Today was one of our busiest days on the island. The alarm clock went off at an insanely early time this morning so that we could put on our hiking clothes, don headlamps, and head to Lanikai in order to hike up to the Lanikai Pillbox to catch the sunrise from atop the mountain that overlooks Kailua Bay and the bird sanctuary islands of Moku Nui and Moku Iki (commonly referred to as “the Mokes”). This was to be my first in-the-dark sunrise hike and I admit to feeling a bit apprehensive, hoping that it was something I could do and that I’d be able to keep pace with Scott which is hard enough during the daylight, much less in the dark.

Our destination, the “pillbox,” was one of several old WW2 era bunkers that were built into the mountains, and it sat atop the peak. It wasn’t a very long hike (a little over a mile round trip) but was steep, as you would expect. The first bit had ropes which made it easier to gain purchase on the smooth and muddy slope, and I was thankful for them. We got beyond that section and it became quite rocky and it was slow going since the headlamps only illuminated the area a few feet ahead of us which made picking the right path tricky.

We made it to the first pillbox much quicker than we had anticipated so we had time to kill before the sun cast its first light. In the pitchblack it was neat to see the town in the valley below us waking up- lights in houses starting to come on and car traffic coming to life as the morning inched on. We climbed around on top of the graffiti covered concrete fort for a bit but the wind was insane and was whipping all around us. We climbed back down and the rain started up. We hunkered down on the side of the bunker for a bit waiting for the rain to pass and the sun to come along. Soon, other like minded people started appearing from the trail. Finally it was sunrise and we watched the sun slowly peek up from the horizon near Honolulu and start to shine its light on the hillside of Lanikai and Kailua.

We walked another few hundred yards to the adjacent pillbox and checked it out. It was similar and also was covered in some rather impressive and quite elaborate graffiti. (My favorite artistic adornment on the pillboxes was a whimsical mosaic tiled image of a bandana-clad octopus that some enterprising person had affixed to the roof of one of them.) Scott dropped down inside this one to investigate and explore.

The hike back down was easier in the daylight and I was impressed that we had navigated the ascent in the dark now that I could actually see it. The only tricky thing about the descent was learning to look closely for loose pebbles- you were toast if you stepped on any of them because they would roll underneath your feet and you’d lose your traction on the ground and go down. Scott had a near miss and had a cartoon-like few seconds of pinwheeling his arms as he slid and tried to stay balanced, thankfully catching himself and staying upright. We made it back to the car and headed back to the apartment to get ready for the next phase of the day- the kayak trip to the Mokes.

The tandem sea kayak we rented came with a foam block system so that we could strap it to the rental car that didn’t have a roof rack. We figured it out and got it strapped onto the Mazda and we headed the short drive to the Mokes. When we arrived at the parking lot it was still attached to the roof so we patted ourselves on the back. The put-in for the trip was at Kailua Beach and we launched without incident although I admit to feeling a little nervous about having to paddle through the waves without getting toppled. (I remembered our Capers Island paddle in the canoe and how careful we had to be about hitting them perpendicularly to stay upright.) I was thankful to be in a tandem kayak with Scott rather than on my own. Scott had researched the approximate route to take which was to stay parallel to the Lanikai beach until a certain house before starting to cross the bay to the islands. The paddle each way was a little over two miles and took much longer on the way out than coming back where we had the surf and current assisting us. It took us about 90 minutes to reach the beach landing at the larger Moku Nui (smaller Moku Iki is off limits as it is strictly a bird sanctuary). We beached successfully which I was also worried about because the waves here were much bigger than where we launched and while there was a sandy landing, it was narrow and surrounded by huge rocks jutting into the water.

We hadn’t even climbed out of the kayak before we spotted a Hawaiian monk seal¹ that was sunning its chunky grey body on the beach, seemingly oblivious to our presence. We dragged the kayak out of the water, giving the seal a wide berth, and took some pictures of it. Periodically it would wiggle around and reposition itself to a more comfortable position in the warm sand.

Our research of the Mokes had revealed that there were some rather impressive tidal pools situated within the cliffs on the backside of the island so we headed in search of them. We encountered a few other paddlers on the island and they pointed us in the right direction and gave us some suggestions for the best route to take over the craggy cliffs. We reached the pools and they were fascinating because they were their own unique habitat inhabited by little sea snails. The waves would break powerfully on the backside of the island, exploding water way up into the air where it collected in depressions created by the ancient lava flows. The water in the pools was warm and extremely salty. Scott wasted no time hopping into the deepest and most well known tidal pool on the island called the “Queen’s Bath.” After evaluating the safety of such an act (literally me with every single adventure with Scott) I decided it was acceptable and popped into it for a float. (Unfortunately when we were on this side of the island it had become cloudy and overcast and was threatening rain so we actually made a second trip back over to it before we left so we could take better pictures.)

We did some more exploring where Scott did his best impersonation of a mountain goat, scaling some of the cliffs and rock faces, and I watched (nervously). We went back over to the kayak and had our picnic lunch while we watched the still sunbathing monk seal and the various ground-nesting seabirds. Scott had heard that there was some incredible snorkelling right off the island so he donned the snorkeling gear we had brought along and swam out to see what sealife he could find. There was a lot of current but he saw many schools of fish. Again, having your own gear, for the win!

We went back over for a last visit to the Queen’s Bath now that the sun was back out, then bid adieu to the monk seal and launched the kayak to return to Kailua because I was scheduled to teach in Waimanalo that afternoon. The surf here was much bigger than in Kailua but we stayed upright. Along the way back we had a few moments when waves caught us just right where we were actually surfing down the face of the curlers and we were rocketed across the water. On one of these surfing moments we actually flew over a sea turtle! We made it back safely and put the kayak back onto the car and headed home.

We made it to Waimanalo in time for my afternoon lessons at Malu’Olu Ranch. I had actually met one of the co-owners of the facility back in my mid 20’s when I was a budding C3 examiner at an examiner’s seminar in Kentucky. It was fun to reconnect with her and to be able to teach some of her students. This is where I met the horse that had just come over from Ireland. The riders were well prepared and both had confirmed basics which always makes my job more enjoyable and the lessons more productive. I was thankful for the opportunity to be able to work with Angela’s riders and enjoyed seeing her facility.

While I was teaching Scott was just a few miles away at the Waimanalo Beach. He hung his hammock and enjoyed the beach until it was time for him to return to collect me. He had spotted a hole-in-the-wall restaurant along the way that had a line out front so he suggested we check it out for dinner. The restaurant was Keneke’s and is an Oahu institution. This one in Waimanalo is the original and is 35 years old. Fancy by no stretch of the imagination, the food was cheap and beyond plentiful, in fact, Scott made several meals out of his leftovers. We both had a version of “kalua pig” which is a Hawaiian island staple and closely resembles the pulled pork barbeque of the South. We got our Keneke’s order as takeout and drove south down the scenic highway in search of a scenic overlook to pull off at and eat. We found one near Halona Cove and watched the ocean as we ate our dinner. Stuffed and exhausted we called it a day and headed back to Kailua.