life Park is tucked behind a large mountain cliff on the east side of Oahu—far from the madding crowds of Waikiki and Honolulu.

It’s a treasure worth finding.

The place is just plain fun for everyone. Kids. Parents. Grandparents. Lovers. Stray cats. You’ll get a little of what you expect and a whole lot of what’ll surprise you. Sea Life Park bills itself as the place “Where Dreams Come True.”

I thought that was Disney World or Universal Studios. Frankly, I haven’t had too many dreams recently that involved fish, turtles, sting rays, sharks, killer sharks, baby whales, or dolphins. I’ll pass that phrase off as advertising propaganda.

The real fun is real is here.

Ask yourself a few questions:

What’s a “Wholphin?”

How big is a Melon-headed Whale?

What does a dolphin feel like (you’re thinking slimy, right)?

Splash U at Sea Life Park will answer those questions and many more. They let you get up close and personal, if not a little macabre (it feels a little weird feeding a fish to something that looks like a fish).

The dolphins are cool. They glide through the water as effortlessly as The Nanny’s mom goes through the buffet at Sizzler Steakhouse.

The Dolphin Adventure allows a privileged few to hold and touch a dolphin, watch it jump over your head, and dance the hula—naked!! Try that on Waikiki Beach.

There’s also the Hawaiian Ray Encounter. Here you’ll be able to swim with the sharks, so to speak. While the sharks are there (they’re fat and not too sassy) you’ll swim gracefully along with the graceful stingrays—please swim along in the same direction. They’re friendly. Just be careful what you touch. You don’t know where that thing’s been.

There’s more. Just go already.

The dolphin and whale show is worth the price of admission by itself.

More information and some great photos are available at, you guess it—SeaLifeParkHawaii.com.

Want to know the best places to eat in Hawaii? Click over to Ono Dining for totally biased reviews on Hawai's best (and not so best) restaurants.