Kaena Point Nature Reserve

A weather-worn sign by the entrance to the nature reserve.

I don't know why it took so long for me to plan a trip out to this place.  I was scared away by the Yelp reviews noting how there is no shade (there isn't) and how it's a long, boring walk to the reserve (kinda is).  Nonetheless, we decided to chance it when the College Kid was here for a visit over spring break.  It was a nice, breezy day.  Those of us who wore sunburn and are used to the Hawaii sun didn't get burned.  College Kid, with a vampire-like complexion after a long winter near the Canadian border in Washington state, did get a little sunburn in spite of sunblock.

The good news was that the steady breeze kept us from overheating as we worked our way over the quite rugged roads from the Waialua/North Shore side.

The trail wasn't difficult to find, even though one of the two highways to the North Shore was closed down for repairs.  This detour took a bit of extra time, but it wasn't too bad.  Eventually we got to the trailhead, where the wind was whipping everything around and the waves were crashing.  We started walking along the 4WD only road (I would even hesitate to take a 4WD car on this "road", it was in such bad shape).  There are many roadways off of the main road leading to the shore, where we saw several fishermen trying their luck.  The ground is barren, rocky, and volcanic looking.  There were a few tidepools, but no fish swimming in the ones we saw.  There were some crabs hunting around the tidepools, though.

The 4WD road is a lot bumpier than it looks here.

A long, boring, but mostly flat (elevation-gain-wise) trail.

Miles of crashing shoreline.

And the vegetation along the trail. 

Having concluded that there really was not a ton of stuff to look at along the shoreline, we mostly just slogged on towards the reserve.  It took a while to get there, including several "Are we there yet?" conversations, followed by games of "I'm thinking of an animal..." and all the other various iterations of the How To Keep Young Kids Happy on a Boring Hike game.

Once there, we entered through the gate (brushing off our shoes on the little shoe-brusher-offer devices meant to keep us from tracking in dangerous stuff...  Nevermind the wind would surely blow in far more than could be carried by shoes...).  The ground was covered in sand here, and there were lots of signs describing the birds that were nesting around.  We saw the seabirds gliding, landing every now and then by a group of nesting seabirds.  They were well off the path, and being Obedient Stewards of Nature, we didn't approach or try to see eggs.  I trust they were sitting there, though, nesting on their eggs.  Well protected.

Inside the reserve, the path is all sand.

Nesting birds.

Nesting Birds keeping an eye out for food (and predators maybe).

We kept on walking through the reserve, until reaching the end of Kaena Point.  At the Point, I could see down the Waianae coast (on the Leeward side of the island).  You can walk to the Nature Preserve from the Waianae side as well, but it doesn't look like a much nicer walk in.  For us, it's not worth the extra drive time, although I do like driving up the Waianae coast.

At Kaena Point, with Waianae coast in the background.

The Waianae coast, and the dirt trail from the Waianae side to Kaena Point.

Kaena Point is pretty rocky, and is definitely not a swimming beach.  The waves were really crashing, but there were little pools of calmer water here and there in between rocky shorebreaks.

There were a couple of monk seals playing in one of these calm pools.  While I was watching these seals play, some marine biologists arrived and asked us all to stand back as they vaccinated a monk seal that was sunnning on the rocks.  She crept up to him, and jabbed him with a needle attached to the end of the pole.  He didn't seem to like it, but I don't think that seals can move that quickly on the rocks.  He just sort of yelled at her, and then kept a look out for future indignities.  We were told that we were very lucky to witness this event-- apparently this is a pilot program to test the efficacy of vaccinating monk seals in the wild.  Your Tax Dollars At Work...

There is a seal sticking its head just out of the water in this pool-- see it?

Watch out Monk Seal!

"OUCH!"

If he could move quickly over the rocks, he would...

Keeping an eye out now...  Note the LARGE monk seal behind him resting across the rocks.  Looks like a sheet of metal.  

Anyway, it was very cool to see these endangered animals in the wild.  After that, we hiked back along the trail (it seemed much farther on the way back), enjoying a riveting game of "Let's Make a Story" after a few rounds of "Are We There Yet?"

View along the North Shore of Oahu.

By this point, traffic in the North Shore was particularly gnarly, seeing as there was a relatively high surf, a road closure, and some utility line work.  We went to eat pie and plate lunch at Ted's Bakery, then fought the traffic again to work our way back home.  All in all, a fun outing and I was so glad to have seen the seabirds and monk seals.  Next time maybe I'll try this hike in January so as to try to spot some whales off the coast, as I have heard that mid-March is a bit too late to see whales.

