MAKAPU'U LIGHTHOUSE

We took a hike today to the Makapu'u lighthouse. It was built in 1908 and sits halfway up the hill. The light is called a hyperradiant lens, which was powered by a kerosene lamp,with a mantle on it. It's always amazing how much light these oil lamps and mirrors and lenses put out. The black and white picture shows how big it was. The lens and lantern were lifted up from a boat up the side of the cliff using a block and tackle. The sign said that workers had to deal with crashing waves, protruding rocks, and high winds to accomplish their task. I can attest to the high winds.

As you can probably see, "hike" is a bit of an overstatement. It's an uphill walk on a macadam surface. John was a trooper. I can tell how bad he feels, because he usually leaves me in the dust when we walk up a hill, and I wasn't even breathing hard and he was mostly behind me. Usually he gets behind me so he can push me up the hill. I did not force him to do this.

If you have a lucky day you might see whales here. We didn't have a lucky day whale wise.

The valley we look down at was a thriving business in yams and sweet potatoes which were sold to the whaling ships from about 1820 until 1922 when Alan Davis bought it and named it Wawamulu ranch and raised cattle. He built a main house for his family and six other houses for the workers. The whole thing was inundated by a tsunami in 1942 and the family moved away and never came back. If you look you can see how a tsunami would have been really funneled into this valley because there is a fairly narrow inlet and high walls on either side of the entry.

We didn't know it, but there was a tsunami warning this morning (turned out it wasn't really coming here). Obviously the people we saw going down to the beach didn't know it either. A few days ago there was a flood warning, which I got on my cell phone. Didn't get the tsunami one, though.

It was a really windy walk. There are beautiful views from up there, and the terrain is very arid and desert-like. The lovely ocean view with the mountains disappearing into the background is looking toward Makapu'u beach, near Sea Life Park. We were lucky on the way out, because the bus stopped and let us off right at the road to the park. We had assumed we'd have to walk from Sea Life Park bus stop a mile away. We did have to walk back to the bus stop when we finished our hike, though. It wasn't hot, but it was a little scary walking on the highway.