We had an early start on Sunday and picked Mike and Jean up at 8:30. You have to start early to get a parking space and avoid the noon day sun.
I'm breaking up Sunday's activities into two posts because I have too many photos.
Although our plan was to do the Makapuu Point hike, we made a quick stop at the famous Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve. We hadn't been there in 25 years and they had renovated the area beautifully.
You have to go VERY early to get decent parking.
You have to go EVEN EARLIER to do the Makapuu trail.
Our short stop at Hanauma delayed our arrival at Makapuu and we did have to park pretty far away to do the hike.
We saw ubiquitous koa trees along the way.
The seeds are used to make leis.
I was surprised and excited to see ilima plants with their tiny yellow flowers. You need 500 of the blossoms to make one strand of lei. As we climbed uphill, we were excited to see humpback whales spouting in the distance.
The morning glories were beautiful.
I've never learned the name of the flower on the bottom. There were purple and white varieties on the hike.
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These cacti like plants reminded me of a reptile.
There were a lot of Prickly Pear cacti along the trail. Art says they used to eat the little pears on the Big Island.
I was rather annoyed to see that people had carved their names on the cactus. It really is another form of graffiti and ugly as far as I'm concerned.
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I was amazed to see giant pencil cactus bushes. I thought my potted pencil cactus in Illinois was big, but this is huuuge!
I don't know what kind of tree this was but the leaves looked like pretty lace.
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We passed the Makapuu lighthouse. It was built in 1909.
I got this information from Wikipedia:
The Makapuu Point Lighthouse on the island of Oahu has the largest lens of any lighthouse in the United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.
We finally made it to the observation deck at the top of the mountain (Art says it's more of a hill.) and had a grand view of the coastline and Rabbit Island. The Hawaiian name is Manana Island.
Mike and Jean were really lucky because the day after our hike, the trail was closed for renovation.
Walking back to the car in the hot sun, we felt we deserved a nice luncheon and stopped at Zippy's to rest before we began our afternoon activities which I'll continue tomorrow.
I'm breaking up Sunday's activities into two posts because I have too many photos.
Although our plan was to do the Makapuu Point hike, we made a quick stop at the famous Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve. We hadn't been there in 25 years and they had renovated the area beautifully.
You have to go VERY early to get decent parking.
You have to go EVEN EARLIER to do the Makapuu trail.
Our short stop at Hanauma delayed our arrival at Makapuu and we did have to park pretty far away to do the hike.
We saw ubiquitous koa trees along the way.
The seeds are used to make leis.
I was surprised and excited to see ilima plants with their tiny yellow flowers. You need 500 of the blossoms to make one strand of lei. As we climbed uphill, we were excited to see humpback whales spouting in the distance.
The morning glories were beautiful.
I've never learned the name of the flower on the bottom. There were purple and white varieties on the hike.
These cacti like plants reminded me of a reptile.
There were a lot of Prickly Pear cacti along the trail. Art says they used to eat the little pears on the Big Island.
I was rather annoyed to see that people had carved their names on the cactus. It really is another form of graffiti and ugly as far as I'm concerned.
I was amazed to see giant pencil cactus bushes. I thought my potted pencil cactus in Illinois was big, but this is huuuge!
I don't know what kind of tree this was but the leaves looked like pretty lace.
We passed the Makapuu lighthouse. It was built in 1909.
I got this information from Wikipedia:
The Makapuu Point Lighthouse on the island of Oahu has the largest lens of any lighthouse in the United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.
We finally made it to the observation deck at the top of the mountain (Art says it's more of a hill.) and had a grand view of the coastline and Rabbit Island. The Hawaiian name is Manana Island.
Mike and Jean were really lucky because the day after our hike, the trail was closed for renovation.
Walking back to the car in the hot sun, we felt we deserved a nice luncheon and stopped at Zippy's to rest before we began our afternoon activities which I'll continue tomorrow.
Whales--you saw whales?!!! Wow, I'd love to see whales.
ReplyDeleteI confess I was using my long lens to get that photo. Taking the whale watching tour on Maui brought us much closer to the whales.
DeleteYou are giving your friends a wonderful tour!
ReplyDeleteKay, thanks for taking us along on your hike. The view at the end of your journey was well worth the trip.
ReplyDeletelooks like a beautiful place to hang out and take some photos. great job.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to see the rest of the day!
ReplyDeletehow fun, there's certainly lots to explore on your island!
ReplyDeleteThanks as always for the fun tour!! There is indeed SO much to see there!! Looking forward to the next set of pics!! They're the next best thing to being there myself!! Have a beautiful week!!
