Six years ago, Mrs. Island Miler and I hiked down to the Nakalele Heart Rock on Maui. Mrs. J even went to check it out on their visit too. Twice! But, sadly, I recently learned that the Nakalele Heart Rock is No More.
What Was It
Maui’s Nakalele Heart Rock is a natural rock outcropping with a heart-shaped hole eroded into it. And, as its name suggests, it was next to the Nakalele Blowhole.
The blowhole and rock are out past Kapalua, way out in the middle of nowhere. In fact, the area is just to the east of Maui’s northernmost point on the slopes of the West Maui Mountains.
To get to the blowhole, you need to hike down from the road to the coast. It isn’t a hard hike, but I was not prepared – I wasn’t dressed for it and had no water. We got lucky. And while the blowhole is interesting (and dangerous – don’t get too close!) the hear rock, to me, was the real draw here. But not anymore.
The Nakalele Heart Rock is No More
Unfortunately, it appears that some severe weather over the winter wiped out the Nakalele Heart Rock – at least according to Maui 24/7. And, indeed, they posted a photo showing that the whole left side of the outcropping is gone.
While sad this happened, it isn’t surprising. Erosion formed the feature, so it’s natural that erosion took it away. Especially since there were very prominent stress fractures in the rock too. And that’s probably why the break looks so clean too.
Final Thoughts
It’s been nearly six years now since my first and last visit to the Nakalele Heart Rock. Heck, it’s been about four years since my last leisure trip to Maui too. And, we are currently scheduled to head back in August – if the pandemic is no longer a serious threat by then. But, making a return visit to the heart rock is no longer possible, which is a bummer. Nor do I think it’s worth going to visit the area just to see the blowhole too. Especially since its pretty boring unless the surf is high, at which point it isn’t safe to visit anyway.
It is what it is, though. This is how nature works, and is the history of the Hawaiian Islands in action. Luckily, though, there are so many more things to do on Maui, so I sincerely hope we can still make it there later this year.
How long had the heart been there?
Good question! Unfortunately, we’ll likely never know the answer to that one.