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Puu Pehe and Shark’s Bay on Lanai
Posted: October 23, 2007
I joined the Hawaiian Trail and Mountain Club (HTMC) on a 4-day trip to explore the island of Lanai over the Memorial Day weekend. We camped at Hulopoe Beach, which is next to Manele Bay, one of the most scenic spots on Lanai.
Puu Pehe and the area around Manele Bay and Hulopoe Bay is a Marine Life Conservation Area with abundant fish and coral. Curious dolphins visit the bays daily and often interact with snorklers and divers.
Puu Pehe at Shark’s Bay
Between Manele Bay and Hulopoe Bay sits a charming cove with a sea stack called “Puu Pehe” or “Sweetheart Rock” just offshore . Sea stacks are off-shore islets with steep vertical cliffs that were once part of the headland.
Puu Pehe is 80 feet high and covers 1 acre in area. A small bird shrine with rock walls and an altar sits on the level part of the sea stack. According to legend, Pehe was a young girl who drowned in a sea cave. Her lover carried her body to the summit of the sea stack and buried her beneath the ruins of an ancient bird shrine.
Natural bridge at Puu Pehe One of my favorite things to explore and photograph are tide pools. I found a crack in the rocks which allowed me to climb down 15 feet onto the rocky coast along Shark’s bay. The coast line at the point between Hulopoe Bay and Shark’s Bay is very irregular with small flat rocky islands just off shore. I saw a cool natural bridge about 8 feet long that connects the shore to a series of flat off-shore rocks.
Tide Pools at Puu Pehe
To get to the offshore rock islands, I made my way across the natural bridge and found a series of interconnected tide pools carved into the rocks. Puu Pehe loomed on the far side of Shark’s Bay as waves crashed on the rocks replenishing the tide pools with seawater from the ocean.
Voggy Sunrise at Puu Pehe
The last time I was on Lanai in January 2005, the air was voggy due to kona weather conditions. Vog limits visibility and some people have difficulty breathing, but it also makes for spectactular sunrises and sunsets. Off in the distance on the horizon are the oulines of Maui to the left and Kahoolawe to the right.
