So my sister, her friend Ed and my cousin Amber came to visit last week, and like I said it was pretty action packed. Being here for many weeks, I served as a tour guide / activity organizer. Day one, on our way to Kailua Beach, taking the Kamehamea Highway up the windward coast, we stopped at Makapuu point, where there is an easy hike up to the hill to a cliffside overlooking the east. However there was also what seemed to be a trail leading up the backface of the hill, on the side of the ocean. I saw some people climbing up that way last time, so I figured lets go this way for a lil challenge and to hopefully see nicer views as well. The trail turned out to be quite the difficult cllimb through rocks and brush, sometimes redcued to a tiny strip wrapping around the side of the mountain with blustering winds and the surf pounding on the rocks below--quite scary I gotta say. But we had gone too far, and there was no turning back. Each time we reached a new portion, I felt it was less and less travelled, and wondered if this was still a real trail anymore! It was tricky at times, but we made it to the lighthouse and lookout point where the normal trail merges. The view was amazing! I think it is the eastern-most tip of the island of Oahu as well. Along the mountain side were many old bunkers and lookout points used during WWII to watch for an attack by the Japanense. You could also see many humpback whales in the distant water, since they come to mate during the winter season in Hawaii. We saw a whole bunch of them, bllowholes, tails, and even leaping all the way out of the water. Quite an amazing site! We decided to take the easy trail down with all the tourists, a nice paved road back to the mountain road. We scoffed at the simplicity of the descent. We just scaled a mountain, we can handle it all.
In the afternoon we made it to Kailua Beach. Here the plan was to rent a couple of sea kayaks, and head out to sea. My intention was to kayak out to one of the two little islands that sit off the coast of Lanikai beach, which is the private beach just next to Kailua. Sure they looked far, but nothing we can't handle right? Amber and I got in one kayak, Noreen and Ed in the other. It took a while to get the hang of the synchronous rowing required to navigate the ocean water, but it wasn't too bad, just crazy tiring! So we head out to the east, seeing the 2 little islands in the distance (see the picture from Lanikai beach). Maybe 25 min later, we were at the start of Lanikai beach, but those isalnds still looked hella far away! I was tired as hell, and the girls were ready to give up. So we went to Lanikai beach to rest and relax. We had some sandwhiches and drinks, and got in some beach time. The girls had about given up, but I was determined to reach our goal. So me and Eddie hopped in a kayak and set out. By now we were tired but used to the burn and just plowed through. There was some heavy areas of coral, which was difficult to navigate through, and kind of scary at times as well. 20 min later, we approached the little beach of the island, and big waves breaking in from both sides made it kinda tricky, but we managed to make it to shore, where a few other kayakers were relaxing, eating, and even fishing from the rocks a few hundred yards away. Too bad we had no camera, because the view from there was awesome!! You could see a great view of the windward coast up and down, with the mountains just behind, shadowing away in the distance. Amazing.
We also managed to hit up the North Shore and sunset beach, checked out Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona memorial, which was cool and interesting, but of course the other crazy thing we did was skydiving! I tell you it was pretty damn scary, but what an awesome experience! And what better place to do it than lovely Hawaii? The skies were clear and blue, and from 14,000 feet in the air you can see an amazing view of the Oahu coastline, mountains, waves, and even whales. It is an odd experience jumping out of a plane with a man strapped to your back, and it is quite expensive, but it is definitely something to experience. The scariest was when the door opened and people just started jumping out. When I got to the door it was like holy shit, this is pretty high! And then down you go. The freefall was pretty amazing. Then you are just flying in the wind, your skin flapping off your bones as you plummet at 150 mph. And then the gentle sore down as you glide to the ground. The whole thing was almost a blur to me, like a dream. I think I popped one of my adrenal glands too. But definintely a worthwhile experience. If it wasnt so expensive, I'd go again.
Waikane Bay on my way to North Shore.
Continuing my solo trip at Kualoa Park. A huge and beautiful park!
Back view from Kualoa Park.
My feeble attempt at a panaromic.
Near Kaaawa Beach
Surfers pondering the the waves at Punaluu
Godly 15-20 foot swells bellow onto the vast sands of Sunset Beach.
Giovanni's Shrimp truck in Kuhuko. That's some fresh n' tasty scampi son!
Ron working the grill at Steve, Ron, and Ankur's beach house bbq.
Jenn and I self pic as we go to surf at Waikiki.
Me next to the Duke himself.
Twilight fishing off Ala Moana Park.
Tryin all he can to catch those fish.
Now why cant they make NYC that clean?
Sailboats set out for a sunset cruise.
Postcard Sunset.
Ed, Noreen, Amber at Duke's.
Amber and Noreen, overlooking windward coast.
Ed and Noreen mesmorized by the sunset.
Amber catches her own glimpse.
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