Pictured above: A view of Chinaman’s Hat from Secret Island (pc: Shannon Belknap)

Earlier this month, Dan and I decided to paddleboard out to Mokolii Island, also known as Chinaman’s Hat, with our new friends, Shaylon and Emily. Here’s how it went.

What is Chinaman’s Hat?

Chinaman’s Hat is a small island at the north end of Kaneohe Bay. It’s right offshore of Kualoa Regional Beach Park. It’s known as Chinaman’s Hat to locals because of its cone shape, which resembles the hat worn in rural China.

The island itself only has a few palm trees and a tiny beach. There’s a steep (think rock climbing steep) hike to the top that provides an astounding view.

How to Get to Chinaman’s Hat

To get to Chinaman’s Hat, you have a few options. You can walk, swim/snorkel, kayak, paddleboard, etc. It all has to do with the tides and what you’re most comfortable with. When the tides are low, you can supposedly walk right over to Chinaman’s Hat. When the tides are high, you need to swim, float, or paddle.

For months, Dan and I had been talking about going out to Chinaman’s Hat, but we disagreed on the best way to get out there. I’m naturally a planner, and Dan is more spontaneous. I love to read reviews and research, and Dan prefers to ask people about their experiences and make his decisions based on word-of-mouth. And when in doubt, he doesn’t mind winging it.

Both of our approaches work well depending on what the adventure or experience is. His spontaneity is incredibly helpful when I’m feeling a bit nervous about any one aspect of an activity, but one thing in my research made me particularly cautious about “just going for it.” I had read that you must go during the right time/tide, or it could be potentially dangerous.

Dan thought this recommendation was for people who were “bad swimmers” and that it couldn’t possibly apply to us. I reminded him that, while I could swim, I would hardly put myself in a “strong swimmer” category. And I hardly wanted to swim for 45 minutes out to Chinaman’s Hat. That sounded exhausting!

We went back and forth and back and forth on this for months. Finally, when planning to go with Emily and Shaylon, we looked at the tides and decided that we’d need to find a way to float/paddle over there. Emily and I simply didn’t want to swim and that was that.

Dan found paddleboards to rent for the morning and coordinated delivery to Chinaman’s Hat. We only got two boards (one for each couple), and Emily and I got to ride in front while Dan and Shaylon paddled.

While paddling to Chinaman’s Hat, Dan finally agreed that he probably wouldn’t have wanted to swim that far, especially after Emily said she read that hammerhead sharks normally hang out in those waters. Although, for the record, we didn’t end up seeing any.

Note: On the paddle out to Chinaman’s Hat, I discovered my previously charged GoPro had somehow gotten turned on that morning and died (such a bummer!), so I only have some of Emily’s photos that she took on her iPhone.

Hiking on Chinaman’s Hat

Once we (credit to Shaylon and Dan) paddled to Chinaman’s Hat, we pulled the paddleboards up onto the small beach where we saw a turtle hanging out. We then started the hike up to the top of Chinaman’s Hat. There are a few different paths up to the top, but I’m not sure any of them are better than the others.

The turtle we saw on Chinaman Hat’s beach

The path was incredibly dusty, which only made grip more difficult. Both Dan and I were wearing Tevas, and I slipped and slid numerous times. I won’t pretend I was happy by the end of it. Emily and Shaylon wore sneakers that ended up getting wet while paddle boarding, but they were much better off when it came to hiking.

If you want to hike when you get to Chinaman’s Hat, keep in mind that you’ll need to rock climb to get to the top. There are ropes to help you, but it wouldn’t be something I’d want to do alone or without someone standing behind me; although, at the same time, I wouldn’t call myself an experienced hiker. The view at the top made it worth the one time in my life that I’ll be doing that hike.

One of the views from the top of Chinaman’s Hat

Another view from the top of Chinaman’s Hat

Final Thoughts

If you’re heading out to Chinaman’s Hat, I recommend you do your research. In my opinion, the tides really do matter, and understanding the best way to get out there in that context can help keep you safe. We actually witnessed kayakers struggling while we were at the top of Chinaman’s Hat, and they needed others to go out and rescue them.

Check out my other Hawaii adventures here.