Kahili (Rock Quarry) Beach
Living in Kilauea now, I decided to check out one of the local beaches, Rock Quarry or Kahili Beach. There are two bumpy dirt roads on either side of the Kilauea Stream (which I later kayaked!) Valley that lead down to the beach. It's easiest to access from the southern dirt road off of Wailapa Road.
However, my first foray down to the beach was walking down the northern dirt access road past a monstrous house going up. You come out to an incredible view of the river mouth opening to the beach with an ideal picnic spot of cool shade and lush grass.
Kilauea Stream from the new, monstrous house/complex going up
Kilauea Stream looking inland with monstrous house going up in background
Someone placed nice chairs and a trashcan for picnics!
Kilauea Stream meets Kahili Beach...
I mean, could it get any more perfect?
I decided to explore further up the coast to my left. I found lots of rocks and a trail that went over ancient lava formations until I came across some amazing tidal pools in the rocks.
The coastline north of Kahili (Rock Quarry) Beach
The view at the end of the Mokolea lava pools.
I suggest coming here ONLY when the ocean is calm and the tide is low. There were several stealth waves that came out of nowhere and got me wet. Quite an adventure and not for the faint-of-heart. There was at least one nice-sized lava pool to sit in near the end and close to the cliffs that appeared to be the safest. I would be very careful in any of the others. I opted not to get in any and kept to the high ground.
A long trench to my left kept me from progressing any further - a good thing, as this is a wildlife refuge/reserve. To the left is Kilauea Crater, left over from an ancient volcano
Looking back along the lava pools toward Kilauea Bay. To the right and inland is Kahili (Rock Quarry) Beach. Straight ahead is Waiakalua Beach.
On the way back, I took some photos of some old dumped equipment, probably left over from the sugarcane plantation days.
One man's trash is another's treasure... and art!
An old wheel of some sort?
The contrast of man v. nature was sometimes quite stark
OK, so obviously not man-made but still pretty cool with similar coloring!
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