We walked around the Windward side of the island to collect Easter eggs but failed to meet the Easter Bunny today.

Kaneohe Bay Drive

Leaving Groot and Lilia behind us as we started our day.

Kaneohe Bay Drive

Chico plucking some ripe calamansi from the nearby shrub, which turned out to be real sour and became regurgitated.

Kaneohe Bay Drive

Passing by the townhome community developed in the early 1970s that transformed this former agricultural area into a residential development.

Kaneohe Bay Drive

ChatGPT photo at an intersection. Where did those mangoes come from?

Kaneohe Bay Drive

Practicing for the Coconut Tree Climbing Championship. ‘E’ita!

Kaneohe Bay Drive

Gas prices are skyrocketing, so time to trade in the car for the ultimate green, zero-emission mode of transport, the shopping cart. This cultural symbol of modern consumerism was invented in 1937 by Sylvan Goldman of Humpty Dumpty Supermarkets in Oklahoma.

Kaneohe Bay Drive

Yielding to vehicular traffic on the road.

Kaneohe Bay Drive

Even drones fall from trees. Monkeys are safe today.

Kaneohe Bay Drive

Group photo on the tree that few climbed, the rest of us stayed on terra firma.

Kaneohe Bay Drive

Just missing the bubblegum. Is that how they used to dance back in the day?

N Kalaheo Avenue

Groot was here.

N Kalaheo Avenue

Crossing over Kawainui Canal that was constructed in 1952 for flood control but has resulted in Hamakua Marsh slowly drying out. Unintended consequences.

Beach Access

The guys sticking it on the chain link fence. All beaches in Hawaii are public with the exception of military bases and there must be public access pathways. However, some financially entitled owners try to claim the beach fronting their property as their own, which leads to friction with locals and transplants.

Beach Access

Why can’t we have nice toys like these? The usual suspects.

Kailua Beach

Getting our feet sandy on part of the 2.5 mile beach that has been ranked as one of the best beaches in the world.

Private Road

Back on the road again.

N Kalaheo Avenue

Passing by the Naupaka Kahakai flowers that are only found by the ocean. They only have half the petal as there is another half of the flower called Naupaka Kuahiwi that are only found in the mountains. Legend has it that these were two lovers that were killed due to a forbidden romance and were turned into ocean and mountain flowers, forever separated in life and death.

Mo’okua Street

We were looking for a garage sale and instead found a house filled with driftwood artistic interpretations.

McDonald’s

Sitting on hamburger stools, possibly the last restaurant out of 72 stores in Hawaii that still has these nostalgic seats.

Uloha

We decided to check out the store whose acronym means “Uncle’s Local Outfitter of Hawaiian Adventures.” The original town store opened in 2017 and this second location opened in 2024 due to strong demand. Buy local, when you can afford it.

Uloha

Thanks to Tessa for pointing out that they were Easter Eggs hidden in the store and they each were worth from 10% to 50% off on store merchandise. Our group found all five and purchased stuff we wouldn’t have if it weren’t for the discounts. We also met Micah who rang up our sales and found out he was another fleet of foot KST hiker. Watch out Derek, Dylan and Conrad. He told us he hiked from Pupukea to Pali in a day and change. To be young again.

Tokyo Central

Having fun with dollar bubbles and seasonal Peeps.

Paia Fishmarket

Ending my 46 days of self-imposed ban on Coca-Cola as we had our lunch at one of the restaurants that had its origins in the plantation town of Pa’ia.

Hamakua Drive

Ok, now how do I get back up to the bridge? With a little help from my friends.

Keolu Drive

Walk with Aloha!

Keolu Drive

All pau. Perfect timing as the rain started to fall from the heavens as we made it back to our cars. We drove to Windward Mall to take a photo with the Easter Bunny only to find out he didn’t show up for work. It’s like finding out that Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy doesn’t exist. Crushed dreams.

GPS Tracks

Our Easter Egg walk and #16 of the perimeter walks covered 6.2 miles with fun friends and good times.

Ka hale o Cantu

The group continuing the tradition that started in Protestant Germany in the 16th century.

Ka hale o Cantu

Some found more than one Easter Egg. Lucky them.

Ka hale o Cantu

What do we have here? One egg was worth more than the 50% off previously discovered, actually the value was to the end consumer, the right end consumer. The others contained George Washington bills not yet autographed by the 47th President. Thanks to everybody that came out for the Easter Egg walk and only one more to go!

Photos/Crew taken by Akira Suzuki, Aida Gordon, Chico Cantu, Cristy CM, Mari Saito, Marilyn Bermudez, Tessa Bugay, and yours truly. Not necessarily in order.

Note: I have been made aware that some hikers have been using my blog as a hiking guide and getting lost on the trails. Please note that this blog was made to document the hike for the crew(s) that did it. That is why some of my comments will seem to have no relevance or meaning to anybody outside of the crew(s) that hiked that trail. My blog was never meant as a hiking guide, so please do not treat it as such. If you find inspiration and entertainment from these hikes, that is more than enough. If you plan on replicating these hikes, do so in the knowledge that you should do your own research accordingly as trail conditions, access, legalities and so forth are constantly in flux. What was current today is most likely yesterdays news. Please be prepared to accept any risks and responsibilities on your own as you should know your own limitations, experience and abilities before you even set foot on a trail, as even the “simplest” or “easiest” of trails can present potential pitfalls for even the most “experienced” hikers. One should also always let somebody know of your hiking plans in case something doesn’t go as planned, better safe than sorry.

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!