Yesterday was a state holiday, “Kamehameha Day”. It celebrates a Hawaiian Monarch that is credited with unifying all the islands nearly 200 years ago. Well, that is not exactly true, he wasn’t able to get the island of Kauai under his control. However, he is revered by the people of Hawaii. Ok, enough of the brief history lesson.
Since I had the day off and Teresa is out of school for the summer (she is a high school teacher), I thought we could take my son and go out for a family hike. However, my son’s “Summer Fun” group was schedule to go to the ice skating rink so he wanted to go with them instead. I was kind of bummed out, but I would have made the same decision at his age. I mean, let’s see… hike with a couple of old people or have some rip roaring fun with his buddies. No contest.
I was cool, though, because Teresa and I could go out on a date! So we headed off to Makapu’u. Here is some information about Makapu’u from Wikipedia…
“Makapuʻu is the extreme eastern end of the Island of Oʻahu in the Hawaiian Islands, comprising the remnant of a ridge that rises 647 feet (197 m) above the sea. The cliff at Makapuʻu Point forms the eastern tip and is the site of a prominent lighthouse. The place name of this area, meaning “bulging eye” in Hawaiian, is thought to derive from the name of an image said to have been located in a cave here called Keanaokeakuapōloli. The entire area is quite scenic and a panoramic view is presented at the lookout on Kalanianaole Highway (State Rte. 72) where the roadway surmounts the cliff just before turning south towards leeward Oʻahu and Honolulu.”
From Makapu’u one can see my home island of Molokai across the channel. It was a beautiful day for a hike.
In this photo you can see a couple of tide pools at the bottom of the hill. It is located in the center of the picture. In the next photo you will see a close up of the tide pools and people swimming in them.

Swimmers enjoying themselves in the tide pool…

View from the lookout. Sea Life Park is located in the center of the photo.

Another view from the lookout – Rabbit Island. There are no rabbits on the island, but from a different angle it kind of looks like a rabbit.

The lighthouse.
