One thing that makes the Hawaiian Islands so lovely is the casualness of their beauty. You'll be rounding a bend in the road, and pow! A dramatic view like this. In the part of the world where I make my drone-life, a scene like this would be famous. Here on Oahu--the most crowded of the islands--it's just another bright vista: mountains and sea. The island is beautiful whether you're looking or not, and it doesn't care if you're impressed. "Oh, yes, look at me," say the folded green hills, plunging into the rocky Pacific. "Aren't I...pretty?"
On your first trip to Hawaii, you're in shock. You're jet-lagged and dizzy from a nine-hour flight and a near-total lack of sleep. But it doesn't even matter. This place Hawaii, right? You want to do absolutely everything right now because you know you'll never be coming back. You zip around from island to island, hitting the highlights, a luau here, snorkeling there. You might have time to grab a quick lei. But on your second trip, you're like, "Hawaii? Nice. Let's slow down and see what we missed last time. I never thought I'd make it back here."
And what you missed last time is the neglected west coast of Oahu, the island where Honolulu is located. No one can blame you for trying to escape Hawaii's capital city! The only town I know with worse traffic is D.C. And yet, you don't have to fly all the way to Kauai to get away from the exhaust fumes. Oahu's little-known "Leeward Side" is mostly residential and mostly the domain of ethnic Hawaiians.
Oahu, like all these islands, has a wet side and a dry side. The rains come in from the northeast around here and spend themselves mainly in the lush green mountains of the "Windward Side," or the east coast, where traffic snakes bumper-to-bumper along the shore. But here on the dryer west coast, there's not as much for the tourist to see--except all this unspeakable beauty that Hawaii can take for granted.
Kaena Point is a little spur of land that juts out into the Pacific at the northwest corner of Oahu. There's a bird sanctuary out there, so dogs aren't allowed. Oh, and beware the Hawaiian centaur.
You'll see on your map that the road that encircles the entire island becomes a footpath out here. That's okay. Start early, while it's still cool--especially since you'll be waking up around 5am. Drive your rental car up to Dillingham Airfield and just keep on going until you arrive at pavement's end and a gate. Take lots of water, and hike past the gate. You won't be back here till the day is blisteringly hot and
Actually, I started writing this post in August of 2016. It's now April of 2022, and I'm just going to publish it as is so that I'll have these old photos saved in cyberspace.
Why do we spend our lives in ugly places?
