My 2nd Hiking Adventure in Oahu: Makapu’u point Lighthouse Trail

October 24, 2018

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” No distance of place or lapse of time can lessen the friendship of those who are thoroughly persuaded of each other’s worth.” –  Robert Southey

I’m one of a lucky woman who has friends around the world and even though we don’t regularly get in touch, we know deep in our heart  we care for each other. Adora is one of the few I cherished. No matter how far we lived apart or how many years we haven’t seen each other, the bond we have, remained the same. We don’t even chat regularly, hahaha I know 🙂 with the advent of different social media, we just don’t! She just chat in whenever she likes to, I replied whenever… no pressure..no trick 🙂 But we know if one is needed, all ears and all day we’re for each other.

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we don’t care about our hair, we’re the beauties beyond fifty

It’s about an hour drive from her place to mine, She drove early morning just to pick me up so we can see the golden sunrise at Makapu’u. It opens at 6 am, so we decided to have coffee and bagel with cream cheese for breakfast. GPS calculated we will be there in 30 minutes, just on time as the sun rises up!

Did we got on time?

Nope!

Traffic?

Nope!

Why?

We got lost!

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Believe it or not, I think the address she put on GPS was a mistake! But it’s ok, we have all day to figure it out 😊 we just enjoyed the ride and eventually we got to our destination!

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Makapu’u point lighthouse hiking trail – located at the southeastern part of Oahu, is an easy hike with a moderate inclined to 657 ft summit. It is also known as Kaiwi scenic shoreline. Theres no shady trees but its alright, it was a beautiful day to begin with. if we don’t stop often times to take photos we would easily reach the top within 30 min.

 

These trails are paved from parking lot to the top so, it’s really an easy way to the top, We’ve seen babies on stroller ( a good exercise for mom) men with dogs and little kids running. Awesome scenery, seeing the coastal view towards the Koko head.

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The lighthouse is off-limits but we can still view it from the top.

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and the breathtaking views of Makapu’u Beach and the beginning of the Windward coast.

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To infinity and beyond…

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“A friend is the one that knows you as you are, understands where you have been, accepts what you have become, and still, gently allows you to grow.” – William Shakespeare

Cheers,

Jamilamimi@beautybeyondfifty

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10 days in Waikiki (day 3): Golden Sunrise Photo Tour

October 17, 2018

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Woke up at 4:30 early in the morning for an early pick up of 5:30 to catch the sunrise at sandy beach. Crazy? yeah ! to some but not to me, why waste time, I won’t be in Hawaii forever 🙂

Rise and Shine!

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Sunrise at Sandy Beach

This is a perfect tour for a female solo traveler who loves to take photos everywhere! Who doesn’t? Well ? If you are reading this, you’re guilty ! 🙂

Nope? alright I did not say anything.

I don’t drive so this tour was a triple treat! I got a transport, a friendly professional photographer and a lot of tips for taking a scenic places in Oahu. Perfect combination indeed!

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Sandy Beach located at south shore of Oahu, located between Hanauma Bay Nature preserve park and Makapuu’u point on the East.

Lisa was bubbly and pleasant to talk with, we were only two, so that’s even make the tour better, all women 🙂 I’m glad I took two lenses with me a 50mm and 18-105mm lens. Lisa advised to use the 18-105mm lens. I hesitated for a while because I like the images that comes out with 50mm, I feel it’s more sharper but at the end, I followed what she told me. She gave me a tri-pod to use and I asked , should I use polarizer? Nope! and why they asked me to bring it anyway 🙁

What is circular polarizer? What does it do?

  • It cuts glare, when shooting water  – ok no need for it bec it’s only 5 am and it’s still dark.
  • for the Sky, it changes the color significantly, rotating the polarizer can make it dark or light blue

There’s no amount of bright sunlight yet so it won’t create an impact if I use polarizer. Got it!

Alright, I set up my camera and again..it was acting up, I look at Lisa camera (Canon) we have the same setting, aperture priority mode  we tried F5,F8, F11 , my camera (Nikon) doesn’t give the same outcome. One tip I learned  in this tour is about Exposure compensation setting.

Adjusting the Exposure Compensation can add drama to the scene or add more brightness to the scene. I was in Aperture priority mode, so adjusting the exposure compensation will adjust the shutter speed. By the way, my Cam D90 has little button on top with a positive (+) and negative sign (-) by pressing on it and moving the main dial to right or left will change the exposure compensation setting.

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Makapu’u Point Lookout

As the sun rises up, we moved to Makapu’u point located just off Kanalianaole Highway on Oahu southeastern tip.

sunrise18-1-7“Rabbit Island” the Mañana island is across the Makapu’u look out point. Does it look like a rabbit head? I was told it was once inhabited by introduced rabbit after a rancher released them there.

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Waimanalo Beach approximately around 3 miles long of white sand, I can sit here for the whole day, doing nothing , go home relaxed and re-energized. Perfect place to have a beach stroll and eat cold pizza 🙂

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The beach is backed by iron wood trees which provides a lot of shades.

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I forgot to ask questions about photography, I just took photos here and there…enjoyed the sun and shades, the sweeping of the breezy air gave me goose bump , remembering my friend who recently passed away.

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After Waimanalo, we headed to see the Ko’olau mountains, actually we didn’t hike to the mountains, we just saw it on the road.. the Ko’olau range – dormant fragmented remnant of the eastern or windward shield volcano of Oahu

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Ko’olau range photo credit by lisa
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Ko’olau range photo taken by me and edited

The long trip leads us to Kalapawai market for breakfast. This has been in Kailua since 1932.

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To get to a more panoramic view of the Ko’olau cliffs, we headed to Nuuanu Pali lookout – is a site of deep historical significance, the battle of Nuuanu 1775 where King Kamehameha I, won the struggle which lead to the unity of Oahu under his rule.

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Before we end the 5.5 hrs. trip we went to Tantalus lookout, it’s long winding road through the lash of Manoa, sometimes steep inclined on the way to the top!

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Pu’u Ualaka’a State Park

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And that was the end of the tour, forget the settings and enjoy the scenery 🙂

A wonderful day!

Cheers,

jamilamimi@beautybeyondfifty

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