Househunting is not the most exciting thing to do...

Gorgeous!!  Ko'olau Mountain Range in Windward Oahu.

But, we spent a lot of time doing it.  I don't count that as an adventure, but I guess it was.  Hunting sounds adventuresome, and looking at all sorts of houses was perhaps dangerous.  The heat in Ewa maybe could've caused a medical episode...  But, alas, we survived...

In between house hunting and sessions signing documents with Realtors, Mac went to work a lot, and the kids and I went to the beach a lot.

The beach by the Hale Koa is nice.  It's a big beach, and the sand is a bit rocky, but you only have to swim out about 50 yards or so to be able to see fish.  There is a reef near the shore, and lots of fish hang out there.  These aren't the biggest and most beautiful, but they are pretty cool nonetheless.  And, we've seen sea turtles swimming around there too.  That's definitely an "adventure".

After a long week of house hunting and beach going, we decided to do a touristy thing.  I looked up fun things to do as a family on Oahu, and I came across the Tropical Farms.  The website talked about a tour of the macadamia nut farms, including a boat ride and a demonstration on how to make fire, so I was definitely intrigued.  Nuts, boats, fire...

Anyway, it was a little bit of a drive to the Tropical Farms, but a lovely drive.  We crossed the mountains to find ourselves in the more gorgeous side of the island: the windward side, where it rains often, which produces the lush, tropical landscape one often sees in jungle movies.

After a bit of stop and go, we arrived at what looked like a simple tourist trap, and maybe just a store where they sell macadamia nuts.  The store offered free coffee samples, and even free milk (which is definitely not free!!  Someone pays!).  There were also samples of dozens of varieties of roasted macadamias.  It's so nice to be in the land of macadamias-  no worries about peanuts here!  Steven can eat the macadamias to his heart's content...

The back side of the store.  What a beautiful setting!

 Behind the store, there was a little area where they advertised for a tour.  Luckily for us, the tour was set to start fifteen minutes from when we arrived.  Since the tour was held every 2 hours, this was great luck.

Mac and Josie... Teamwork.  Notice the rooster looking for
flyaway pieces of Macadamia nut...

While waiting for the tour to start, we ventured outside to an area filled with chickens, roosters, and tourists.  We also saw several tree stumps with large rocks on top.  These were used to crack open macadamia nuts the old-fashioned way.   The tops of the tree stumps had little divots in them to hold the nut while you smash it with the rock, trying hard not to smash your fingers in the process.  Once you open a nut, you could eat it, or just throw it to the chickens and roosters.  Only a few fingers were smashed, but all in all the kids found it a rewarding experience.

Luke carried his own rock with him, lest someone else (Josie) tried to use it... 

Just before she smashed her fingers...

One of many, many roosters.

Steven mostly just fed the chickens.

Here we go.

After smashing macadamias, we took the tour.  The tour bus drove through some gardens, and then stopped at a stage where the tour guide did a presentation on making fire, fire dancing, husking a coconut, and opening a coconut.  And then he let us all eat fresh coconut straight from the coconut.  Delicious!  He also showed us how to use the "lipstick flower" as lipstick.  Josie particularly liked this idea, and covered herself, Mac, and me with the red paste that came from squishing the seeds of the flower.  The tour guide told us it washes off with water, but he neglected to mention that it does leave behind a stain on clothes...  At the end of the show, the guide's helpers made little crowns for everyone out of the very common leaves found all around the island.  I can't remember the name of the leaf though.  It's so common as to be forgettable apparently.

On the tour bus.

The crushed "lipstick" seeds didn't permanently stain her hands,
but her dress?  Not so lucky.

Should've known these seeds would be trouble...

Fresh coconut!  Delicious!

This is what the crown for girls looks like.
The flower is on the right side of Josie's head, to signify that she's single. 

So, we were crowned, and then herded back on the bus for the short ride to the boat launch.  At this point we were in jungle territory, where many Hollywood movies and TV shows are filmed.  Beautiful scenery.  The kids got some nasty bug bites to prove that we were indeed in the jungle, and not just at Universal Studios.

Apparently this little hut is used in several Hollywood films.  

