(editor's note - I used a larger resolution on these pix than I usually use, which means that you should be able to click on 'em and see 'me closer to full size; of course, that also means that it will take longer to load this page. My apologies - I'm selfishly doing this so that I can click the picture of the gorgeous girl belaying and have it fill up my screen : )

On Tuesday, we went climbing at Makapu'u Point, at the southeastern corner of Oahu.

It's a beautiful place to climb; it's surrounded by blue and green waters, and huge breakers all around. Here's the view from the top of the crag:



...and here's the view from lower down (this view is just dang pretty)

                                

Ethel was belaying in the middle of a group of Boy Scouts, all of whom were under the tutelage of a local company called Climb Aloha - they also helped us out a bit, and we did some route-swapping. Boy Scouts are always pleasant to be around, and watching them learn to climb was a lot of fun.




It was, all in all, a very pleasant day of climbing; and the first time that I can remember going climbing and not feeling like I needed a shower as soon as I left the crag.

Silas, however, needed a shower, after making these sorts of moves on a 5.9-ish bit of rock:

                                

Ethel took on a climb that was not the sort that suits here - it was a more muscular sort, the kind with a lot of overhangs and exposure. She managed, although she lost a bit of skin. Here she is laying back into a move -

                                    

...and here she is attacking a mantle near the top of the route:

                                    

Ethel said that the day of climbing was "for me" - that they were sacrificing a day of laying around on the beach so that I could say that I went climbing in Hawai'i. As you can see, I was the only one doing any climbing - everybody else was tapping their feet, impatientlyh waiting for it to be over. Their giving knows no end : )

(There are a lot more pix like this at our Mahalo picture gallery, if you like that sort of thing - I think that the climbing pix start on page 5)