A Fishing Expedition at Kaiaka Bay Beach Park | North Shore of Oahu Hawaii

We had this bright idea to go fishing a couple of Sundays ago and see if we couldn’t do any better that our ‘great fishing expedition of 2004”. Nope, back then we did not catch one darn fish and the best thing that came out of that one was we made a friend for those three days. “Boy” was there at the beach every morning to greet us and laid at my feet after romping around for awhile.

So, on that Sunday we drove through Old Haleiwa town and then over to Waialua and on Fresh Air Camp Road. Now, in 1915 James Rath founded the Fresh Air Camp which was part of his under privileged children’s program at Palama Settlement in Honolulu. James Rath took the children on camping trips and leased this permanent camp site at Kaiaka Bay. He also rented this park to the community for picnics and parties and this site was the home field for Waialua Sugar Company baseball team for many years.

Kaiaka Bay Beach Park was transformed into a 53 acre park and it’s the site of a balancing rock called Pohaku O Lana’i and the word is that the balancing rock floated over from the distant land of Kahiki. This rock formation is all alone at the edge of the bay and considered to be a sacred place for kings and chiefs to consult Tani on war and peace. They prayed that their bodies be invincible to their fighting enemies.

Kaiaka Bay is also the site we picked for our ‘great fishing expedition of August 2011. With an array of bait we felt we were well prepared to catch the big fish to tell our grandson about. We sat…and sat…and sat… and finally a nibble! Awwww….shucks…he got away.

Then all of a sudden there was a rock floating on top of the water… A VERY DARK MOVING ROCK. Oh, goodness! It was a Honu! (Ho Noo) The Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle and an endangered species in Hawaii. Snap! Got a picture!

I watched and followed and watched as the Honu ate the vegetation growing on the coral..then moved towards the ocean. Then…….another Honu pops up out of the water and looks at me. Smiles at me too! Okay, just wanted to believe that but it was so cool to see both of them just cruising and enjoying all that vegetation for their lunch.

We left shortly after without a fish to be had…and another ‘fishing expedition’ to add to our memory book without a fish story. But the rich history, scenery and experiences that surround our island and our lives are surely the reward for living in paradise.

Needless to say, I learned a valuable lesson.

There’s always a positive in every negative

The simple things in life….

Like a “smiling face” …will warm the soul.