Camping at Malaekahana

We went camping on the east shore of O'ahu this weekend at a delightful campground just steps from the beach. It was perfect camping weather. Days were about 77ºF(25ºC) and nights were down to 65ºF(18ºC). Not too hot and not too cold. The mornings were a little chilly but as soon as the sun came out, it was perfect for a morning walk on feet sinking sands. Took us an hour to drive out there. We pitched our tent on site 2B in 20 minutes and walked ten steps to the beach just in time to watch the sunset. 


We pretty much just laid on the beach all weekend, reading, swimming, eating, drinking and sleeping. There was a sink to wash the dirty dishes and shower stalls with hot water. I felt so spoilt. 


There's plenty of Shrimp Shacks along the Kamehameha Highway which is the only road that hugs the shoreline. These are fresh water shrimp stalls that farm the shrimp in pools right along the highway. They're sweet and quite reasonable. A plate of shrimp cooked in your choice of 10 different ways with two large scoops of rice and a side of salad costs $12. We just bought a pound of fresh shrimp (a bag of about 22 shrimps) for $8 and fried them up with garlic on our portable stovetop. Meal of champions!

Ran barefoot all the way to the other end of this bay. Saturday 8am

 Passed this camper prepping a body board while his daughters swung on the tree and played with paddles on the beach

Passed these colorful old fishing nets on my morning run

I like these crooked beach trees 

Giovanni's Shrimp Shack - one of the local favorites for a good shrimp plate for approx

The old original van with years of graffiti from fans who keep coming back for more 

Another Shrimp Shack along the road with a cute name sounding like 'Undercover'. Kava is a local Hawaiian delicacy here.

Romy's is regarded among the locals as the original Shrimp Shack 

We took a couple breaks from our campsite paradise. Drove out to neighboring Kahuku, north of Malaekahana to this roadside stall called Kahuku Land Farms for fresh coconut water. When we were done, we had the Filipino lady chop it open so we could eat the fresh coconut meat. Once, they even had ciku! That's a sweet brown fruit in the shape of a lemon which I think is the sweetest fruit on earth. In fact, it smelled so sweet, Elton suspected it was putrid! Once he tasted it though, he liked it.

We favored this road side fruit stall for their reasonably priced fresh coconut water owned by some Filipinos.

Made another little stop at the Kahuku Superette. They call little tuck shops/ convenience stores superettes. They're like a super 7Elevens where we got more ice for our cooler, butter to cook our freshly bought Kahuku shrimps and my new favorite Korean melona ice cream. Back to the camp!

The unassuming looking Kahuku Superette - a typical little surfer's supermarket
 which had everything we needed inside

I pretty much sat in our hammock and read my book The Shack for the most part and finished it in a day and a half. I cried many tears of joy reading this book, remembering a beautiful relationship I once had in my younger days and am now rekindling again. At one point, I knelt on the beach for what felt like hours, humbled by the beauty that surrounded me, just being thankful for my relationship with my maker and a humble request for him to help me cultivate an even deeper relationship that makes the rest of my short life here on earth meaningful.