Chinaman’s Hat – April 2012

Located < 1/3 mile offshore of Kuuloa Beach Park, Chinaman's hat (Mokolii Islet) is a common place for kayakers, stand-up paddle boarders and snorkelers/swimmers to travel to either explore or just to have a fun day in the sun... With a crew 15 strong (Justin Ugalino, Clayton Childs, Jennifer Liu, Lance Fujioka, Angie Ou, Jason Lee, Patrick Liu, Jenelyn Castillo, Reanne Solomon, Troy Takara, Seth Eason, Lenie and Franco Gallardo), we did just this.
We started out our day meeting at 830 at Kualoa Beach Park. Loading our kayaks at the cars, we were able to easily wheel them “one-by-one” to water using a cart I bought… trust me, carrying loaded 2-person kayaks is a big no-no.

After we got all the gear to the water, we made sure all the kayakers and body boarders were on the same page for the rendezvous point on the islet.

Kayaks arrived there within 20 minutes of launching, while the body boarders took ~40 minutes.

After unloading/transporting the gear from the kayaks to the opposite shoreline, we tied down the kayaks since the tide would be up almost 2 feet higher by mid-day.

Not only was it important to celebrate by consuming alcohol, it was important to line the different beverages of choice up and take photos of them. Some people obviously wanted to advertise more than others. lol.

Firing up a small Weber grill that fit in the hull of a kayak, we started BBQing some 24-hour marinated chicken and kalbi…

Head-on shrimp, bacon-wrapped mushrooms, and pochos/smoked sausage (not shown due to an inebriated photographer)…

And seasoned asparagus and portobello mushrooms with olive/truffle oil. How we do son!

After a horrible kanak attack (food coma), we summoned up the strength to hike up to the top of the hat. The trail is on the “Oahu-side” of the hat.

It really isn’t that hard when you’re sober. lol. It takes probably only 10-15 minutes, and there is a well distinguished trail. There is some minor scrambling involved though… not much more difficult than stuff you’d find on Lanikai Pillboxes though.

The view at the top is an amazing 360 panorama of the ocean and North East Oahu.

After 15 minutes of appreciating the view, it was time to hike down…

some of us decided to down climb the opposite side of the hat to get to a shallow cave about <100 feet from sea level. I didn't even think about it at the time (probably cause of the alcohol), but it's hella steep, and the rock is sh!t. Please be careful if attempting, sober or not...
Upon getting back down, the itch to climb was imminent… a fairly solid “middle layer” (but sharp as sh!t) of boulders near our party was to satisfy the jones.

The traverse can either go from right to left, or the reverse. Ground below the reddish layer was off.

Franco was the only one to complete the Chinaman traverse, left to right. I almost had right-to-left, but one of my holds popped off the top near the end. Careful if you try this… there are no forgiving landings out here so make sure you have a spotter or two.

With the afternoon fading away, we started to pack up our gear back into/on our kayaks for the trip back to Oahu.

An epic day with great friends. Mahalo to everyone who came out… For those of you who didn’t RSVP, good luck getting an invite next time! HA!

Awesome POV video of the day courtesy of Justin Ugalino.

The trip out to Chinaman’s Hat will vary in difficulty, depending on the person and inclement weather/surf conditions. The water can be fairly shallow, to the point where you almost can walk out… however, this may not be the case when you travel back, as the tide within a couple of hours will change significantly. Kayaking is probably the safest, but other methods (e.g. SUP, surf/bodyboards, swimming) may be more convenient. Do not attempt to walk or swim out, if you aren’t a strong swimmer. Chinaman’s Hat often has ground nesting birds, so make sure not to step on any burrows and do your best to stay on designated paths. Pack out what you pack in, if not more… we did collect some other rubbish we found on the island and packed it back to Oahu. Leave nothing behind but your footprints.

Questions??? Just ask!!!

To view more photos from this adventure in a photo gallery, Click here. To view this location on a Google Map also known as my “Adventure Map“, Click Here. For more adventures of the Lost Trailblazers, either look at my other blogposts and “Adventures with the Lost Trailblazers” photo gallery. Thanks for visiting and come back again soon!