Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
MAP
(
https://sites.google.com/site/mikeshulihulichicken/
; 47-525 Kamahameha Hwy, Kahaluʻu; meals
$7-11; 11am-dusk)
Just north of the Hygienic Store, a few food trucks regularly park. As
seen on TV's Food Network, 'Monkey Mike' not only rotisserie roasts birds, but also
bakes
kalua
pork and minces
lomilomi
salmon. Wait until you reach Kahuku to try the
Windward Coast's famous garlic shrimp, though.
TOP OF CHAPTER
Kualoa
Although there's not a lot to see nowadays, in ancient times Kualoa was one of the most
sacred places on Oʻahu. When a chief stood on Kualoa Point, passing canoes lowered
their sails in respect. The children of
aliʻi
(royalty) were brought here to be educated, and
this may have been a place of refuge where
kapu
(taboo) breakers and fallen warriors
could seek sanctuary.
In 1850 Kamehameha III sold over 600 acres of land to Gerrit Judd, a missionary doc-
tor who planted the land with sugarcane and hired Chinese immigrants to work the fields.
Drought spelled the end of Oʻahu's first sugar plantation in 1870. Today you can see the
ruins of the mill's stone stack, and a bit of the crumbling walls, on the
mauka
side of the
highway, just north of Kualoa Ranch's main entrance.
Beaches
Kualoa Regional Park
BEACH
MAP
(49-479 Kamehameha Hwy)
Offering a postcard-worthy vista of offshore islands and ancient
Hawaiian fishponds, this wide-open park is backed by magnificent mountain scenery.
Palm trees shade a narrow white-sand beach that usually offers safe swimming, but
watch out for jellyfish and winter waves. There are picnic areas, restrooms, drinking wa-
ter, outdoor showers and sometimes lifeguards.
During low tide, fishers wade out toward
Mokoliʻi
. If you go, avoid walking on the fra-
gile island itself or disturbing its nesting seabirds. Birders will want to stroll south along
the beach to
ʻApua Pond
, a 3-acre brackish salt marsh on Kualoa Point that's a nesting
area for the endangered
aeʻo
(Hawaiian black-necked stilt). Further down the beach, the
rock walls of
Moliʻi Fishpond
are covered with mangrove.
