Days 32 & 33: Sea Life Park, Makapu'u Point Lighthouse Trail, & Koko Head

Alicia's double dorsal fin ride

Sunday was Alicia's turn to swim with the dolphins at Sea Life Park and my turn to be the photographer, as Derrick had done for me. It was really fun to watch Alicia in the water, I don't know that I've ever seen her happier. Janine managed to get in on her sister's program and was the one sending and receiving dolphins from the opposite side of the Cove to the dolphin trainer and Alicia's group, which is unusual for an intern. Later on in the week we celebrated Janine being hired on as a full-time dolphin trainer with drinks and an ice cream cake that Derrick had sent to her while on deployment! We were able to eat lunch with Janine on her break, then watch a few sights that I had not seen at Sea Life Park on my first visit, including the sea lion show. Most notably for me we got to touch a 1 year old baby turtle whose shell was labeled "Y", affectionately nicknamed Yolo by the employee who let us touch him/her.

Makapu'u Lighthouse

When Janine got out of work the three of us drove over to a nearby trail for a quick end-of-the-day hike. Makapu'u Point Lighthouse Trail, one of the easternmost points on O'ahu, is known for its outstanding views of O'ahu's southern coastline, including Koko Head (which we would hike the following day). The 2 mile trail, although paved, was entirely uphill (~500 feet in elevation) and we were soon sweating and puffing in the heat, digging deep to propel ourselves upward to the scenic overlook. Makapu'u Point Lighthouse Trail gets its name from the historic red-roofed lighthouse (built in 1909) that is visible at the top.

The summit of the trail was especially windy and I was glad for the gates surrounding the outlook area. The view from the top was breath-taking: a stunning backdrop of blues and greens as far as the eye could see. In the distance I could make out the outline of Moloka‘i and many other islets off the shore. There were a few locks attached to the gates at the top, whisking me back to Cinque Terre in Italy, where locks on gates were so numerous that new locks were added on top of existing ones to symbolize love and eternity.

Step 300/1048 looking up the trail

The next day Alicia and I donned workout gear and drove back to Waimanalo, this time to hike Koko Head, a crater (elevation 1,208 feet compared to yesterday's 500 foot drive) whose trail consists of 1,048 "steps" straight up the remnants of an old rail track. The tracks were originally built over 60 years ago to transport supplies to the military bunkers at the top. This was more of a workout than a hike, but I'd do it any day over a Stairmaster in a sweaty gym.

As we approached the bottom of the trail from the parking lot, I saw a group of sweaty tired hikers who had recently descended next to a few optimistic-looking climbers who were queing up to start the ascent. I stared up the wooden tracks, my eyes searching for the top of the trail and failing. Next came a deep breath, a high-five from Alicia, and our first few steps. At this point we were smiling. At about 300 stairs up (see picture on left) we gave up keeping a conversation going and scaled back to only essential communication (i.e. telling each other where loose rails were or agreeing on a stair to take a break on). 

Open air tracks

A particularly scary moment was when the track spanned a section of open air and the once solidly grounded planks of wood changed to open air. I am not ashamed to admit that I crawled up this section of the trail, in fear of what would happen should my clumsy self trip or catch a toe on an unsuspecting nail. The planks were just far enough apart in places where it was necessary to take two steps before moving on to the next one. In other places cinder blocks had been placed to compensate for depressions in the earth between steps. There were no guard rails, no nets, and no professional maintenance done to make the trail safe. On the way up it was all I could really do to convince my burning legs to keep going. Sweat was abundant.

At several points in this hike I stopped to ask myself, "Why am I doing this?". My answer was in the 360 degree view that awaited us at the top of the crater, a view that had to be earned. There have been several moments during my trip where I have been forced to admit that no amount of fiddling with my camera would produce a photograph that would do justice to what I was seeing. This was most definitely one of those moments. Below us lay Hawaii Kai framed by the Pacific Ocean, crashing waves, and remnants of other craters. Beneath our feet Koko Head Crater dropped off suddenly, leaving no room for missteps.

The descent, although less strenuous, was no less scary. The steep decline and lack of handrails left me with visions of tripping and rolling ... all the way down (many broken bones/death to ensue). To distract myself from this I counted steps as I descended in a slow, meticulous manner. I must have missed a few steps, because I only counted 1,020, nonetheless, we reached the bottom safe and sound with only quivering legs and tired smiles to show for our efforts.