South East O'ahu, Hawaii

My brother, Alan, and his fiancé, Megan, were able to take us out for a trip today, so we were able to see more of the island of O'ahu away from Honolulu. Today we headed out towards the South East of the island, a rocky outcrop that sticks out of the island like a toe.
This part of the island is very rugged, with stark volcanic cliffs rising up from the sea, with the odd tiny little beach. There weren't any birds on these cliffs as you would expect, but there maybe were in the past before the likes of mongoose were introduced.

Makapuu Point
This was a short walk up to a lighthouse, with a fairly shallow gradient, making a nice walk in the heavy heat. Like a lot of these hills it was an area of scrubby grassland, with the usual introduced birds, the walk rising up from inland. When the path gave views of the sea, there were various white, gannet like birds flying offshore. These were RED FOOTED BOOBYS, birds that breed in the offshore islands. There were various juveniles flying with them, the same birds but brown. From one view point, looking down on the sea we saw a GREEN TURTLE, just floating in the water, at the base of the cliff. Although we would get better views later on, it was great seeing this animal for the first time, one for the bucket list.

The lighthouse

 

The path wound up passed the lighthouse, which was a bit of a damp squib, I was expecting this elaborate giant red and white building, but in reality it was just a small functional building.

RED CRESTED CARDINAL (S. America)

 



The summit of  the walk looked over some islands, one called rabbit island, which were seabird sanctuaries, but I think it was the wrong time of year, as there weren't really any about. On the way back we saw a WHITE TAILED TROPICBIRD flying over, its long tail streaming behind, a great spot to end the walk.

 

 

View from the summit

 

 

A fairly sedate introduction to the country away from Honolulu, but this was only a brief taste, as tomorrow we would head out to the north of the island.