Nualolo Kai

Saturday we were very fortunate to ride along on an expedition to Nualolo Kai [map]. Access to the public is restricted so it was a real treat to be able to spend the whole day there and get a guided tour by knowledgeable scientists David & Lida Burney of the Makauwaki cave reserve who were leading the group.

We left Kikiaola harbor at the crack of dawn and had a remarkably smooth ride over with ideal sea conditions and got a quick tour of the nearby sea caves before landing. There's no dock so you deep-wade to come ashore.

Nualolo Kai is perhaps half mile of shore line along the Na Pali coast of western Kaua'i with continuously curving sheer cliffs backing it up and virtually isolating it from access other than by sea. When inhabited by native people there was access via a ladder and path system to go around Alapi'i point providing access into the neighboring Nualolo Aina valley. All traces of the ladder are now gone and we confirmed by walking out over the rocks that the rocky point is completely impassible today. They say it was intimidating to the uninitiated even using the ladder which took you up the cliff overhang (steeper than 90 degrees angle) and then to get around the point you had individual footholds in bare rock at a considerable height to negotiate. The picture above shows Alapi'i point as seen from about the center of the run of shore, with the reef line clearly visible demarked by waves breaking over it.

The cliff on that side actually overhang and provided natural protection from the elements so this is where many people lived in ancient times. In the photo at left you can see a series of large flat areas going up the hill hugging the cliffside that are thought to be sites for living quarters. This is the location of one of the largest archeological digs in Hawaii by the Bishop Museum and the Smithsonian that date these sites going back approximately 700 years or more. Dr Burney mentioned a proposal to have the artifacts from this location exhibited in a traveling tour to finish up in a new permanent display on this island of their origin (currently everything is on Oahu or in D.C.).

Nualolo Kai dramatically shows the geological history of the island. The entire Na Pali coast is the remains of volcanic action millions of years ago, long since ended with the island slowly eroding and collapsing back into the sea. This view shows an unmissable "X" in the cliff that is believed to result from two lava dikes - cracks formed in the settling rock filled with lava that solidified to seal them cleanly. Apparently one diagonal crack formed first, sealed, and then the other opened up at a angle to the first and in turn was sealed that just happened to be of about the same dimensions.

It doesn't take long to notice that there is an inordinate predominance of noni throughout the best arable land above the beach, other than scrub brush and weeds. I know the ancient Hawaiians brought noni here and grew it, but there's no reason to have this much of it since it is more of a medicine than a food per se - in fact I think is fair to say that it smells and tastes awful (it smells like a very strong cheese, oddly enough). Turns out we have the goats to thank for all the noni - goats amazingly descend these cliffs to forage here and this is one of the few plants toxic to them so by consuming everything else they have effectively promoted noni exclusively here. We saw a herd of perhaps fifty goats moving along the near-vertical cliffs when we hiked up for the view (the top photo) scrambling up the accumulated loose rubble that climbs steeply toward the cliff base.

Not far from the house sites is a complex of rock walls that are the remains of an ancient heiau (temple).  This heiau is unique in these islands in that it built into the concavity of a natural depression that features a natural spring - usually these rock structures would be built up on a prominent high point. The spring is not covered over to discourage the goats from visiting here - it's about the only source of fresh water around. By the way, the coconut stumps just right of center were planted in modern times (what were they thinking?) and then had to be cut down when the roots threatened to disrupt the foundations of all the surrounding rock work.

After lunch and a short nap we went snorkeling well inside the reef and saw plenty of fish in the shallow waters. This is a popular place for commercial operators to bring visitors in for a snorkel but we found a time when we had it to ourselves.

The boats were back in time for our return trip and we flew back without much headwind and fairly smooth water all the way, past Miloliʻi, past Polihale, past PMRF, past Kekaha, back to the harbor before sunset.