The Dyal Dish: DAY 6 in HAWAII

We slept in this morning. We've been going full speed the last few days and wanted to slow down a little today. Our plan was to ocean kayak in Kane'ohe Bay on the windward coast.

KAYAKING TRIP

We got ready and ate breakfast, then went over to a kayak rental shop just around the corner from our hotel called "Go Bananas". They helped to attach our kayaks to the top of the jeep, and we were off for Kane'ohe Bay on the windward coast.

We were told that the place we were heading for was one of the most dramatic kayak trips you can take on Oahu, and one with the smoothest waters. It's to a sunken sand bar of over 1,000 acres that you can't see from the shore. It's Hawaii's version of Atlantis. At low tide, part of it is exposed as a beach that has risen from the sea. We knew it was high tide today, and it was possible we wouldn't be able to walk on any exposed sand, but we decided to paddle over and see the sand bar anyway.

It was a really sunny day, so before our trip over, we put on some sunblock. Then we jumped into our kayak (we each had our own), and took off from the pier just north of He'eia State Park. Almost immediately we started going over shallow coral and fish that we could see through the clear water. We were just barely above it. It was intriguing! Then after a mile of kayaking, suddenly there was a sand beach 2-3 feet beneath us. It was strange yet totally amazing. We seemed suspended above it as we were gliding through the water. Since the tide wasn't cooperating today, we didn't come upon the disappearing beach, but we jumped out of our kayaks and walked along the shallows of the beach for a little while as we rested from our trip over.

In the distance, just beyond the sand bar about a mile away, was Kapapa Island. We decided to paddle over to it. As we left the sand bar, the water was calm, but as we got closer, the colliding wraparound surf was annoying. The sea wasn't peaceful anymore. We had our water shoes on, so we jumped into the shallow reefy water and braved the surf as we walked our kayaks towards the rocky shore. We looked back to see how far we had come. It was a long way from where we started. We figure we kayaked about 2 1/2 miles. Kapapa Island was deserted, although we saw a camping site with a tent and a few propped-up fishing poles, but no one was there. We walked around and explored the island, then rested awhile before gong back. I put on more sunblock and offered some to Joshua, but he said he was alright -- something he really regretted later.

Of course, the trip back was a lot harder. Our arms were really tired from paddling. When we arrived at the sunken sand bar, we both laid back and rested in our kayaks while the waves and wind moved us closer to the pier where we started. After a brief rest, we paddled the rest of the way to shore. We had probably paddled about 5 miles that day! We looked at the clock in the jeep and it was 4:00 pm! We started at 10:00 am.... Wow! We couldn't believe that we had been out for six hours. It felt like only half that time. We tied the kayaks back on the jeep, and drove back to Waikiki. We were so tired from kayaking -- six whole hours! Boy, did we get a good workout!

Joshua on the sunken beach. Too bad the sand wasn't exposed that day. The tide was too high.

Julie in her kayak above the sand

The island in the distance is Kapapa Island.
We kayaked there next.

On the shore of Kapapa Island. We would've liked to fall onto a sandy beach to rest, but alas, it was too rocky. We explored the island, then sat on a couple of big boulders to rest up before returning.

POOL-TIME AND
DINNER AT SHOREBIRD BEACH BROILER

After returning our kayaks, we went back to the hotel and I rested by the pool while Joshua went up to our room to clean up and take care of his sunburned legs. Then he met me by the pool with a small BBQ chicken pizza that we shared. Afterwards we relaxed in a pair of canopy-chairs so we could get Joshua's legs out of the sun. Poor Josh - His legs were beginning to blister.

We had reservations for 9:00 that night at Shorebird Beach Broiler. It was at the Outrigger Reef Hotel on the beach. We heard that it was the kind of place that people look for in Waikiki to eat at. It's a great location, right on the beach, with a good view of the ocean. The meat was served to us rare...very rare....Okay, raw. You actually cook it yourself on their enormous grill, with the salad bar included. I had the beef shish-kabob, and Joshua had some kind of fish steak... don't remember what kind it was. A fun place, but very busy. There was also karaoke. Joshua dared me to try it.... but I didn't. We just listened to others sing. After dinner, we stopped by an ABC Store to get some aloe for Josh's legs.