Beach/Coastal

In addition to shorefishing, tide-pooling and reef walking have been one of my favorite outdoor recreational activities. Tide-pooling can either be done during the day or at night, as some fish and invertebrates are active at different times of the day. However, I find it easier to wrangle the day-time critters at night... since their vision is not adapted to being blinded by high-intensity headlamps while sleeping... and they can't shut their eyes either. lol. With the "super" full moon, comes extreme high and low tides throughout the day. For those of you who do not know, tides are natural...

Located < 1/3 mile offshore of Kuuloa Beach Park, Chinaman's hat (Mokolii Islet) is a common place for kayakers, stand-up paddle boarders and snorkelers/swimmers to travel to either explore or just to have a fun day in the sun... With a crew 15 strong (Justin Ugalino, Clayton Childs, Jennifer Liu, Lance Fujioka, Angie Ou, Jason Lee, Patrick Liu, Jenelyn Castillo, Reanne Solomon, Troy Takara, Seth Eason, Lenie and Franco Gallardo), we did just this. We started out our day meeting at 830 at Kualoa Beach Park. Loading our kayaks at the cars, we were able to easily wheel them "one-by-one" to water...

Lahilahi Point (or Black Rock) is a well known fishing spot to locals, and there is also a popular surf site adjacent it's west side. The significance of the name is due to the rocks at the westernmost point are "black," as opposed to the rest of the rock which appears brown. Lahilahi has considerable cultural significance to Native Hawaiians and is a site that is sacred to Kāne. In addition to ancestral burials, it has rare petroglyphs and astronomical significance (ie, the recognition of the June solstice). Lahilahi is also known as "the eyes of Wai'anae," meaning, "if you have not been to Lahilahi...

In addition to being a Natural Area Reserve (NAR) for native species, Ka'ena point is also a spiritually important area to Native Hawaiians. A large coral stone at the point is thought to be where deceased souls depart into the spiritual world or "spirit leap," as it is the westernmost part of the island to the setting sun. As the Hawaii hiking community had recently lost a well-respected hiker and friend the weekend prior, the Lost Trailblazers wanted to extend their aloha in a their own "Lost Trailblazer kind of way" at Kaena Point. Fortunate to have access to an off-road vehicle,...

One of my all-time favorite nocturnal ocean activities is torching... If you can't tell from the first photo in Kahala (courtesy of W. Roldan), torching consists of wading in shallow waters on coastal reefs at night (usually during low tide) to harvest all types of marine-life. During the day, this is commonly called, "reef walking," though it is more common by locals to refer to this as "torching" at night. The captures are usually for consumption purposes, but sometimes can be used as bait for fishing (e.g. Octopus or "Tako," above). Methods of capture usually consist of a 3-prong spear...

[Part 1] [Part2] [Part 3] [Part 4] [Part 5] Not only did we visit streams and waterfalls on our East Maui camping trip, but also saw some amazing coastal sites as well. After visiting the Waioka Pond, we drove down the Hana Bay area to look for Tako Poke at the Hana Ranch Store (on Mill Pl.)... rumor has it they got some bomb ingrediments. lol. With the next great adventures only a couple minutes drive away, we jumped in the back of the truck to the Hana coastline. Just south of Hana Bay is an unusual geologic feature, well at least for sandy beaches in Hawaii... Black sand? Chh-yeah......

[Part 1] [Part2] [Part 3] [Part 4] [Part 5] Waioka Pond, aka the Venus Pool, is a deep brackish waterbody approximately 200' long x 150' wide x 30' deep (in center) and a short hike off of the Hana Highway... ...and although the faucet isn't always keeping the stream and waterfall flowing, the pool itself is always filled by the ocean... AND ESPECIALLY great for jumping!!! Launching off of the "west" wall (pictured above), lets you bomb into the deepest part of the pool. Oh, and the wall is probably > 30 feet high and vertical ALL the way to the bottom of the pool... therefore,...

Kaena Point is the most north-western point on the island of Oahu, and is a Department of Land and Natural Resources Natural Area Reserve (NAR) and has been a culturally important area to Native Hawaiians for many years. Being a local fisherman since the "hanabata days," it has always a privilege to be able to fish here as access to this remote area is quite difficult. Despite it's closure to public vehicle access, the area outside of the NAR is frequented by fishermen who drive in four-wheel drive, off-roading vehicles... Although hiking on foot into the NAR is permitted within daylight hours....

Besides being a great fishing spot for larger game, the landscape near Ratchets is probably one of my favorites on the island of Oahu. The shoreline is composed of steep cliffs... ...and there is considerably deep water within casting distance. The one drawback is that Ratchets is difficult to get to, and somewhere you definitely unsafe to go here by oneself. There are several contours on extremely narrow cliff edges, which make it dangerous to pass, especially if you plan to haul fishing gear. Though there are some deteriorating ropes there, climbing down these cliff...

"Makapuu lookout to Alan Davis" is a great hike, or any hike that involves the Kaiwi coastline for that matter. The route we (Reanne Solomon, Larry Tang, Rylan Miyasato, Troy Takara and I) took today is not conventional by any means, though I'm sure some people have connected these trails before. The particular combination of trails starts at Makapuu lookout (same place where you would park for Makapuu Crag to rock climb). Within 20 minutes or so, the trail summits at some pillboxes / bunkers... ... then descends to Makapuu Lighthouse lookout, From there you will travel...