Only had time for a quick hike today. Mokoli’i Island or Chinaman’s Hat as it is more commonly known fit the bill.

Getting ready

I met Jasmin at Kualoa Regional Park, which was crowded with weekend campers. We managed to launch the kayak in the water without flipping ourselves in the process. Always an accomplishment in my book.

Prepare to land

The waters were a little choppy and the current kept us making corrections to make sure we landed on the island. As we got closer, we could see several kayaks already on the beach and people on top of the island.

Pu’u Kanehoalani

Roughly 15 minutes later, we found ourselves on Chinaman’s Hat. Looking out towards the impressive Pu’u Kanehoalani which sits on Kualoa Ranch.

Panoramic view from the top

It was a quick 10-15 minute walk to the top. From the 210′ elevation, we could see the Ko’olau Mountain Range, Pu’u Ohulehule and Pu’u Kanehoalani. Quite a treat. Click here for the larger image.

Swimmers

We saw swimmers, SUP and more kayaks approaching the island. Guess this place gets a lot of traffic. The island is owned by the City & County and is open from dawn to dusk.

Cove

Looking down at the small cove on the northern side of the island.

Rain shower

The swimmers came ashore on the island just in time to catch a rain shower moving in from the ocean.

Mauka view

Looking towards the mountains.

Makai view

Looking towards the ocean.

Looking towards Kaneohe

Climbed down to get a better view of the island. Photo by Jasmin Nepomuceno.

Looking back towards Kualoa

A different view of the island.

Rock climbing

Small kine rock climbing on the Kaneohe ocean side of the island. Photo by Jasmin Nepomuceno.

Kayaking away

Leaving Chinaman’s Hat. It was fun.

GPS Tracks

Round trip mileage including kayaking and exploring the island was a whopping one mile. Short and sweet. Almost makes me want to buy a kayak. Next island to visit: Gilligan’s Island!

Taking a break from Terra Firma, I found myself at Windward Watersports in Kailua with the Barefoot Hikers group, getting a crash course in kayak handling and the waters surrounding the Mokulua Islands, also known as Na Mokulua, Twin Islands and the Moks. Don’t stand up in the kayak and avoid the coral reef. Got it.

Who’s first?

We launched from the beach access off Lanipo Road. There is a ban on kayak rental companies from launching at the beaches, luckily the shop let us borrow their truck to haul the kayaks down to the beach.

One leg at a time

I paired up with Jimmy and we climbed in our kayak one leg at a time. Just like putting your pants on.

Use those forearms

We started paddling towards the Mokulua islands, with light winds and 2-3 foot waves. Perfect day for kayaking.

Moku Nui

Left. Right. Left. Right. After making a couple directional corrections to compensate for the currents, we soon spotted the beach on the larger island of Moku Nui.

Beach landing

We dragged our kayak out of the water and onto the beach to avoid being tossed around in the surf. It seemed that waves were coming in from three directions on this beach.

Panoramic view of the Kailua coastline

Click here for the larger image.

Taking a walk on the rocky side

After everybody made it in, we took a short walk on the edge of the island. Going into the interior of the island is forbidden, as it’s a seabird sanctuary for shearwater birds and Bulwer’s petrels.

Queen’s Bath

Jeremy doing a cannonball in the watering hole, known as Queen’s Bath. A pod of whales put on a spectacular breaching show off the islands.

Shearwater burrows

Walking back towards the beach, we noticed a cracked egg lying outside the hill that was pockmarked with shearwater nests. Shearwater birds only have one chick at a time.

Moku Iki

Group photo of the Barefoot Hikers, with the smaller and off-limit island of Moku Iki in the background.

Hit the surf

We didn’t have that much time to explore the island, as we had to return the kayaks back to the rental company by 4:30pm. It was already 3:20pm, so we all decided to head back as the waves were also getting bigger.

Aim for the green house

It was a little harder paddling back, due to the currents and bigger waves. In fact, we “surfed” some of the waves coming back!

Back on the beach

Coming back to the beach access was a lot easier than landing on the Moks. We just basically glided in and dragged our kayak onto the beach.

GPS Tracks

The entire trip was 2.1 miles. Almost makes me want to buy a kayak!