This morning, ES and I rented a kayak from Go Bananas and drove over to the windward side. We parked at the Kualoa Ranch Regional Park (just north of the Tropical Farms Macadamia Nut Farm outlet). We paddled over to Chinaman's Hat to hike around the island and look for a geocache, then we paddled a lap around the island and back to the beach again.
At low tide here, you could walk across. The water was really calm and appeared to be about knee to waist deep on me. The water was crystal clear and we could always see the bottom.
The geocache aspect of this adventure was a little disappointing. A) We couldn't find it, and B) it wasn't an enjoyable "hike" after we left the trail to head up toward the coordinates of the cache. Hiking around the bottom part of the island was fun, but trying to climb up to find the geocache was a little treacherous. It was a fairly steep slope with very slippery gravel or sand, and it was really HOT. The palms of my hands are raw from grabbing really hot rocks and branches to try and work our way up to where the geocache was hidden.
After we got back down to the kayak, we paddled a lap around the island before heading back to the beach and making our way home.
I've been very pleased with the very friendly, competent, professional, and helpful service provided by Go Bananas. I highly recommend them if you're looking for anything kayak related (sales or rentals).Here are some pics from today...
Paddling Out to Chinaman's Hat
The View West Toward Kualoa Ranch
Self Portrait on the IslandCheck out the reflection of
Kualoa in my sunglasses.
Hiking the Northern Side of the Island.Note the silouette of "the Turtle" in the
background - that's Kaneohe. Oh, and yes,
ES gets his sense of fashion from me, not LW.
View from the Geocache CoordinatesNote the kayaker down there - that'll be
us looking up in a couple of pictures.
Did I mention it was a slippery slope?This was a good opportunity for me to show
ES that just because there's blood does NOT
mean there must be high drama or crying.
Back in the Boat, Heading Out
Self Portrait on the North Side of Chinaman's Hat.That's where we were looking for the geocache
just a few minutes ago.
ES supervising me securing the kayak.
After that last picture, I handed the camera in to ES.He took this self portrait. He was pretty amused
by the fact he was orange from the sunlight coming
through the kayak.
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3 comments:
i don't know which is funnier, the roomba chronicles or the high drama with blood. the drama certainly hits home. aren't you glad you're writing all of this down?
"High Drama and Blood" they go together like chocolate and peanut butter.
I made it out to Chinaman's Hat once while I lived out there (swimming with our mutual friend). It was a great swim (with mask, snorkle and fins of course). And you're right, we probably could have walked, although the bottom looked relatively nasty. We didn't climb around too much while there. Just kind of lounged about and relaxed before the swim back.
Good to say you've been there though.
There is nothing worse than climbing up to some spot for a geocache and then not finding it. You go through all the work to get there, and then, no reward. It's especially fun when you have impatient little ones with you. I feel your pain.
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