Westside Cave Exploration

Although the Hawaiian skies appeared gloomy because of the “Kona winds” and associated vog (somewhat like volcanic produced smog), it was still a great day to explore caves on the shoreline near Kaena Point. Fortunate to have Waianae Steve guide us (Bob, Aaron, Lynne, Keahi, Andrew, Jennifer, Baron, Nate, Darren, Janice and I) around his backyard on the westside of Oahu, we were introduced to 4 natural and man-made caves.

The crew started out just mauka of Yokohama Beach, to descend into a small limestone cave in back of an old stone-walled residence.

The cave entrance had been more inconspicuous in the past, as a recent fire had burned most of the trees in the area…

As we entered the cave, the first thing I noticed was how humid it was inside.

Most of the rocks were wet to the touch, which seemed odd until we climbed further down into the cave.

A small anchialine pool, had brackish water in it… Though, I didn’t have a salinometer, I came to the conclusion because of a few Opae ula (Halocaridina rubra) residing in it. They commonly migrate through subterranean cracks/fissures to inland pools like these, particularly ones that have little impact from humans (e.g. run-off waste, introduced aquarium species, etc.). Not too common on the island of Oahu, but fairly easy to come across on less inhabited Hawaiian islands. NOTE: H. rubra photo I took was not at the cave.

Another interesting geologic feature were the beginnings of what looked like stalactites, which often form on the ceilings of moist, limestone caves. The moisture and dripping in this cave must have been occurring here for “at least” a few hundred years to form these little guys.

After taking our share of photos and exploring every crevice we could squeeze into, we headed topside, for some fresh air…

And down the coastline towards Kaena Point.

Along the way, we stopped at a moderate-sized cave, made mostly of basalt. Others often refer to this place as “Future Cave.” The significance of it’s name probably won’t make sense to most, so I won’t attempt to slaughter an explanation…

but by the white marks on the ceiling, you may be able to figure out who named it.

Since we still had a few more caves to explore, we quickly made our way down the coastline to find the entrance of the next one…

Which is a small opening near the base of the ridgeline to the Waianae summit.

The largest cave of the day was actually man-made,

…and judging by the amount of rockfall on the ground, it was probably the least stable.

Towards the back of the cave, we encountered large metal structures and heavy machinery, which was probably for military use.

The hole that we entered from was actually much larger, but it was sealed up after World War II ended… and so was any further construction to finish the other entrance to the U-shaped tunnel.

The entrance to the last cave was much higher up the ridgeline.

The small cave was littered with loose rock and rusted metal…

But there was a 3-story ladder in the back, that lead to what looked like a skylight. Of course, I had to investigate the shaky, rusty structure to see where it lead. The ladder actually didn’t lead to the top and I wasn’t able to climb through any windows, but there was a 2 ft high drainage pipe that a person could barely fit in, which came to a “T.” Either side of the T lead to back out to the ridge, about 50 feet above where we entered the cave from… Crazy stuff!!!

Mahalo nui loa to Steve for showing us around! Next stop, pizza at Brick Oven in Kapolei!

Aloha and mahalo nui for visiting… Come back again soon!

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