We had a day of decent weather in Hawaii to try kayaking out to Chinaman's Hat Island off Oahu. We wanted to climb it.There was only one single kayak available, so we went with a double.
The paddle out was great - there were ~3 food swells breaking occasionally but not a bad paddle.The kayak was a bit unstable with both of us, so the guy in front did most of the paddling.
The weather was starting to change, but that worked in our favor to keep everyone else off the island - we had the place to ourselves.
We first circled the island and looked at landing on the ocean-side. The tide was in, however, and pretty big waves breaking on all the rocks changed our minds.Circling the island we saw that there was a good, open bench without any waves on the west, island side of Mokoli'i and we easily landed there.
The trail shot straight up the mountainside from where we landed.It was a bit steep and gravelly at times, but no problem climbing it, even in flip-flops.
A few stairs to climb up...
And great vistas to see around us.
Reaching the top didn't take long at all, and it was beautiful.A real "Tom Hanks Cast-a-way" moment on top, panning around the island below with breaking waves.
Very cool, and highly recommended if you are on the rainy side of Oahu.
Here is the narrow beach on the ocean side of Mokoli'i where we had first hoped to land.Not a chance today!
These waves would have posed a big problem... and even if we landed, there would have been no chance to launch.As it was, we had no problems getting back into the kayak and making the sprint back to the beach.
A great day on the island made better by the solitude.
On our way back to Lai'e, we stopped and kayak'ed the river at Kahana Valley.This was a fun, easy paddle, too. No current to speak of, and we were quickly transported to deep jungles and exotic sounds and smells.
The paddling was easy, and we went far enough to run out of river.When we had just enough space to turn around... we did.
We thought of building a small fire, fishing, and roasting a breadfruit for lunch... and it did sound good...
... until we reconsidered and instead drove to Giovanni's Shrimp Truck and got the shrimp Scampii... MUCH better than breadfruit!A great day of paddling and exploring.
We did think about the Pacific NorthWest... and how hold it had been there lately...
