Lunch in Waianae, Memaid Cave in Nanakuli
Apr. 10th, 2022 06:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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.
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.
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Date: 2022-04-11 11:22 am (UTC)~Sor