Kailua Beach and Na Mokulua

Kailua Beach.  The most distant mountain range is Kualoa Ranch.

We started our day at Kailua Beach and took our time warming and waking up on the shore.  We had a nice lunch at Buzz's Steakhouse where we had the much famed fish sandwich (per the black book).  

(Fun Fact: President Obama will be spending Christmas at Kailua Beach!)

In the afternoon we rented kayaks and headed toward the islands, Na Mokulua,  that lay a little over a mile off shore from Kailua Beach.  Both are preserved as bird sanctuaries but visitors are allowed to walk the perimeter.  Kayaking to the islands is common - we saw so many in the water.  It is about a 40 minute paddle out.

We are experienced paddlers, both on rivers and at sea, and didn't think twice about this trip.  Apparently the guy who rented us the kayak thought us well prepared too.  It would have been nice for him to mention the breakers - the really shallow sections of reef - that lay between us and the island.  We maneuvered around that easy enough.  But arriving at the island was tricky.  Waves strike the island from two different angles, neither of which are parallel to the small bit of sand where we were to land.  So, a huge wave caught us from behind and we flipped the kayak on the outside of those rocks.

I'm not sure how all the photos I took of this coast make the waves look puny.  Believe me, entering and exiting this strip of beach is no easy task.  After our clumsy landing we watched other paddlers get back into the water with the two conflicting currents.  No one that we observed set off without one of the paddlers falling out of the boat in the process.  

Matthew in the water.  It was great to get such a grand view of the windward coast.

We spent a little time exploring the coast of the island.  A view back toward the narrow beach and the smaller island.  The waves in the inlet between the two peaks were very strong.

The western coast of Moku Nui, the larger island.  Crazy basalt/lava formations - very rugged coastline.

Studying the waves, preparing for our departure.  It wasn't graceful, but we didn't flip and neither of us fell out of the kayak, so we'll call it a success.

A few photos off the coast of Lanikai, a neighboring beach to Kailua.  This time we kept closer to the coast, well away from the breakers.

View east toward Na Mokulua from Flat Island

Our last stop was at Flat Island which is right off the coast of Kailua Beach.  It is also a preserved bird sanctuary.  It is not a lava formation, it is limestone.  It appeared to me to be a remnant of some ancient reef was somehow preserved or upthrust???  Its overwhelming feature is that it is flat, filled with wholes, and covered in succulents.

Looking toward Kailua from Flat Rock.

Great day!  What an adventure!  We were so exhausted!  

The end.