Hawaii - Jeff Campbell [123]
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KUALOA
Although there’s not a lot to see nowadays, in ancient times Kualoa was one of the most sacred places on O′ahu. When a chief stood on Kualoa Point, passing canoes lowered their sails in respect. The children of royalty were brought here to be raised, and it may have been a place of refuge where kapu (taboo) breakers and fallen warriors could seek reprieve from traditional Hawaiian law.
Kualoa Regional Park
Offering an expansive vista of offshore islands, this park (237-8525; 49-479 Kamehameha Hwy; admission free; sunrise-sunset) is backed by magnificent mountain scenery. Palm trees shade a narrow white-sand beach that offers safe swimming, but watch out for jellyfish in summer. There are picnic areas, barbecue grills, rest rooms, showers and sometimes a lifeguard.
Birders will want to stroll south along the beach to ′Apua Pond, a 3-acre brackish salt marsh on Kualoa Point, and a nesting area for the endangered ae′o (Hawaiian black-necked stilt). Further down the beach, you can spot Moli′i Fishpond, its rock walls covered with mangrove.
That eye-catching peaked islet you see offshore is Mokoli′i (‘little lizard’). According to legend, it’s the tail of a mo′o (lizard spirit) slain by the goddess Hi′iaka and thrown into the ocean. Following the immigration of Chinese laborers to Hawaii, this cone-shaped island also came to be called ‘Chinaman’s Hat,’ a nickname that persists today, regardless of political correctness.
Roadside camping is allowed, but beware that this county park is often a hangout for drinking and carousing at night. For camping permits, Click here.
Kualoa Ranch
A wholeheartedly touristy attraction, to be sure, but with an almost irresistibly scenic location, as you may recognize from movies and TV shows. Tour groups, especially Japanese, make up the bulk of visitors at this island-style dude ranch (237-7321, 800-231-7321; www.kualoa.com; 49-560 Kamehameha Hwy; tours $21-145; 9am-3pm). If you want to see where Hurley built his Lost golf course, Godzilla left his footprints or the Jurassic Park kids hid from dinosaurs, take a jeep or ATV tour of the movie-set sites. Forget the ranch’s horseback trail rides, which lack much giddy-up. Inside the visitor center, cafeteria-style Aunty Pat’s Paniolo Café lays out a supersized barbecue lunch buffet ($16) between 10:30am and 1:30pm daily.
Back in 1850 Kamehameha III leased over 600 acres of this land to Dr Judd, a missionary doctor who became one of the king’s advisers. Judd planted the land with sugarcane, built flumes to transport it and imported Chinese laborers to work the fields. Drought spelled the end of O′ahu’s first sugar plantation in 1870. Today you can still see the ruins of the mill’s stone stack, and a bit of the crumbling walls, about a half-mile north of the beach park and the main ranch entrance.
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KA′A′AWA
Here the road really hugs the coast and the pali move right on in, with barely enough space to squeeze a few houses between the base of the cliffs and the road. Swanzy Beach Park, a narrow neighborhood beach used mainly by fisherfolk, is fronted by a shore wall. Across the road from the park is a convenience store, a gas station and a hole-in-the-wall post office – pretty much the center of town, such as it is. Uncle Bobo’s (237-1000; 51-480 Kamehameha Hwy; mains $7-12; 10:30am-7pm Tue-Sun) drive-in fills beachgoers up with barbecue, burgers, hot dogs and shave ice.
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A DO-IT-YOURSELF ‘LOST’ TOUR
Figuring out exactly where on O′ahu scenes from TV’s smash-hit series Lost are filmed is almost as much of a local pastime as reading