Kailua/Lanikai Kayaking

For a while Joe and I had been talking about kayaking out to the Mokes (the Mokulula Islands off the coast of Lanikai off the windward coast).  The trouble is, you have to get a permit to "land" on the islands and no permits are allowed on Sundays.  With both of us working Monday-Friday, that only leaves Saturdays open to do this and things always seemed to come up to keep us from going.  So, while Kathryn was here, her being the big kayaker she is, we decided to plan it out so we could be sure to go.

We rented ocean kayaks from an ocean rental company very close to Kailua Beach Park.  They gave us little trailors to haul the kayaks to the entry canal.  Kathryn had a single and Joe and I shared a double (I think I would recommend using a single just for the ease of getting in and out).  After hauling our kayaks and putting them in the kanal, we made it to the beach where we had to carry the kayaks to the ocean (at high tide the canal and ocean are connected, though with very shallow water).  

There are 3 islands around the Kailua and Lanikai area (Flat Island and the two Mokulula Islands).  Only one of the mokes has a place where you can land a kayak and flat island has a small beach as well.  The ocean report said that only very experienced kayakers should attempt the mokes that day while Flat Island was safe.  We weren't quite sure what that meant as far as difficulty (there are some real motor morons that rent the kayaks and I can understand them being told to stay in shore), so we figured we'd head out there and see what we saw.

We decided to paddle from Kailua to Lanikai first and eat our lunch we packed on the beach there.  From Lanikai we had a better view of the mokes and were able to eavesdrop a little on some paddlers that had made it out to the mokes.  Their stories told of kayaks being flipped, paddlers being thrown, and general chaos with landing and launching.  We still weren't quite sold, so we decided to paddle out that way and see how the surf was.

About half way between shore and the mokes, the surf did start to get big.  The report said 5-8 ft swells and I would say they were about 5 feet.  They were actually a lot of fun to paddle on since they weren't breaking on top of us.  We stopped about a quarter mile off shore to see how it looked and decided the landing would be just a little too rough.  

From there we headed to Flat Island off of Kailua.  On the way there, both kayaks passed turtles coming up for air from the reefs, which was pretty cool.  When we made it to Flat Island, there was a big group there, but once they left it was nice and quiet.  It's an interesting "island" made up completely of porous rock.  All throughout the rock, vegetation had grown to give it a very lush feel, but made stepping very quickly (it was hard to see where the big holes in the rock were when the plants made everything even-looking).  There were a few pretty tide pools as we made our way around the edge, but we weren't able to make it into the middle since it is a nature preserve.

From Flat Island, it was a pretty quick paddle back into Kailua Beach.  Our whole outing took about 5 hours.  The company we rented from offered half (4 hours) or full day rentals.  We chose the full day since it was only a little bit more and gave us a lot more flexibility.  Overall, a pretty fun little excursion.  I think next time we'll check the surf forecast to make sure we can make it to the mokes safely and get our own kayaks.

Hanauma Bay

*Disclaimer: I have been very blessed and am fortunate to have visited and seen many amazing underwater environments and have interacted with the marine life there.  As such, I am a bit spoiled in what I consider a great snorkeling or scuba location.*

Hanauma Bay is another one of those names that most of us have heard over time from magazines or people that have visited Hawaii.  It's usually a hot spot with tourists and occasionally hard to get into (there are a limited number of parking spots available and once full, they close the road to vehicle traffic).

After finishing at Diamond Head, Kathryn, we continued east to Hanauma Bay.  I think we timed it right going after lunch, because the morning crowd seemed to be leaving and making room in the parking lot.  We stood in line to get our tickets to enter (I think it was $7 or something like that) and then you wait in a line to see a video about Hanauma Bay.  I think it's good to have this because with the amount of traffic the area gets, it would be easy to cause a lot of damage.  They basically say "don't stand on the reef, don't try to catch the sea life, don't be stupid, etc.".  My gripe with the video is that they lead you to believe you're going to see a lot of things (the video shows turtles, eels, octopus, and tons of fish), which increased the let-down for us.