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to the rest of the adventure, amazing photos, beautiful!
ReplyDeleteVery nice hike. You guys are such wonderful hosts!
ReplyDeleteWe try our best but the round the island trip is getting pretty taxing for Art. Driving in Hawaii is getting more and more stressful.
DeleteThe plant with the lacy leaves has been infested with insects that ate everything but the ribs in the leaves. The white flower early on looks like a member of the Convolaria (sp?) or
ReplyDeletemorning-glory family. The other off-white flower looks like a kind of 'trumpet-vine.' The plant-life on Hawaii is so unique.
Love the cacti. They've done a great job with Hanama Bay. Rabbit Island could be seen from an old WWII airbase up the road where we went swimming. Can't remember the name, but its probably gone now, turned into housing....
Trumpet vine? I can't remember if it was a vine. I'm thinking not. I'll have to check. Hanauma Bay was really upgraded. We were impressed. I thought the leaves on the tree just dried up that way. But yes, it was probably insect damage. Pretty though.
DeleteThe brown part of that first picture looks like a huge reclining bear. I hear prickly pear cactus have medicinal uses.
ReplyDeleteHow amazing to actually see whales. Cool. You are a great tour guide.
The nature is amazing especially the flowers
ReplyDeleteI saw a dolphin once but never a whale
ReplyDeleteWonderful pictures! I love the pictures of the ocean and look forward to tomorrow's continuation. Thanks for breaking it into two, since you are right not to overwhelm with too many pictures all at once! :-)
ReplyDeleteThat last shot toward Waimanalo is my absolute favorite view. I never did the hike and would instead marvel at the ocean view as I drove around the point, never realizing that an even more wonderful visual was available from that vantage.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I really need to do the hike!
Mahalo for sharing, your friends are blessed!
Be sure to wait until they're done with the renovation. It should be even better then.
DeleteWhat a good post, Kay!
ReplyDeleteALOHA from Honolulu
ComfortSpiral
<3
Plants are interesting in Hawaii. I blundered into impatience one meter tall. You see something that looks very familiar and then you realize you know what it is, It's just three times bigger than at home.
ReplyDeleteRed--Exactly. My very first reaction when I moved to Hawaii in 1978 was, "look at all the house plants growing outside and so much larger than on the Mainland."
DeleteI don't think I've seen an impatiens that big even in Hawaii!
DeleteLucky you have good strong backs to manage a hike. That's my first thought...and the marathon. Don't take these abilities for granted, because once you can't it's downhill.
ReplyDeleteL...w
As we age, doing some core strengthening exercises is good. (I found out too late.) Pelvic tilt exercise is easy and keeps the lowers toned. Recently I read that peripheral nerve damage may cause incontinence in diabetics and the article mentioned pelvic tilt exercises to help counter the loss of control. Pretty scary...why wait til there is so much loss of muscle and nerve to start. Everyone should start now...(off soap box)
DeleteL...w
Marathon? Heck no! Not me and not Art anymore either. I looked up the pelvic tilt. I've heard of it, but wanted to be sure. Thank you for the reminder. I'll try it tonight. I've got all kinds of parts on my body that need help or maintenance!
DeleteSome time ago, I trimmed a pencil cactus plant I had planted outside my office. As you say, it had gotten huge. This plant has white sap. As I was hacking way, the sap must have taken the form of a spray of tiny droplets in the air. To cut to the chase, I ended up in the hospital emergency room with really painful eyes. They irrigated my eyes with water and everything was all right after a while. The eye doctor told me it happens all the time, especially with people picking plumerias The plumeria tree also has white sap. He claimed he won't even wear a plumeria lei. Another adventure in Paradise!
ReplyDeleteI forgot about that white sap! I didn't like the sap dripping on things because it was sticky so when I trimmed off a branch, I'd put a band aid on it to soak up the sap and prevent it from dripping. Wow! But a spray of it? Yikes! I had no idea!
DeleteWELL, I WAS HACKING AWAY WITH A MACHETE. Not the best idea I ever had, but who knew?
DeleteWhat a worthwhile hike! And real flowers growing, greenery! Heartwarming. We're still in the deep freeze!
ReplyDeleteThank you for taking us on this lovely trail Kay, how lucky to be able to show your friends the day before it closed.
ReplyDeleteSuch beautiful scenery and such interesting plants!
ReplyDeletethis looks like such a wonderful outing, at a most beautiful place....and a picture of you!!!!
ReplyDeleteGosh I would LOVE to hike in this area!!!
ReplyDelete