Looking back down the trail before sun rise.
My first tour of the day was walk to the top of Diamond Head (Diamond Head Crater Adventure) for viewing the sunrise. The Oahu Nature Tours van picked me up at 0600 – I left Jonathan sleeping in the hotel room.
The walk itself is not too remarkable except for the 200 foot pedestrian tunnel that takes you through the wall of the cone to the outer face of the mountain. It was a recipe for an anxiety attack given the low ceiling, the traffic on the trail, and the length. We had stopped earlier at a lower overlook for the sunrise after a 25 minute walk up the trail. While continuing up the path, the crowd of folks who watched the sunrise from the top of the summit all came crowding down – hence the heavy traffic in the tunnel. Fortunately, just as I was starting to get really antsy, the tunnel turned and I could see the exit.
Our guide was an intense fellow named Joseph who does this tour twice a day – at sunrise and at sunset. He won’t be doing it much longer as he’s been accepted into dental school. He was a font of scientific information (greatly appreciated by me at least!), and he described Diamond Head as “Calcite Head” as the crystals erroneously thought to be diamonds that gave the mountain its name are calcite. He would also use phrases like “IL-6 stimulates B lymphocytes” instead of “cheese” when taking photos for his guests. He also covered the Pacific hot spot/Hawai‘ian island formation, argon/potassium isotope dating of lava flows, and the chain of seamounts that extend from the islands to Midway and up to the Aleutian trench.
At the top of Diamond Head, there was a four-story bunker facing south that was built after the Spanish American War. Didn’t help any on December 7, 1941 as the Japanese attacked from the north. We entered the bunker by crouching down and slipping through the observation slits on the third level. While the fourth and second level were blocked off, we took the spiral staircase down to the first level where a long staircase leads back to the pedestrian tunnel entrance. The return trip through the tunnel wasn’t as bad due to the much-reduced traffic and I could see the exit shortly after entering.
The parking lot where the van was parked is inside the crater – a tuff cone, not a true volcano, even if it is volcanic in origin – and there is a tunnel on the road that goes through the wall of the crater to go and come to the park.
Looking back down the trail before sun rise.
Sunrise.
Sunrise.
And more sunrise.
The grey and white rock is characteristic of a tuff cone - the rock originated from the sea bed and reefs.
The mass exodus from the summit after sunrise.
Looking into the crater at the park and tunnel into the crater.
Trail at the top was paved and had fencing.
Looks like rain.
The Waikiki Lighthouse.
Looking back towards Honolulu.
A diagram of the bunker.
Another look back inside the crater.
The bunker windows facing south.
Looking out the window.
Going down the spiral staircase.
Looking up from the bottom.
Stairs from the bunker down to the tunnel entrance.
The pedestrian tunnel.
Stairs down from the tunnel.
Looking out on Waikiki from the rail at Lulu's.
A catamaran on Waikiki.
The entry of the Moana Surfrider Hotel.
One of the porches on either side of the entry.
In back, the restaurant at which we had dinner on March 1st.
If this mimosa weren't so fuzzy, it'd anchor the pages of this travelogue rather than the umbrella Gibson.
After getting dropped off at the hotel, I unloaded my stuff in the room and walked the length of Waikiki commercial district to a restaurant, Lulu’s, that my morning barista insisted I should check out. So I did and had a breakfast of crabcakes benedict and mimosas while looking out over the Waikiki beach. Afterwards, I stopped at the Moana Surfrider – one of the oldest hotels in Waikiki and where we had dinner the first night – to take a couple of pictures. I moseyed through the shopping arcades and returned to the hotel to journal and nap before the final tour in O‘ahu – the Hidden Waterfall Hike.
The pick-up for the waterfall hike was delayed a half an hour due to the crowds/traffic/parade of the Honolulu Festival. The guide, a slender woman of Asian/Island extraction named Mee-na, discussed the water cycle, rain, and trade winds as we drove up the Pali Highway to the northeast and wetter side of the island. The jumping off point was a combination Presbyterian church and country club – an amusing combination of functions. We stopped at the club house for a pit stop and the rain began. I donned my rain gear and put a Ziploc bag over my big camera. In retrospect, I should’ve just put it away as I used the little waterproof camera for the entire walk.
The initial leg of the hike was a short stretch on the old highway, now abandoned, before turning into the forest. The rain came down intermittently throughout the hike. When under an especially dense section of canopy, it was hard to tell if it was raining at all.
The rain made the trail rather messy, and in places where the trail went up the slope, the water was running down the path. This was a bit of problematic for some of the guests wearing tennis shoes/sneakers. The four young women eventually “gave up” and began to disregard the puddle and let their feet get soaked – although they were still a bit averse to the red mud.
From there, we retraced our steps to the horse road, where Meena gave folks the option – it was raining rather hard at the time to retrace the path to the van, or take another loop back. The older couple, very sensibly, opted to return to the van. The balance of the group continued to climb the horse road, and then off the road through the rain forest. There were some rather treacherous places where I was very glad that I had my walking stick to navigate those slick muddy stretches.
The most challenging part was a steep slanted switchback over a gushing stream, noisily invisible in the greenery below. There were several lengths of rope to help navigate this section of trail. In the middle of my descent through this, my iPhone gives a deedledoop telling me Jonathan has just texted me.
Such timing.
I didn’t bother with the phone until the trail emerged onto the abandoned highway. I was pretty thoroughly soaked by this time and I moved the phone to the driest pocket I had despite the risk of butt-dialing someone.
The Ko‘olau Range with a thin waterfall - the result of the rain.
A closer view of the waterfall.
Cup of gold (Solandra maxima). Mee-na warned us later that handling the flower could cause toxicities.
A slightly fuzzy view of the old highway - the little camera had some focus problems today.
A tangled underbrush.
The muddy path into the thicket.
Eucalyptus bark.
More muddy trail.
Indian Head Ginger (Costus spicatus).
The waterfall.
The waterfall.
The old highway.
A roadside orchid.
An African tulip tree (Spathodea) with Ko‘olau Range in the background.
We were rather amused by the presentation of the gin Gibson, with umbrella, at Keo's Thai Restaurant.
The abandoned road twisted and turned along the steep slopes until we reached our original starting point where we climbed back up the hill to the parking lot and the van, where the older couple waited in the relative dryness of the van.
The return into Waikiki was complicated by the festival traffic, and Mee-na dropped us off a few blocks from the original pick up stops due to it.
Jonathan was already back from the conference, and I decided I was too tired and hungry to catch a taxi to attempt to navigate to the meeting point for the mathematician’s dinner excursion in search of dim sum. So after changing into dry clothes – I left the mud streaks on my calves as badges of honor – we went to the Thai restaurant, Keo’s in the Ambassador Hotel next door. We had an excellent meal sharing summer rolls and duck salad for starters. I had chicken pad thai and Jonathan a curry dish. We both had dessert – mango sorbet for me, and tapioca for Jonathan.