Chinaman's Hat

Chinaman's Hat - August 20, 2016

I never thought I could walk there, not even in my wildest dreams. Well, I dreamt about it, but it was more of a nightmare. I remember watching a video of Uncle Gary and his friends floating to the island and having a hard time. That video was not a good experience. But as things have it, when your in the presence of great people, we do great things.

I guess Darren's friend monitored the tide height throughout the month and notice that the tide was very low on this day. Darren set up an Annual Kualoa BBQ. Although we haven't done one of these before as an OAG group. I guess this is the start of some kind of tradition.

We met at Kualoa Regional at 8:30am, but didn't get to start until 9:00am. Not only OAG's where there, other of Darren's friends and family were there as well. I'd say about 30 of us in total. I brought Michelle, the kids, and Malia's friends Amy & Jade. All the OAG's made, except Aprille who had to work.

We didn't know where to start, so we just tried to line up in front of the island and bee line it. Dozens of other people were on their way already to the island.

The water level was low above knee high I'd say. Everyone was having a hard time keeping their balance, but we managed. The walk to Chinaman's Hat was pretty far about 1/2 mile or so. I took us 1/2 hour to walk there. We had no problems. Darren them tackled the summit first. The rest of us walked around the island to the hidden beach. We would actually stay here the entire time.

Michelle and her friends had a blast. I was so happy for them. They really enjoyed it. Jared had fun in the tide pools trying to catch fish. The kids jumped off the rock into the water taking lots of pictures. We decided not to tackle the summit as the kids rather just play in the water. We stayed a few hours and headed back to Kualoa.

The water level rose, albiet only 2 inches or so. Some parts got chest high, but not more than that. It felt more rough going back. The tide obviously got more rough. We got to our picnic spot and set up, It took us a while to set up and Darren and Chris had to cook the food on the grill. Chris got this amazing hibachi, one that his grandpa built 50 years ago.

The food was top notch. Sarah even pounded poi. We had so much. I drank and ate so much as well. I have to go back on my diet after today. For now it was great feasting.