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| Diamond Head from Waikiki's J.Smith photo (c) 2011 |
I didn't keep my pre-trip promise to myself though, which was to climb to its upper rim and around it on its well-maintained pathway while we were staying in Waikiki. I am blaming that on Polynesian Paralysis - the condition that takes away all goals and vows to do things replacing them with a distinct feel of contentment over doing absolutely nothing. Well, nothing except staring at something magnificent. And in Hawaii there are plenty of magnificent things to stare at: waves breaking on the shore, sun rise, sun set, and of course, my beloved Diamond Head.
While we didn't make it to the top of Diamond Head we did walk to the Diamond Head Lighthouse beach and explored it at length. The beach that wraps itself around the base of the lighthouse and Diamond Head is a favorite with darkly tanned surfer boys and girls waiting for the right waves to develop - not many folks the ages of Hula Babe and Beach Boy. We logged 9 miles on the pedometer that day, I might add, even without climbing to the top of my favorite peak.
The first lighthouse was built above this beach in 1899 and then rebuilt in 1917. Today it stands tall and white against the tropical foliage surrounding it.
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| Diamond Head Lighthouse J. Smith photo, (c) 2010 |
There was a time that Diamond Head was known only as Le'ahi, which in Hawaiian means, "wreath of fire" as the native Hawaiians used to light fires on the crest of the volcano to light the way back for those out in canoes on the sea. It was in 1825 that British sailors found calcite crystals among the black rocks and thought they were diamonds - thus, it become known as Diamond Head.
