| Location: Ha'upu Bay, Koolau Moloka'i, Hawai'i |
| The Needle Cave has a low ceiling, making it tidal, so this is where it all started, not Thailand. After three days paddle, we didn’t want to miss the cave, so we learned to time the tides for perfect entries.
It's strange the ceiling is so low because the cave is surf-created. The front is wide, but narrows like a funnel into a two-meter wide channel with a fairly high roof that goes straight for about 75 meters. The cave widens into a chamber in the back, complete with surf breaking on a steep rock beach. Thanks to the funnel effect, cave entries require calm waters — a six-inch wave at the entrance can be two meters high streaking down the channel, so straight you can always see light. That beam makes a good wave indicator — even before you hear a wave coming, when that dot of light turn blue, you know a wave is racing down the channel. It's OK if you know its coming — just have the kayak straight and it will lift you up and over the crest of the wave in darkness. The one place you don't want to be is at the cave’s end, where surf crashes in total darkness onto that rock beach,
We didn't want to chance it during the Hurricane trip, so this is as far as Amporn got inside the Needle Cave.
Photo Copyright to Lloyd Lewis, Ph.D |
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