Hawaii Day 8: Koko Head Crater Trail Hike

Apparently, Michel and I were feeling especially "hiker-ish" today because we decided that we could take on the Koko Head Crater Trail. It looks like this:

Yeah, we climbed to the top of that thing! The day started out kind of crazy. We, unfortunately, had to move out of our awesome 2nd floor cottage back to the studio cottage that we had originally paid for. It's nice, but I got VERY spoiled in the big cottage! Those views just really can't be beat! Anyways, we were told that the cleaning lady didn't come until 10:00 and she would clean our cottage that we would be moving into first, and then we could move into it. It was about 8:30 in the morning and I was already going stir-crazy, so Michel and I decided to go for a long walk on the beach. We were gone for about an hour and then came to wait until we could move. However, the cottage owner came in and said that if we just put all of our belongings together he would move everything for us and that way we didn't have to spend half the day waiting around inside. This sounded great to me until we found out that we had to stay gone until 3:00. We already knew that we wanted to hike Koko Head, but that would take an hour or two - tops. We also knew that we would be really sweaty and gross afterwards without the ability to take a shower. So we decided that we would still hike Koko Head and pack up a beach bag with bread, peanut butter, and chips for lunch, our swimsuits, and go swim at a beach that wasn't the one right outside of our door.

I didn't really know that much about Koko Head prior to the hike. Michel had just said that he had seen it and thought it would be fun to do. He did tell me that it increased in elevation by 1200 feet, but apparently that meant nothing to me at the time. So off we went!

Our view from the bottom looking up - last time to change our minds!

This trail was MUCH harder than Diamond Head - not only did it increase in elevation by over twice as much as Diamond Head, the trail itself was less structurally sound. There was old railway-looking tracks outlining the hike, but that didn't make it easier. The wooden planks were loose or built at an angle - it's hard to describe. Either way, it was a tough workout!

We're about at the halfway point here. Oh, and the first half of the climb was the easy part. It got harder! Michel even asked me if I wanted to go back, but I was determined to finish it!

This isn't even the top of the trail, but look at how much cityscape you can see just from the halfway point! Hawaii Kai is in the foreground and Diamond Head and Honolulu are in the background.

Whew!! This is hard work! I need a breather! I was so busy catching my breath that I had no idea that Michel was snapping pictures!

Finally!! We reached the top!!

The view was amazing!!

I smiled until I thought about the fact that we had to go down the same way that we came up...

One more gorgeous view before heading down

Going down was definitely just as treacherous, if not more so, than going up. It's easier to pull yourself UP onto an unsteady surface than it is to get your footing and jump DOWN onto an unsteady surface. Needless to say, it was a FABULOUS workout with amazing views, but don't ever ask me to do it again! My legs still hurt a day later!

After finishing our climb we headed over to Hanauma Bay. Our cottage owner raved about the snorkeling to do at Hanauma Bay and we still had over 2 hours to kill, so we decided why not?? Apparently everyone loves Hanauma Bay because there is a sign posted from the main street that says if the parking lot to park at the beach is open or closed. It only costs $1 to park, but it's $7.50 per person! What??! At a beach??? Oh well...we decided we wanted to see what the hype was all about. So we get there and stood in line for half an hour to pay our $15 admission fee! We're already ticked, but we're not leaving now. At this point we're given an admission ticket for a short video that we have to watch before we're allowed to enter the beach! Seriously?? Now we're getting ridiculous....  In fact, the video doesn't even start for 15 minutes, so we'll wait around some more. The video just outlines the fact that Hanauma Bay is a nature preserved. Much of this part of the ocean is made up of coral reef and not to touch any marine life that we may see, or encounter. I'm so glad that I watched a video of this; otherwise, I may have been tempted to touch an eel (that was said with much sarcasm btw)! So after our 10 minute video briefing of the history of this bay and how to swim with sealife, we're finally allowed to enter. $30 for snorkel gear and two hours (from the time we finished our hike and headed to Hanauma Bay) later....we enter the water! Sadly, this snorkel trip was disappointing. While we saw a TON of coral reef, and had to be careful in where we swam to not touch it or accidentally swim into it we saw very few fish out today. So all in all we paid about $50 for a one-hour swim and snorkel day. Definitely not worth it. But hey, we did see another part of Oahu, so I was happy about that.

We came home and showered and changed to have our last dinner out on the island. Again, this was by suggestion of our cottage owner, we went to Roy's. Apparently there is one in Plano as well, but I've never been and our cottage owner promised it was good. And by his suggestion I branched out of normal things that I eat to try the macadamian nut-crusted mahimahi. I'm not a huge fan of fish, but I knew that this was a fish only found in Hawaiian waters, so it would be much fresher than anything I've ever eaten. It was delicious!! I was so glad that I ordered it! I cleaned my plate, and finished before Michel! That usually indicates that I was really hungry!

All in all, a very fun day! Though our snorkeling was a bit of a bust we still had a great time!