Ohiki-Lolo

Ohikilolo was the tiny ahupua'a wedged between Makua and Keaau. It gets its name from a "crazy crab" that once infested the beach there. This crab was called "crazy" because it had a strange, dance-like way of walking.

Although this ahupua'a was small in size, it was a giant importance because here in this little locality stood the mighty Kaneana (Makua) Cave. Nestled in the ridge that divides Ohikilolo and Makua Valleys, Kaneana no doubt had many roles to play throughout the ages. Although thousands of years of its prehistory have been lost forever, a few stories about Kaneana remain.

Kaneana Cave was at times a place of great ritualism and magic, according to legend. Religious ceremonies were held here by ancient kahunas who communicated with powerful spirits. For many years, and into earlier modern times, this cave was kapu (taboo) and the area around it was sacred.

The most popular Kaneana Cave legends are about hte great shark god Kamohoalii. Known today as "Makua Charley" he is supposed to still dwell in the waters off Makua, coming and going through the cave via an underground tunnel that exists under the water off the coast.

The shark Kamohoalii was a shape shifter who often took the form of a man. Legend speaks of how Kamohoalii and a Hawaiian girl bore a half-man, half-shark boy named Nanaue. This young man lived near the cave for a time while hiding from a hunting party. Nanaue would drag his victims to a subterranean channel at a high tide into the cave. There he would set them on a slimy stone (which still exists in the rear of the cave ) until he grew hungry. Before the turn of the tide, Nanaue would return to devour his victims.

Kaneana Cave also was supposed to have been the home of a shark goddess who often took the form of a woman. She was a ruler of all the seas between Ka'ena and Kepuhi Points and would swim up through the sea entrance in the form of a woman and live in the cave. It was also through this cave that Madame Pele traveled to and from Kauai.

Oldtimers claim that the cave used to be several miles deep, exiting in another valley. It was dynamited near the front in the 1930's when a highway was built. Scientific was found that it is a giant lava tube that was once a sea cave when the ocean level was higher.

Close to Kaneana Cave is a spot known as Sounding Sands or Barking Sands which is similar to the Barking Sands of Nohili on Kauai. Witnesses say they make a strange, humming sound. This has been explained as the sound of dry sand particles being forced together during hot summer months.