Hawaii’s native son, Barack Obama, left the islands Sunday for the last time as president of the United States.

Air Force One lifted off shortly after 10:30 p.m. from Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, carrying the Obama family toward Washington for the last three weeks of Obama’s presidency.

They have been coming to Oahu with their daughters, Sasha and Malia, for the holidays since December 2008.

Anthony Quintano/Civil Beat

A crowd of about 350 people stood on the tarmac waiting for their arrival. Some had waited up to four hours for a chance to glimpse the president and first lady Michelle Obama.

Cindy Nichols, of Waialae-Kahala, was one of the well-wishers.

She said she had closely followed Obama and his career since becoming friends with his sister in 2006.

“It’s a full circle for me,” Nichols said about an hour before the president’s arrival at the airport. “I saw him sworn in and I’ll see him fly away. I’ll be crying my eyes out.”

Sandy Bowermaster, who lives on the base, brought her son, Colby, a seventh-grader, because she wanted the boy to have a chance to see the president while he was still in office.

“We’re big supporters,” she said.

At last Obama arrived in a lengthy motorcade. Cell phones popped up as people sought to snap their own photos and videos of the first family. The president and first lady walked along the edge of the crowd, shaking hands and accepting thanks for his service.

Then they walked together, hand in hand, to Air Force One, where Adm. Harry Harris Jr. and his wife Bruni gave the official final farewell.

Anthony Quintano/Civil Beat

Earlier, the president made several familiar stops during his final day on Oahu, but he started New Year’s Day with something different by visiting the East-West Center on the campus of the University of Hawaii Manoa.

Obama and his daughters Malia and Sasha with incoming East-West Center President Richard Vuylsteke. They also were joined by the president’s half-sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, a UH faculty member

The center works to promote better relations and understanding among the people and nations of the United States, Asia and the Pacific through cooperative study, research and dialogue.

The next stop was Punchbowl. The president and his daughters visited the grave of his grandfather, Stanley Dunham, at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

After an hour back at their vacation home in Kailua, the first family spent the afternoon on the beach at Bellows Air Force Station.

They completed their Oahu vacation in a familiar way, dining at Buzz’s Original Steak House in nearby Lanikai.