Waimea Hiking, Kohana Plantation

We took a side trip a few days ago down to the south/west side of the island, which is leeward and essentially arid. The Waimea canyon was our first stop, and yeah, it does basically look like a smaller Grand Canyon.

The next stop was Koke'e State Park, which is the inland access point for the Na Pali coast. It's not unlike the Lost Coast: too steep, remote, and isolated to develop. Big mountains drop down to the coastline. We hiked around in there, and the going was slightly tough. All in all, it was the most incredible trail we have ever hiked, ever. It's that awesome.

After that, we hit up some shave ice, and then it was off to surf Pakala. Someone tipped me that Pakala was the longest left in the world. I don't know about all that, but it was a long, clean, workable wall that A-framed overhead and just kept going. Lots of goofy footers in the water here.

Today was the first day on the whole trip that I didn't catch an overhead wave. The north shore is showing a small swell tomorrow, which means I'll probably try SUP surfing. Today didn't disappoint, though. We took a train through an old plantation, fed some tiny pigs, and went to the beach. Snorkeling rules. I saw an octopus!

Anyway, we keep kicking around more interesting stuff, like the pros/cons of hotel accomodation, Hawaiian sovereignty, and island culture, but somehow we don't blog it. Maybe later. The sovereignty is particularly interesting to us.

By the way, I'm warming up to Jahwaiian music.