Day 3 of DSG Hawaii Overseas Exchange program 2012 began each morning with the standard routine PT regime, duty patrol preparing breakfast and having the Flag Break ceremony. The schedule of activities started to get more interesting and exciting from this Day 3 onwards. The schedule was filled with coastal scenic drive to along the highway towards the Southeastern tip of Oahu, up along the coastline towards northern part of Oahu. After dividing the group into 4 vehicles, 2 x 12 passenger rental vans and 2 sedans. We started our coastal scenic drive along the highway.
Hanauma Bay
First stop was Hanauma Bay, is a very beautiful and scenic location, it’s a marine embayment formed within a volcanic cone and it is a very popular tourist destination. The view from the top was superb, the waters were crystal clear and clean. Due to time constraints on our schedule, we didn’t go down to Hanauma Bay. Instead, we took many photos around the top of the mountain overlooking Hanauma Bay and the crystal clear waters of Hanauma Bay.
Lanai Lookout, Halona Blowhole, Sandy Beach Park
We continued driving along the highway and stopped at Lanai Lookout (based on Google maps and my photographs), another great location for photo taking of the gorgeous Oahu coastline. We all enjoyed the sea breeze and sceneries, taking many photographs and relaxing.
Continuing the journey along the highway, we stopped at another lookout, that is very popular since we spotted other tourists there too. This was Halona Blowhole Lookout and our Hawaiian hosts shared with us that the blowhole would shoot sea spray high into the air through the cave/hole during windy days when the tide is high and the ocean breeze sends the waves hitting the shore. However, the weather in the morning was very calm and relaxing thus we couldn’t get to see the Blowhole in real time action. Nevertheless, that didn’t dampen the spirits and morale of the boys and girls, they were busy taking photographs of the sceneries, natural surroundings, friends and with our Hawaiian hosts.
As we continued our journey, we reached Sandy Beach Park for a toilet break and stretch break because our next destination is Makapu’u Lighthouse and there is no toilet facilities around the area when we would be trekking up towards the lighthouse. Sandy Beach Park is a very relaxing place, we can feel the strong sea breeze blowing towards us.
Makapu’u Point Trail
The coastal scenic drive continued and soon we reached the base of our trek, the Makapu’u Point Trail. This is also a very popular trail and it’s listed on Hawaii State Parks hiking trails information. After parking our vehicles, led by our Hawaiian hosts, the boys and girls trekked up towards Makapu’u Point Lighthouse, it wasn’t too much of a difficult trek for us. The weather was great except it was a bit hot and dry. The views along the trek up were really beautiful, the vast open land and mountains, the open blue ocean on the other side. Being the main/chief photographer, I tried to trek up faster than the rest of them, in order for me to take more photographs of them trekking up towards Makapu’u Point Lighthouse. This task proved a bit challenging, having to move up and down the lead patrol to ensure that I am in front ahead of them. The views up at Makapu’u Point were magnificent and very rewarding for all of us even though we were a bit tired out, we were able to view the windward coast and offshore islands – Manana Island a.k.a Turtle Island, the historic red-roofed Makapu‘u Lighthouse built in 1909, which produced a gorgeous, breathe-taking and stunning photograph against the deep blue sea below (that I got it captured down here!!)
After resting and taking many photographs at Makapu’u Head, we all climbed up further towards a higher point where the ridge line was. There were old World War II pillion boxes and the view was just as magnificent. It was a great trek and DSG took a group photograph up there, with their distinctive coloured school t-shirts against the beautiful clear blue sky and weather, DSG conquered a peak and unlocked another achievement to their impressive history! The Makapu’u Point Trail is definitely one of my favourite highlights of my 10 days Hawaii trip and I personally enjoyed it a lot!
Kualoa Regional Park
After a lunch break somewhere along the way (I can’t recall our lunch location), we proceed with our drive towards Kualoa Regional Park, located at the edge of Kane’ohe Bay on the Windward side of the island. It was a nice park and looking across the ocean, we can see an island, it is known as Mokoli’i Island and it is also known as Chinaman’s Hat. We all took a longer break here, group photo taking, relaxing and enjoying the sea breeze.
North Shore and Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle
The coastal scenic drive continued up towards the Northern side of Oahu, we had 2 stops, one to look at surfers in action and the other to see the Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle along the beach (I would fill in the details for both beach locations once I am able to obtain them). From the surfing action along the beach, we can see that it’s a big sport and following up here in Hawaii. At the other stop, at approximately this address location – 61 Kamehameha Highway, this was where we walked towards the beach area and spotted the Hawaiian Green Sea Turtles, protected and kept a distance away from human beings. The Hawaiian Green Sea Turtles is protected as a threatened species under State and Federal laws. For more information on the Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle, please visit Malama Na Honu website. Remember to treat the Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle with respect and do not feed, touch, tease or disturb them!
We were then on our way back to our campsite for dinner and rest time after a very eventful coastal scenic drive for the whole day. During the night, the 4 patrols presented their skit to their peers and teachers-in-charge that they prepared for the upcoming Scouting Exchange with the local Hawaiian Scouts. It was fun to watch them in action and each patrol had their unique strengths in each of their skit. Therefore, their skits were combined together, taking the best out of each patrol’s skit, mixing it together into one united DSG skit, that would be presented during the night when the local Hawaiian Scouts arrived for the exchange program.
Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.