Hawaii Day 3, Hanauma Bay, Halona Blowhole, Pali Lookout

Hawaii, Friday, 2012-2-1

As always, we were at the tour lobby 15 minutes early than schedule but the guide didn’t show up at the pick-up of time of 8:45. Ching was anxious that he might not see us because there were many people in the lobby. We waited for another 15 minutes, and called the tour company. It turned out that the group had left without us.  We were told to wait in our room for their call. Back to our room, I sat in the balcony looking at the beach.  A man in a kayak was approaching the wave breaker trying to get through a narrow opening in the breaker. He lost control, and the kayak was flipped and threw him into the water. The depth of the water inside the breaker was shallow and I saw him stood up in the water pulling his kayak.

We didn’t wait long and received a call that the tour company was sending a sedan to take two of us on a private tour. It certainly was a far better arrangement than yesterday when the company left us in the Pearl Habor doing nothing for 4 hours. We went south along the major Kalakaua Ave and passed the big Kapiolani Park where it used to be the playground of the royal family. The road then became Diamond Head Road running on the foot of the hill. Diamond Head was one of the many cinder cones of the Ko'olau ancient volcano in O’ahu. It was a predominant hill southeast of Waikiki. It was a volcanic tuff cone with its distinct crater, and its name was given by the British sailors who mistook calcite crystals embedded in the rock found in the hill to be diamond. The houses along this road were huge and beautiful. The properties on the water side of the road all had beach frontage. It was the most expensive residential area in Hawaii. We stopped at a lookout at the flank of the Diamond Head Hill watching the beautiful scenery. The waves were much stronger here, and there were many people surfing.

We continued going north and became Kahala Ave. We then turned east on Kalanianaole Hwy (HW #72), and saw the hill in Haha’lone Valley Park north of Paiko Lagoon. Before we turned into the road to Hanauma Bay, we saw Koko Head which was another cinder cone very close to the road. It had a very rugged flank with many deep gulches. On its southwest flank, there was a narrow ridge that ran from its foot to its top. And stairs had been built on it and I saw many people climbing straight up to its top.

We turned into the lookout at Hanauma Bay which was famous for snorkeling. It was originally the crater of a cinder volcano very close to the southwest of Koko Crater. The east wall of the crater had disappeared and the crater became a bay. The beach was at the western foot of the crater and was very beautiful. The lookout was at the western ridge of the crater, and there was stairs going down to the beach. The beauty the bay and its abundance of marine life brought in too many tourists, and  they had ignorantly destroyed the multi-coloured coral reef closest to the beach. Right now, it was under a strict control, and It was the only pay beach in Hawaii at a cost of $7.50 for admission. There was also road along the southern ridge of the crater, but it was not opened to public vehicles. The guide said that Chinese called the hill the Dinosaur Hill because of the shape of the ridge of the crater.

We turned back to HW #72 and continued going north. The road cut through the flank of Koko crater. And we stopped at Halona Blowhole Lookout after only 5 minutes driving. We were high from the water, and the coast was very rugged. There was a hole near the bottom where water would be sprayed high like a geyser at the right combination of high tide and strong winds. There was also a small volcanic vent puffing out some steams. To its immediate south was the little Halona Cove. The water was rough at its entrance, and there was a small sandy beach at its head. Although there was no road to the beach, but people liked to go down by scaling the cliff from the parking lot when the water was calm to enjoy the seclusiveness of the small beach. Further north the rocky shore became a beautiful Sandy Beach. The beach was also known as the Break-neck Beach due to the frequent injuries suffered by the surfers here. It was caused by the closeness of the natural wave breaker to the shore and the bottom was full of sharp volcanic rocks.

As we continued our journey north, the hill became dry and was full of cactus, there must be a significant micro climate in this area. We saw many cars parked on the road west of Makapu’u Point Lighthouse.  Later I learned that in addition to the lighthouse, there were other interesting points in the area. We passed the  Makapu’u Park and saw the Manana Island. The road then became close to the coast, and we saw some more small beaches. We passed a Hawaiian homeland community of Waimanalo, where tourists could find an alternative to the high rise tower accommodations. We then saw the beautiful Ka’elepulu Pond from a hill. The road then merged with HW #61 and we continued westward toward the Pali Lookout. West of the intersection with HW #83, the road became Pali Hwy. We passed the tunnel, and turned right into a side road to Pali Lookout.

Ko’olau Mountain Range had many valleys on its western flank. Four of them were wide,  opened and formed part of Hoholulu. From the north, they were Kalihi, Nu’uanu, Manoa, and Palolo. Nu’uanu was the only valley that broke Ko’olau Mountain at Pali Pass at an elevation of 300 m. The lookout provided an excellent view of the flat land of the eastern coast, and the strong easterly wind was channeled into this pass and blew like in a wind tunnel. When King Kamehameha invaded O’ahu after conquering Maui and Maloka’i from his home island of Hawaii, the defenders led by Kalanikupule were driven up into the Nu’uanu valley, and trapped on the cliff near the present Pali lookout. Most of them died by jumping over the cliff, and their remained were found during the construction of the Pali highway.

As we approach the downtown of Honolulu while we were still on Pali Hwy, we passed the large walled property with the flag of Republic of China. It belonged to Taipei Economic & Cultural Office. This ended the tour of the day.

After having lunch and rest, we explored the Queen’s Surf Beach and the adjacent Kapiolani Park. The beach here was much wider and beautiful. There was a groin and it provided a good view of Waikiki, and the many fish in the water. We had learned that this end of the beach was frequented by homosexual, and we didn't have to look hard to prove it. The park was large and it provided a clear unobstructive view of Diamond Head. There were also big banyan trees with many large trunks grown from its aerial prop roots. We went swimming in the lagoon. It was shallow all the way to the wave breaker, and the water was much warmer than that in the open water. We sat in the balcony, and saw Waikiki bathed in the soft and magical colour of the sunset. There were not many people on the beach in front of the Royal Hawaiian, and there were still many surfing in the water, and sail boats were forming a line returning to the marina.

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