Beyond the Waikiki tourist trap

HONOLULU, Hawaii—As our van edges forward in the traffic, Dominic Kealoha Aki helps to pass the time relating legends from old Hawaii.

One tells how fishermen would chant to make the ocean part so they could walk on the reef and pick up fish.

We could use that chant now as we sit, bumper near bumper, on the road to O‘ahu’s North Shore. Aki merely sighs and says: “You really have to get out of Waikiki.”

Even 30 years ago, Honolulu’s Waikiki beach was still fairly uncrowded.

Today it’s a city of sky-reaching towers crowding the sandy strip. But you can still get away from it all—or most of it—on day trips like this one, “Sacred Sites of O‘ahu’s North Shore,” with Aki’s company, Mauka Makai Excursions.

First we visit Kukaniloko, the royal birthing stone.

The reverence Hawaiians have for the site becomes apparent when Aki begins to chant, asking permission to enter. We proceed to a grassy field, shaded by a few monkey pod trees where, among smoothly worn boulders, is the birthing stone.

For over 800 years, chieftains and chieftesses born here were assured high status. Almost 50 began life on this spot; the last known birth was in 1819.

Aki adds a bit of modern lore: at one time a pineapple plantation was to be planted here and some of the boulders were moved. The next day, the boulders were back.

“Most Hawaiians respect this place,” he says. Sadly, not everyone does. He picks up a few beer cans discarded by the birthing stone.

From this inland site we travel to where the Kamehameha Highway reaches O‘ahu’s North Shore, and stop in Hale‘iwa.

What a switch: here we are in surf city. The 1966 documentary The Endless Summer, about the quest for the perfect wave, helped put this town on the map.

Today it’s full of surf, tie-dye and organic-food shops in brightly painted old buildings.

For aficionados of the sport there’s also the Surf Museum. Aki tells us how, in ancient times, surfing was the recreational pursuit of royalty, whose boards were specially crafted for them.

We drive along beaches where the waves are the size of small buildings.

Then we wind uphill to a heiau, an old temple, overlooking the ocean. The remnants of Pu‘u O Mahuka, dedicated to war, are thigh-high walls of boulders that date back to about 1100.

“We were never cannibals,” says Aki, but goes on to explain that there is a chance that human sacrifices took place on the altar here.

We hear more of Aki’s enchanting stories. I like the fact that Hawaiians believe rocks have gender. The males are rough and rugged, the females smooth and silky.

We walk among the ruins, see where people have left gifts of flowers and fruit for the gods, and hear the wind blow through golden grasses that glow in the sunlight, high above the brilliant blue ocean.

It’s only taken us an hour to reach the North Shore, but it feels like we’re a lot further than that from Waikiki.

IF YOU GO:

For more information on Hawaii visit the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau website at www.gohawaii.com.

For information on tours offered by Mauka Makai Excursions visit its website at www.hawaiianecotours.net.