The Nakalele Blowhole (part 5)

Wednesday September 10th,

Just a few miles past Slaughterhouse Beach on the upper north end of the island around mile marker 38, we stopped for an adventurous hike to the Nakalele Blowhole.  Before we decided to stop at the blowhole, we drove a few mile past because we were informed that the view was magnificent.  We do agree that the view was outstanding, but for me, I was scared spit less.  I have a bit of a fear of heights, and the wind was blowing fiercely and it is a straight drop off down to the jagged rocks of the ocean.  Donald kept poking fun of my scaredy cat behavior but I just let it roll because I remained on safe dry land.  I have no idea how high up we were from the water, but my guess would be at least 100 ft. or so.  When you look down at the water it was practically  crystal clear and the boulders looked like they were barely beneath the water (but we know they were much deeper than that).

After taking in the great view, we headed back to take the trail down to the blowhole.  The hike wasn't too bad, steep here and there, but very manageable.  Once we got down to the blowhole area, it was like acid rain had fallen all over the place.  I guess the spray and water from the ocean has effected the lava rock in such a manner it looks like it was drenched by acid rain.  Anyway, back to the blowhole.  We were lucky enough to go at a time when the water was really shooting up.  From what we read, depending on the surf and the tide, will depend on if you get no shoot up from the blowhole, or if it shooting as high as 80 ft.  When we were there, it was probably shooting up about 50 ft.  I was actually kinda glad it was not in full force and height because what we read indicated that sometimes when the water shoots up the earth shakes all around and just trembles.  The thought of that kinda freaked me out, so needless to say, I was slightly relieved.  The spray from the blowhole was cold and windy - that is why you see me standing with my arms out like I am crazy or something.  By the time we left that area, we were completely soaked from head to toe.

Donald and I kept talking about how cool Trent and Kolby would think the blowhole was.  We decided that if we ever bring them to Maui, that is a must see experience because it would totally rock their world!