Hiking to Ka'ena Point

Hawaii April Travelog #4
Ka'ena Point, HI - Sat, 9 Apr, 2022, 12pm

For our first outdoors excursion this trip to the island of Oahu, we chose to hike out to Ka'ena Point. It's on the remote western tip of the island. It fascinated us as we looked at it through the aircraft window on our final approach to the island on our previous visit, in December. It was on our list of places to visit back then— after seeing it from 5,000' up— but it fell behind the various waterfalls we chose to visit. We didn't get to it then, so it was high on our list now. Thus our first hike this trip.



There are two ways to Ka'ena Point: around the west, and around the north. We drove up the island's west coast, through towns like Waianae. The drive at around 9:30am was pleasant. Once we got past the edge of metro Honolulu the highway emptied out and there was little traffic. Especially once we neared the park we almost felt like we had the place to ourselves.

We parked at the road's end. ...Well, the paved road's end. A rough dirt road extended about 1/3 mile further. It was too rough for our rented Ford Mustang convertible, though it would've been a walk in the park (ha!) for our Nissan Xterra 4x4 back in California.



As we started the hike with towering cliffs above us to our right, the best views were actually behind us. Not that the other side wasn't nice, too. Along the coast were plenty of rocky ledges with occasional boulder-strewn cove beaches and tidepools.



In a few places the rocky ledges had arches. Above you can see me standing atop one of them. In the distance behind me is Ka'ena Point.



Ka'ena Point is both the tip of the island and the tip of the triangular mountain looming above it.

Ka'ena is Hawaiian for "The Heat", and let me tell you, that's an accurate name. It was hot on this hike. Though the day's high back in Honolulu was forecast at about 81°, out here it felt like 90+... and that was at 11am. We brought a gallon of water between us for this approximately 5 mile hike and tapped it out just before getting back to the car.

ROBBED!

Hawaii April Travelog #5
Waianae, HI - Sat, 9 Apr, 2022, 1:30pm

When we got back from our hike to Ka'ena Point today we noticed something odd with our rental car. The trunk lid was slightly ajar with the strap to our beach bag hanging out of it. Inside the trunk were fewer things than we'd locked in there when we began the hike. We were robbed!

Signs around the parking area warned of it being a high theft area. Those signs are becoming dime-a-dozen at remote trailheads and beach access points, but we generally do as they advise and store our valuables locked out of site when we leave the car. As we did this time.

The thief made off with an oversized haul from our trunk. On this hike I'd chosen to leave behind an expensive camera lens. At the start of the hike I weighed whether to take it. ...By which I mean literally weighed, as this is "the brick" lens. It alone cost $1,000. With the other bits of gear in the camera bag stolen from the trunk I lost over $1,500 in camera equipment. Plus the thief stole Hawk's hiking daypack. The pack plus the hiking gear in it were about $300.

Altogether the loss of those two bags sets us back about $2,000. Plus now we don't have those bags to hold our not-stolen stuff this trip!

Lunch in Waianae, Memaid Cave in Nanakuli

Hawaii April Travelog #6
Nanakuli, HI - Sat, 9 Apr, 2022, 4pm

After our hike at Ka'ena Point we were hungry from hiking in all the heat. Remember, ka'ena is Hawaiian for "the heat". There were a bunch of restaurant choices a bit further south down the coast in the town Waianae, including a Latin food restaurant, Coquito's, that was rated highly on Yelp. Latin food is comfort food for us, so we didn't need any arm-twisting to go straight there.



The restaurant did throw us a bit of a curve ball when we checked the menu and found that it's actually Cuban. Hundreds of Yelpers seemed not to recognize that "Cuban" is a distinct cuisine from, say, Mexican and they can't be lumped together. But fortunately for us we like Cuban, too. The picture above shows the tripleta sandwich I ordered, with a mixture of pork, chicken, and beef (3 meats = tripleta), and fried plantains as a side. Hawk got a mofongo with grilled vegetables and fried plantains. Drinks-wise, Hawk enjoyed a large and delicious non-alcohol piña colada while I sucked down over a liter of diet Pepsi.

Once fed and cooled down we resumed the drive back toward home in Waikiki, but not without making another stop for outdoors adventure. On the beach in the town of Nanakuli is a place called Mermaid Cave.



Here there's a ledge of rock made of (I think) ancient coral reef. The water has undercut it extensively, revealing a system of caves and tunnels. At low tide people go swimming in here. Many of them enter from near the ocean and swim inland 25 meters, climbing up and out through a narrow cave entrance.



Meanwhile, back near the inlet from the ocean, the cave is wide and deep enough that people can jump in from the ledge above.



While we weren't interested in jumping off ledges or swimming through caves we did spend time on adjacent Nanakuli Beach. The waves are a bit taller here than in Waikiki— I swear I've seen rowdy pool parties with bigger waves than Wakiki— so it was fun to get out in the surf a bit.