Pirates!

When we picked up our kayak to take a trip out past the Kaneohe Bay sandbar we were surprised to see a sign warning us:  Stay 100 feet from the pirate ship.  Yeah, that seemed like good advice to us.

It turns out the pirate ship was the Black Pearl, docked for filming the latest installment of Pirates of the Caribbean.  Alas, it appeared they were setting up the set for future filming, which ended up being good for us or else we might not have been able to launch from He'eia State Park.

We paddled by the ship to snap a few pictures.  We were distracted with examining the ship and the kayak drifted a little close; we got honked at by the nearby police boat. While A tried to keep the camera dry, R rapidly back-paddled.

Camera securely back in its ziplock and dry bag, we continued on to our original destination:  Kapapa Island.  En route to this island approximately 2 1/2 miles from shore we would paddle over a huge barrier-type reef.  According to O'ahu Revealed, during the last ice age this area was part of O'ahu but when the seas rose it became separated from the mainland as its own island, then disappeared.  

Approaching the sandbar the water was very dark (and deep) and then all of the sudden it became shallow enough to hop out of the kayak and walk.  We opted to stay in the kayak and paddle, motivated by a requisite evening trip to Yo Mama's.  

After passing over the sandbar it felt as though Kapapa Island was a mirage; no matter how much we paddled it didn't seem to be getting any closer.  And while the flat bay provided for easy paddling, once we finally got close to the island it was a bit of a challenge to figure out our approach with waves coming at us from both the right and the left.

that's where we came from!

We explored the island, which is a bird sanctuary.  Unlike the Mokalua Islands we don't think Kapapa sees too many visitors as we were the only kayak-ers out in this part of the bay today. 

The island is made of limestone and very rocky, though flat.  We spotted plenty of birds hiding under trees and beside rocks and tiptoed carefully around their nests.

nesting bird

look what the wind did to that tree!

Kayaking the 2 1/2 miles back was mainly uneventful.  The only thing left to do was to get the kayak back on Civic, who unfortunately sustained a minor gash on this expedition, once again reminding us that we're thankful we brought our old cars.