Tuesday was Veteran's Day so Zac and his comrades had the day off. Zac and I made plans to kayak with one of his coworkers and the co-worker's wife, Bernadette. We rented two tandem kayaks and drove to the other side of Oahu to Kualoa Point. About a third of a mile off the coast is a litle island called Chinaman's Hat, or Mokolii.
It was about 10:30 by the time we got sunscreen applied and the kayaks in the water. It was really beautiful out. It was nice and warm with a nice breeze coming off the ocean. It worried me a little, because while the water between the shore and the island was pretty calm, on the far side of the island and beyond the waves were larger and I had only been kayaking once previously. Also, I made the mistake(?) of reading up on beaches along that side of Oahu. There are some strong currents that sometimes pop up that can pull you out to sea. But with my trusty life-vest secured to me I figured the worse that would happen if washed overboard is I would be eaten by sharks before the Coast Guard could come rescue me. (I'm joking. Sort of.)
Perhaps I should disclose here that I am, on occasion, a total and complete wuss. I don't like heights, I get easily get motion sickness. I don't like amusement parks rides, the top of the Eiffel Tower was a little more than terrifying and I'll get queasy on car rides if the road curves side to side or rolls over hill after hill. This is all relevant as I stood there on the shore, looking at the 3-5 foot waves out there and thinking about the prospect of climbing up Chinaman's Hat, which had been suggested by Bernadette's husband. But I was strangely excited to go and give it a try, so we loaded up into our kayaks and headed out for the little island.
A couple of lessons learned. 1.) Kayaking successfully with two people in the same kayak required both people to be on the same page. That requires communication, probably verbal communication, unless you and your partner are telepathic. After a few fits and starts, Zac and I got in sync and developed a decent system of going where we wanted to go. 2.) It is easier to paddle when the sea is calm. A lot easier. And paddling when there are waves requires muscles. In your back and arms. Are we supposed to have muscles there? I got pretty tired from paddling once we got to the open water side of the island, but later that day I felt confident that I earned the hamburger I devoured with the number of calories I burned.
There is supposedly a little beach on the far side of the island that we were aiming for. Once we got around the side of the island, the waves picked up. But surprisingly I found them invigorating and exciting, rather than scary. We got to the open sea side of the island and Bernadette concluded that the beach on that side wasn't great for trying to land at. It was high tide and the waves were crashing against the rocks. We decided to go back to the other side of the island and land on the little beach on that side instead. We pulled our kayaks up on the beach and hung out in the water for awhile while we had some bottled water. The water was only about 4-5 deep and crystal clear. We looked up at the island and saw the path that people use to climb up the 206 feet to the top. The four of us decided to give it a try.
Chinaman's Hat is volcanic rock, so it's actually pretty easy to climb. Part of the walk is just hiking, but part of it really is climbing. Almost vertically. But like I said, the volcanic rock almost lends itself to being climbed with lots of places to put your feet and hands. It's pretty easy to grip, but it is also equally easy to scrap yourself up on it if you're not careful. The guys made it to the top first, with Bernadette and I a little ways behind, stressing caution over speed.
About 199 feet up I faced two options of making up it the last seven feet. And I do mean "up". At that point the guys' feet were essentially above my head and I needed to either climb straight up or try to swing myself around a rock that stuck out a ways to get to another set of rocks set up more like steps. Straight up was a little intimidating, because I wasn't confident in my upper body strength or shoes to get me up there without potentially falling backwards. Going around the protruding rock wasn't appealing either, because for a split second I would be swinging my body out over . . . nothing. I figured it would be about 10-15 feet before I hit the top of the tree below us. (The TOP of the tree. We're up a ways.)
I looked out around me. I was really close to the top. Really, really close. Part of my brain said, "This is quite the achievement for you. There's no shame in stopping here." But, oddly, strangely, bizarrely, my next thought was, "Screw that! I'm not stopping here. I'm getting to the top." So I swung myself around the rock, scampered up the remaining feet to the summit and enjoyed the fruits of my victory.
I can't explain the view. It was astonishing. The water was colors I've never seen. The mountains of Oahu were jutting out of the island with lush greenness. The sand was white, the coast was gorgeous. Sea turtles swam in the water and the waves crashed against the rocks. It was awe inspiring. It was magnificent. Now granted I didn't venture too close to the edge once I got up there, but I sat down on a rock and enjoyed the breeze as it came off the ocean, soaking up the sun and reveling in my achievement.
After spending some time up top, we had to climb down. Now usually this is the worst part, but for some reason my newly bad-ass self was able to get down the steps and around the Scary Protruding Rock and the rest of the way down rather quickly. No moments of terror. No moments of stomach churning. Just fun descending the hill. We spent some more time in the ocean enjoying the day. I told Zac, "I'm officially cashing in my You-Can't-Call-Me-A-Wuss chip for this week." Zac smiled at me and said, "A week? After that I'm willing to give you a week and a half!" We paddled back to the beach, loaded the cars and headed off to have a hamburger to celebrate our kayaking/climbing adventure.
It felt good. Zac patted my leg in the car and told me he was proud of me. I was proud of myself too. And no, I don't have any pictures because I didn't bring my camera with me. So I guess I'll just have to go back and do it again. Sounds like fun to me.
1 comment:
Congrats Kate: you've made me feel like an even bigger, more out-of-shape wuss :)
Good for you-sounds like you had a lot of fun.
I remember from canoeing in the Boundary Waters how difficult that whole "tandem" paddling thing was. No idea if it's easier/harder in a kayak.
In the end, my partner and I settled on a system wherein the back person did the steering and the front person just paddled on one side until the steerer needed him to switch.
The waves out in the middle of a big lake were tough enough to paddle through; I dare to think what ocean waves would be like.
Post a Comment