Author: Steve Harris

By Steve Harris

April 28, 2024

Again, only Sandy and I made this exceptionally beautiful paddle from Makua Beach to Ka’ena Point and back. This was about a 9 mile paddle as we paddled a little way around the point. The weather was stunningly good with very little to no wind and very clear and beautiful blue water. At one point we saw a turtle underwater. Wow! Sandy also spotted a pod of porpoises heading our way near the end. That was cool even though they only stayed up on the surface for a short time so we couldn’t dive them. This was a no carpool paddle, and no fish were caught. Still we hit the weather perfectly and we need to keep this paddle on our schedule. The route from the cars to the beach is now pretty steep and sketchy due to the concrete barriers that have been placed along the parking area. That has to be adjusted for by parking further way from the break in the wall and doing a two-person carry of our boats down to the beach.  

Story by Steve Harris, Photo by Sandy Johnson

This was a fine paddle, but the group was disappointingly small. There were only 4 of us: Sandy, me, Stan Dalbec and my guest and prospective member, Daniel. This was only about a 5 mile paddle. This short paddle is a split-up of the much longer traditional paddle around Kalaeloa Point (Barber’s Point) which in the past has been just a little too long at something like 13+ miles.  This abbreviation was at Sandy’s request and was much more comfortable for her and the rest of us. Hopefully it will be better attended in the future. The weather was close to perfect and although windy, the wind was not a factor since it was almost dead downwind the whole way. The wind actually helped in this case, and we took less than 2 hours to make this run. There was very little surf too this time although there was some. This should be considered when this paddle is next scheduled. Due to the Southern exposure of this coast, maybe it should be better done in the wintertime when South swells don’t run. Unfortunately, no fish were caught. The last time we did it on August 20^th last year, I caught a 38 pound ulua. Woohoo!