hike to Kaena Point

Most people go to Honolulu to see Waikiki. Lovely place. Beach, sand, people-watching, great shopping. Done it. Or done it enough. I mean, come on, if you've seen my blog, you KNOW I am not a sun-worshiper and beach vacations (Maui with the Kayiwas aside) are not what I go in for.

So there I was, last weekend, in Honolulu for a second time this year (yes, bragging a little), and what do Conrad and I do? Get out of town and head for a remote point on Oahu. Kaena Point is the westernmost spot on the island, and on a clear day, apparently, one can see Kauai. Wow.

It was a sunny warm day, but the hike was not uphill. Instead, we walked along a seaside dirt (sometimes mud) road that only the hardiest of vehicles could negotiate, and even then they would have to stop 3/4 of a mile short of the point itself. We later learned that it was almost 3 miles each way, and the road, while not uphill, was far from even. Our legs were not happy at the end of the night.

No matter. At Kaena, the mountains stopped, but the rocks continued off into the water, reaching to the neighbour island. We rested a moment or two,
then investigated the rock pools, hoping for some interesting sights.



I had expected more, frankly - no sea stars or anemones or big octopi to startle us. I just don't know the tidal pool fauna there, though, so maybe my expectations were unreasonable. We did, however, see a lovely angelfish. We think it was an angelfish. It really stood out, and we watched it some minutes.

Also fascinating to watch were the waves. I hope the photos give some sense of their size.




Not 20 feet, we can guess that much, but certainly they were taller than human height. The Point is not a place for surfers, but how cool would it have been to see someone riding those? Very. We did see a number of people surf fishing along the shore as we walked. The waves are almost hypnotic despite their power. Most interesting was seeing, from a distance, the clash of waves from somewhat opposite directions meeting at the point. We saw instances that looked as though one wave curled over the other. Really neat to see.

The Point is mostly sandy above the rocks, roped-off breeding ground for a couple of birds. Immediately above the rock pools, though were some patches of bleached out coral. Something whiter than me, though not by much. Quite a contrast to the darker rock (lava, we would presume).

Not an easy hike, though it seemed it beforehand. A mai tai each at lunch may not have helped either. Still, we were glad to have tackled it and enjoyed a good long afternoon without too many others around.