Exploring Oahu: Camping at Malaekahana

This weekend, Barry, Brian, Aziem and I headed up the windward coast to go camping. We went online and got a permit for a site on Malaekahana State Recreation Area, a 37 acre gated park just north of La'ie. Camping is one of my favorite things that I rarely seem to find the time to do, and since Barry and I have our hearts set on hiking out to Kalalau Beach at some point, we figured we'd better try out the new small tent we bought and get some practice roughing it a little. More importantly, I figured I'd give my brand new Canon EOS Rebel T2i a spin.

Here are some shots from the trip:
Here you can see Barry poking his head out of our tent. In the background, you can see the short path down to the beach. Our campsite was just a few short steps away from the water!

The beach was beautiful.

On the sand, small crabs scurried back and forth. I couldn't help but pick one up for a closer look - and a test of my new camera's macro ability.

As the sun set on the other side of the island, we knew it was time to head back to camp and get ready for a chilly night.

By chilly, of course, I mean somewhere around 66 degrees Fahrenheit - hey, we live in Hawaii! That's cold to us! Besides, it was windy. That means it was more like 64 degrees, with wind chill.

The obvious way to stay warm was to build a nice campfire. Of course, a campfire allowed us to do what I consider to be the most important camping activity: making s'mores. I simply refuse to camp without eating at least one s'more. To do so would be sacrilegious.

I took advantage of my new camera to take this shot of the campsite at night.

We woke to see the sunrise. Unfortunately, the clouds blocked the sun from being seen. But with the morning came low tide, revealing an almost complete land bridge to the larger island that was just offshore. The island is called Moku'auia Island, but it's better known as Goat Island. I don't know why they call it that - there aren't any goats there. The island is a seabird sanctuary, and walking through the middle of it is strictly forbidden. However, you are allowed around the outer edge, so long as you don't disturb any nesting birds.

The far shore reveals the island's volcanic nature, and is littered with tide pools sharp cliffs.

Being the nerd that I am, I liked this side of the island the most.

The shallow pools were filled with various small critters, including crabs, fish and urchins.

But most people would consider the gem of the island the north facing shore. Protected by the rocky cliffs to the east, this secluded little beach is calm, quite and serene. The sand is soft and the water clear. The only footprints here were our own and the gentle impressions left by seabirds. There's something unbelievably romantic about having an island to yourself, especially when it contains such a stunning little strip of beach.

All and all, it was a fantastic little trip. I wish we'd had more time and could have stayed a couple of days to really explore Malaekahana Beach and enjoy the serenity of Moku'auia Island.