I hate to say it, but we were very disappointed with our overall experience.  It was EXTREMELY crowded (the guy checking our things into a locker said that day was the busiest he had seen it in 4 months), the visibility was poor in the water, there wasn't much to see fish-wise, and it was shallow (that may have been on us, I forgot to check the tide charts).  It was so shallow that we kept banging our knees on the reef and rocks as we were swimming across.  The surf was a little rougher that day, so I'm guessing that had to do with the visibility being stirred up, but once we made our rounds side-to-side, Kathryn and I were both ready to go.

In talking to other people, Hanauma Bay does have it's better days, but it's nothing like it was before the 80s and 90s.  Poor protection of the fish, animals, and reefs has led to a decreased abundance in what used to be the top spot for snorkeling.  With the number of people it draws daily, it does not suprise me that there is little marine life still hanging around.  When they created the visitor center, started charging, and requiring people to watch a video, the idea was to create a better educated tourist and help protect the area, but I think it was too little, too late.

We were told you can also scuba in Hanauma Bay, but I'm hoping they were talking about the area out closer to the ocean because it's so shallow I'm not sure why you would need to in the area we were in.

I'll definitely give Hanauma Bay another shot when we have more visitors that want to check it out, but I will be sure to check the tide charts before we go and try very hard to avoid going on a weekend.

Diamond Head

Diamond Head.  We've all heard of it.  You see any commercial, picture of Honolulu, or anything to do with Hawaii, chances are Diamond Head is in the background.  It is visible from almost all of the south and west shores as an imposing peak above Waikiki Beach and Honolulu town.  With that notoriety comes popularity.  With popularity comes crowds...lots and lots of crowds.

While Kathryn was here, we wanted to do this "hike" to check off her bucketlist.  We got there pretty early (I think like 8:30, which with a 50 minute drive from our house was early for "vacation"), but the small parking lot was already full.  We had to turn around and hike up from a park at the base of the crater.  It ended up not being too bad of a walk, but we were stopped by taxis on the way up and down asking if we wanted a ride to the top.  After passing through a tunnel through the side of the crater, we reached the tollbooth where we paid our small entry fee (I think it was $3 per person) and we were ready to begin.  Did I mention the crowds of people?

There were people congregated EVERYWHERE. Old, young, out of shape, in shape, fast, slow, in dresses, in flip-flops (slippers), in hiking gear...EVERYWHERE (disclaimer: I don't recommend dresses OR slippers on any of the trails. It blows my mind how many people do these hikes the wrong attire).  I knew it was going to be crowded, but I really had no idea (it probably didn't help that we came on a Saturday...).  The trail starts out nice and paved, then drops off onto a narrower, dirt/rock trail.  We were stuck behind a very large group walking 3-wide very slowly, and we were losing our minds.  We were eventually able to weave our way in-and-out of that group and get a move on.  There was a lot of weaving, but we made it to the top in under 30 minutes.  At the end of the trail you walk uphill in a tunnel and you think you're about to pop out at the top, only to find that there is a steep set of stairs, then another spiral staircase to go to get to the top (there was another option of climbing stairs more gradually, but we didn't realize that at the time).

Once we made it to the top, the views west to Honolulu and east to Hawaii Kai were beautiful, but you had to wait your turn to get a spot at the rail to see it and take a picture.  Don't even think about shifting your weight because somebody else is set right there to squeeze their way in.

Despite the crowds, we enjoyed seeing the views of the coast line and on the way back, the views of the crater.  While it was a check off the bucketlist, there are other hikes that provide similar views without the crowds, but it is an easy hike that young and old can accomplish.  I would recommend doing this hike in the morning if you want the best pictures of Honolulu or in the afternoon for your best pictures of Hawaii Kai (just the way the sun reflects and sets on the water). 

After working off those calories, Kathryn and I enjoyed a nice meal at Kona Brewing in the Koko Head Marina, then headed off to Hanauma Bay (that post to follow next). 

Until the next adventure, Aloooha!