At the boat launch, we all took a short little ride out onto the "fish pond" that King Kamehameha had ordered his warriors to build over eight hundred years earlier.  The pond fills with ocean water at high tide.  The water gets trapped inside, and so fish come in but can't go out.  It really worked quite well.  I'm not sure if anyone fishes there now, but the guide did mention that they had found two foot long barracudas in there...  If people aren't fishing the fish, then the barracudas are.

Here we are on the boat with the "warrior".

After the boat ride, we drove by several varieties of fruit trees, and a couple of macadamia nut trees.  I guess most of the nuts are farmed in different parts of the jungle...  Or maybe different parts of the farm.  Who knows...

We did get to see some huge bananas growing on the trees.  We learned that a banana tree will have one crop only and then will die.  The roots from the one banana tree will spread, however, so that rather than just one or two bunches of bananas, each "tree" will produce dozens of bunches, or even more.

Green bananas right in the middle.  There were several bunches off of this one "tree".

At the end of the tour, they let us take as many of these large bananas as we wanted.  The bananas were called "apple bananas".  I don't know why they were called that.  They were very yummy-- but we only took about 2 per person.  Limiting ourselves to 12 bananas...  That's being considerate right?

Giant delicious fresh bananas:  "Yes, please!"

We were filled up on free coffee, macadamia nut samples, and huge bananas.  Even then, it was time for a late lunch or an early dinner.  We drove up the coast on towards the North Shore.  I was looking for the Famed Shrimp Trucks of Kuhuku.  And, we found them.  We stopped at the first biggie (Giovanni's), which was the most crowded.  The shrimp was great, but the hot and spicy was SUPER hot and spicy.  It was almost too hot and spicy.  It's worth it for me, though, as I have learned that ordering hot and spicy things may be my only shot at getting any of the food.  The kids stay away from hot and spicy, in general...

We had some BBQ'd corn along with the shrimp.  Yum...

After shrimp, we were tired.  Enough adventure for one day.

In summary:

Tropical Farms of Hawaii:  Fun tourist trap.  The tour wasn't too expensive, and was definitely entertaining.  There wasn't a ton of new information to be learned, but the ambiance and the beauty of the jungle makes it worth the time.  If you have been to a Luau on the island, prepare for some of the same jokes, stories, and demonstrations.  I suspect that the "hosts" of the luaus do tours like this during the daytime.

Giovanni's shrimp truck:  Kids liked the Garlic Shrimp Scampi, but I liked the plain lemon and butter shrimp.  The hot and spicy was a little too hot and spicy.  The shrimp maybe wasn't as awe-inspiring as it could've been, not tasting super fresh beyond what you might get from a regular restaurant.

Uncle Woody's corn:  Nice touch to have corn as an option.  It was fine, but not something I'd drive to the North Shore for.  The "island" seasoning was the best in my opinion.  

August 10, 2014

The kids and I arrived in Paradise after a 6 hour flight.  We were tired, apprehensive, cautious, and hot.  The pressing issues upon arrival were to transport our bags to the hotel, to set up the hotel rooms  for the next 30 days, and to get some basic groceries.

On the airplane...

She got the window seat the first half. 

On the balcony outside our room at the Hale Koa.  This is the place
we will call home for the next 30 days. 

The view from the Hale Koa beach.  Paradise...

Experience number 1:  

All our bags and persons do not fit into a standard-sized car rental.  A 4-door Elantra holds some people, but only a few bags.  The wonderful invention of "van taxi" came in very handy!  Steven and I (Peggy) were able to fit the bulk of the stuff in the Van Taxi...  Saving us hours of driving back and forth from hotel to airport with the Elantra.  

Experience number 2:

Shopping at the commissary, supposedly one of The Best Deals In Town...  Wow.  No water to be found on the shelves.  The threat of a two hurricanes (Iselle and Julio) hitting the islands in quick succession depleted the island's water supplies.  The shelves didn't start to get stocked until WEEKS after the storms that never happened...  

But the BIG commissary shocker:  the price of milk.  Wow!  The "cheap" brand was $5.89 for a gallon.  The "expensive" brand of (non-organic) milk started at $8.50 per gallon.  *Gulp*

Experience number 3:

Time zone!  Pacific Standard Time is 3 hours later than Hawaii time.  So, by 8 pm the kids (and I) were completely exhausted.  

The first day in Paradise flew by with a bunch of logistical tasks.  Nothing exciting, but all necessary to lay the groundwork for years of adventures and wild times on the Islands of Hawaii!