Hike, Kayak, Snorkel, Kayak

While in Hawaii, we like to live like Kama'aina, but we also like to take one tour. Sometimes it's just nice to be guided. I did a Hike and Bike with Bike Hawaii on my first trip and really enjoyed it.

This was my bike tour in 2011

It's off the beaten path a bit. Small groups. Personalized attention. The Musician wanted to kayak, so we found a Hike, Kayak and Snorkel tour with Bike Hawaii and put it on the schedule.

Pick up was scheduled exactly where I had pick-up before ... adjacent to the Ala Moana hotel. Pick up is available at most of the downtown and Waikiki hotels, but this one has adjacent free parking. Several other groups for other tours were waiting here also. We were met by our guide. I have to admit, I can't remember his name ... We will call him Jake? Jeremy? It has been awhile and I'm late with blogging. He has been with the company for many years. We talked about my previous tour and the same guides are still with the company and have been for a long time as well. That tells me a lot about the company. They like each other. They like their boss. They like their jobs. But, seriously ... if you got paid to hike and bike and kayak and snorkel in Hawaii, who wouldn't like their jobs? There was supposedly another couple scheduled for the tour, but no one was there. "Jake" called the hotel and the couple had no idea they had reservations. Right name, though. Strange. Must have been booked by a tour company and they were unaware and not interested in trying to rush it at the last minute. So ... we got a private tour for the day!!! YEA!!! Jake astutely noticed that we had requested no cheese and no mayo on our lunch, so he asked about meat ... Oddly, our vegetarian request with no cheese and no mayo was misinterpreted ... we got turkey, without cheese, sandwiches. We had packed snacks anyway, but we made a detour to a grocer and Jake picked up vegetarian sandwiches for us.

We drove across the island to our first stop at Kualoa ranch for our very short hike. It was maybe 3/4 mile round trip. At the top we had amazing views of Mokoli'i (Chinaman's Hat) in the ocean and the Kualoa Mountains. They are filming Jurassic Park 3 and we saw the remnants of some scaffolding set up for some of the scenes.  It was actually a pretty cloudy day, but that made it cool and gave a different relaxing feel to the scenery.

Quick change at the gift shop and across the street where "Jake" was prepping the kayaks. The Musician and I decided to go in a tandem. We headed out towards Chinaman's Hat ... our next stop. It was low tide and the water was clear. Really easy to see the bottom. We wanted to see Honu, but today wasn't the day. The skies became a little grayer, but that meant the sun wasn't beating down on us. The waves weren't too bad and the water wasn't rough. Maybe a 30-45 minute kayak and it wasn't exhausting, but it wasn't just lying back and resting either.
 
Once on Chinaman's Hat, we had a chance to don our snorkel gear. It was very shallow and the fish were small and shy. As shallow as it was, there wasn't a lot of reason to don our fins. We snorkeled for maybe 30 minutes and "Jake" stayed on shore as a spotter ... just in case. The sea slugs were kind of cool, but so was the water (notice my spin on words?). When we had seen enough, we got out and enjoyed the tiny rocky beach while enjoying our lunch and the view of Oahu.

 After a brief rest, "Jake" took us on a brief walk to the back side of Chinaman's Hat. It's much rougher on the open side and would have been hard for me to kayak there and no way would I snorkel there. But, after climbing across rocks to get around ... another beach and a hidden sea cave. It felt magical. Would be a great place for a romantic date. If we ever move to Oahu, this may become a good picnic spot.

Look what millenia of waves on lava does

 We also were fortunate enough to witness the roosting grounds (and a few chicks) of the Wedge-Tailed Shearwater. The Island is a protected sanctuary for these very rare birds. I always find moments like this magical.

Back to our kayaks. A group of young daredevils waded across from Oahu (yes, it was that shallow) and were planning to climb to the top of the hat. Apparently, the walk from Oahu to Mokoli'i is a "road" of crushed lava rock ... it was once a bridge, but after millenia of crashing waves, the bridge collapsed and the rock has been pounded into smaller rocks over the years. Not smooth, though ... sharp. We watched a bit and I was surprised at how quickly (maybe 5-10 minutes) it took them (in flip flops and bikinis) to get almost to the top. Apparently, to get to the peak, you have to do a little work with a rope, but that might be something I want to do one day.

 Back to the kayaks and another 45-minute paddle. Tide was coming in, so it was pretty easy. It started to sprinkle and that was OK by me. Just added to the adventure. Not every day in Hawaii can be filled with sunshine. Ride back to the care, dinner, and then home for a good night's rest.  I would do another tour with Bike Hawaii. I wasn't disappointed and really enjoyed the tour. If you were looking for more hike ... then take one of their biking tours. If you want more snorkel, they have those too. The focus of this tour was the Kayak and the hike and snorkel were added bonuses.