Hiking to Chinaman's Hat

CHINAMAN'S HAT HIKE

We love our service at BYU-H but we try and
make the best of our P-Days. This is the
brave group that decided to tackle Chinaman's Hat.

You can see where the island got it's name.  

We walked-swam in 2-3 feet of water for
about 614 yards to reach the island.

I wasn't so sure I wanted  to go to the top
but with a little encouragement I forged ahead.
At least there were some "handholds" in the
rocky crevices.

Here is where I was holding on for dear life. I tried not
to look down. I hope the view is worth it on top.

Here is the crew that made it minus one taking the photo.

Elder Dunham led us in some yoga poses. Here is the
tree pose.

Warrior pose.

Maybe flying back would be easier than going down the
steep rocky cliffs.

I think the view was worth it.

All safely down thank goodness.

One more thing before we headed back to Oahu.

Elder Wollenzein (Wally) recited some very
humorous cowboy poetry

He was very entertaining.

Heading back to Oahu.

Go Red Raiders

Our local Kahuku football team is ranked in the top 20 teams in the US.
It contributes more players to the NFL than any other high school. They
go "cuckoo" in Kahuku for football . When they win a championship
it is like the Fourth of July with fireworks, but bigger. I will be
sure to wear a red shirt to the next game.

Our neighbors, the Tregaskes moved into Laie and asked to trade
cars for a couple of days. You can see why. We had a lot of fun and
Bill relived his young adulthood. 

We put nearly 200 miles on the car and seeing the beauty of the island
with the top down was amazing. 

We even drove up to the Pali Lookout at sunset
which was breathtaking.

Update on the seal pup. he is getting big! No sign of the
transplanted female.

It has been fun to watch him grow up. He may not
stick around for much longer. We check up on
him on our weekly bike rides. 

Walk to Goat Island

Here are the senior missionaries that joined us on the walk to
Moku'auia or Goat Island. A few more arrived after the photo.

Bill has always wanted to do this since he read about
his grandfather doing it in the late 1890's in his
grandfather's journal. It was low tide when we started,

but it was also quite windy, so we all got pretty wet and
had to fight a few waves to trek the 720 feet.

This is the other side of the island. You can see the temple way
behind us in the background.

Sister Waterfall found a couple of sea cucumbers that we
held for a bit.

Sister Thompson built an elaborate rock shrine.

 A interesting historical tidbit was that a lawyer lived on the
 the island in the mid 1800's with his 2 mistresses. When
the King of Hawaii heard about it he wanted to have him
arrested. After some research the lawyer found
out the island wasn't recorded on the king's maps and so
he declared himself king of the island and remained.
The day was a fun adventure with about 17 missionaries.

My Brother Dave and Mary Lou Visit

It was so fun to pick these two up at the airport for a visit.

The first day we took them to Turtle Bay to see the mama
seal and pup.

Also to the point for the great views.

Next day the Lighthouse Hike. 

From the top there are spectacular views of the East Shore.
You can also see the other islands on the way up.

Of course we had to take them to the PCC to meet some of our
students. Here is Alma from Fiji next to Mary Lou.

It started to pour for the next several hours while at the PCC,
but it didn't stop us. We just waded through the streams.

Great snorkeling day at Three Tables where we saw
many colorful fish and a turtle.

We did some work for some of Grandpa
Peter Anderson's family.