John & Jessica Day 8

On the last day of their visit, Jessica has wanted to take a hike along the far western reaches of the island to Ka'ena point. All of us had been to the end of the road, but the point is another 2.5 miles beyond. John elected to stay home, turn in their rental car and take care of some chores (John had commented that he was looking forward to a relaxing vacation!)

DeAnna, Jessica and I started out early in the morning and after parking the car, started our hike around 9:00am. We walked along the shoreline and explored the rocks. Before long, we made our way more deliberately towards the point. Glancing at the waves, we noticed a pod of whales off shore breeching and jumping!

When we finally reached Ka'ena point, we saw several albatros flying overhead. They were magnificent! The entire point is a protected bird sanctuary and albatros nesting area. Check out this movie of an albatros taking off!


We hiked through one of the last sand dune areas on the island to the actual western point of Oahu. It turned out that at this very time, some people were on site taking a census of endangered Monk Seals and there were three seals right in front of us! We took lots of pictures and I ventured down onto the rocks to get a closer picture.

One of the seals raised its head, so I got a good snapshot! Immediately, DeAnna called for me to come back to the shore. The observers said that if the seals raise their heads that people are getting too close!



The long hike back was hot and dry. Every hill we topped only seemed to reveal another hill and more trail to hike. Finally around noon, we saw the car and it was a welcome trip to the McDonalds in Haleiwa for a drink!

John & Jessica finished packing for most of the afternoon and we headed out towards the airport to get some dinner and do some shopping. After a nice dinner at Macaroni Grill, we shopped the ABC store at the Ala Moana Mall. Several souvenirs later, DeAnna and I watched as John & Jessica made their way through security and on their way back to Oklahoma. Both of them were sad to leave and Jessica's final post of her trip can be read HERE.

This was a wonderfully active week. John & Jessica saw more in one week than many residents see in years of living here. They are an interesting and loving couple and some day soon, they will be wonderfully busy parents! I'm glad they came to visit, but we don't have a lot of time to reminisce - Julia and her friends will be here on May 3rd!