The Mokes

Moku Nui, a small volcanic playground just off the coast of Oahu. After work, Jordan, Patrick and myself all hopped on a kayak and paddled from Lanikai out to Moku Nuki. At just under a mile from shore it isn't a very long paddle, but all the cross currents and side swell make it a little more exciting than your average kayak trip. Once you get to the island, there is a nice little sand beach to land on. Aside from that area, the rest of the island is surrounded by unforgiving, sharp, and scary lava rocks. 

After we stowed everything on the beach we headed over to the Queen's Bath. It's a little, but deep, tide pool off the beaten path that gets filled from the occasional wave. Since the water has a chance to get warm in the sun it's almost like a natural hot tub. I continued poking around the side of the island and got to do some moderate free climbing over a little inlet. There isn't much out of the ordinary past the Queen's Bath unless you're from Florida and you aren't used to mountains made from dormant volcanoes in the middle of the ocean. I had a blast stubbing my toes and climbing up and over old lava formations like Smeagol (yes, I definitely pretended to be him at least once).

I already had very high opinions of this island when I was told we were changing locations. After some more Smeagoling around the rim of the island, I encountered the main attraction, the cliff jump of death. On the back side of the island there is a cliff wall. Just a few feet away from this cliff wall there is a mini triangular island separated on two sides by a small canal of fast turbulent ocean water, each fed from a different direction. If you time it right you can safely jump into the water with no fear of getting bashed into rocks or being sucked out to sea. After watching several sets push some wild currents through and videoing my friends jump with no disastrous results, I decided I would go for it. This was by far the most exciting cliff jumping I had ever done. You could definitely feel the ocean currents moving you around after you hit the water. It's probably about twenty to twenty five feet deep, stays pretty clear and the close proximity to rocks makes it a super neat place to dive. Although I didn't linger in the water for too long, I definitely threw my mask on and swam around for a bit. I didn't see much in the way of fish, but there were plenty of urchins out of the reach of the wave action and some coral down deeper. The coolest feature there were the rock overhangs that you use to climb out. As the waves move in the overhangs get submerged which cast dark shadows and create a wild diving environment, almost like you are flying around in a canyon. When the waves go out, the water rushes off the top of the overhang and you use it as a step to get back onto the lava rock. Getting out is no small task here either. I would have to wait for an incoming wave, let the current push me up onto the rock ledge, grab onto the rock, get my feet under me, let the water rush back out and hop off the ledge onto the dry rock. After a couple of times it gets really easy, but its definitely intimidating the first time around.