Day Two: A Day of Scenery

Southeast Oahu is full of steep, sharply-ridged mountains right up against the sea. We drove on every major road running through there at some point during that day. The grandeur has California's coast beat any day, and my mother commented that there was no longer any need to do the famed Highway One scenic drive. For some reason the mountains remind me of Japan, even though I've never been there.

Nu'uanu Pali Lookout is a very tiny state park that consists mainly of the one lookout point. According to the signs, the valley being viewed was formed by a gigantic landslide, when half of a volcano fell into the sea.


Makai pier is a research pier. There was no indication what sort of research was done at the pier. Two small islands are visible from there - Manana, also called Rabbit, and Kaohikaipu.


Behind the pier, the mountains loom very ominously. They look like they're right there, probably because of how steep they are.

Some land juts out to the right of the pier.

The right picture is the same land jutting out, except from around the corner on the other side. The pier is visible beyond the part that juts out. This was viewed from near the Makapu'u lighthouse, which we didn't see because by the time we got there it was too dark to do any climbing.

Hawaii Kai is a fairly wealthy-looking residential area to the east of Honolulu. It has some very nice mountains in it.

A lookout point just past Hanauma Bay, next to Sandy Beach.

---

Beach of the day:

Sandy Beach Park is between Hanauma Bay and Makapu'u Point. The waves aren't too tall but can be strong. I spent my time poking around in a bunch of rocks covered with algae, urchins, anemones, and other small creatures, and trying not to get dashed up against them when the water came in.