Kauai Part II - The Fantastic Finale

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

So here's our big opportunity.  The B&B we stayed at had snorkeling equipment we could use, we set aside the day to do this, we asked all the locals where the best place was, and everybody said it was at Tunnels, a local beach just 5 miles down from where we were staying.  So we got to the closest park to the "Tunnels", grabbed all our stuff, and went down to the life guard stand to find out where this "Tunnels" snorkeling was.  This picture shows the perspective from where he told us it was about 100 yards short of that far point of land.  No big deal ... we could knock that off in no time.

 WRONG!!!  North Island Kauai sand isn't like Florida sand.  Your feet sink about 2-3 inches into the sand for every step you take, regardless of where you walk in the sand.  It's utterly exhausting.  We made it there and had to catch our breath for a while before we started snorkeling.  It was about that time that I realized that I had left our newly purchased water proof camera back in the car.  Took me about 1 millisecond to decide that underwater pictures were far less important than walking back down and up that beach again.

 So what you get instead is some lovely beach shots I took with our regular phone camera.

 

OK ... so I'll admit ... any picture with Tina in it is better than any underwater shot I might have gotten, but I was still not overly happy with myself for leaving the underwater camera behind.  The other thing we learned was that we got into the ocean at the place the lifeguard said was the start of the snorkeling point.  We entered the water their and swam "up stream" for probably 300 yards.  We got out exhausted.  And then a local pointed out that it was much easier to start out at the high end of the current and let it take you down the beach.  OK ... so stupid us!  BUT we got a lot of good exercise ... AND NO PICTURES!!!

After lunch we drove up to the light house on the northern end of the island.  It's also a wildlife refuge mainly with a ton of birds around.

Unfortunately, the lighthouse was closed down for repairs, so we couldn't actually go up in it.  But the local birds still like the area, regardless of whether people can visit the lighthouse or not.

 As always, the beach landscape around the light house was beautiful.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

So this was the big and final hike we'd been building up to for the entire vacation.  I knew an 8 mile hike was going to be a big challenge, but I somewhat underestimated how challenging it might be.  Kara and Chris did this hike when Kara was 4 1/2 months pregnant, so I figured it should be easy for non-pregnant people.  I was glad I didn't reread her blog entry on this hike before we set out on it ... and I was REALLY glad Tina didn't reread it. 

http://myjourneyofpregnancy.blogspot.com/2011/01/day-22-na-pali-coast-hike.html

 We set out on the hike and the first mile is a killer.  All uphill ... all over rocky terrain ... but after getting up 1/2 mile you get a view back to the beach you left at the start of the hike.

You get to the 1 mile mark and start to question your sanity for choosing to do this.  But the 2nd mile is relatively easy, downhill, and leads to a beautiful beach that you can start to see from a 1/2 mile out.

  PS - for truly insane people in life, the whole trail on the coast line continues for another 9 miles up and down the coast line, leading to what is purported to be a beautiful and very secluded beach.  Tina and I both agree that it should remain as secluded as possible ... because we have no intention of ever seeing it.

Tina and I took a well deserved break at the half way to the falls point and enjoyed the beach that was there.

Also at the half way point was an appreciated toilet, but one without any toilet paper.  Further more, the sign on the side of it said "Helicopter Landing Site - Do Not Linger At All Times".  I'm not sure Tina appreciated me taking this picture, but I thought it was funny.  (Ends up the sign was placed there from its "true" site about 200 yards up the trail where there is a real helicopter landing site for med-emergency purposes ... but I found it pretty humorous that it was here on the outhouse site.  Stay tuned as to whether Tina thought it was humorous.)

 

The next mile of the trail was relatively easy, but the last mile was truly brutal.  Back and forth across several streams ... up and down rocks and boulders.  Tina kept saying "I can't believe Kara did this when she was 5 months pregnant" with a lecturing tone of voice ... and then when we'd run into other people hiking the path she'd brag that "My daughter did this when she was 5 months pregnant."  Hmmmmmm ... the role of motherhood is so conflicting at times.  

But then we finally made it to the top ... and what an AWESOME set of falls to view.

We took a break and had lunch, and then walked the last few hundred yards on up to the final pool (past the sign that says "End of Trail ... Falling Rocks Ahead") and then headed back down.  

 As fate would have it, I had left my hiking boots and tennis shoes in the car along with a pair of socks before we ever started this hike.  So when we left that morning I didn't worry about grabbing any footwear.  Ended up the socks in the car were ankle high socks ... which definitely wouldn't work with hiking boots.  Rather than driving back to the B&B, I elected to just wear T-shoes for the hike.  After trying to keep them dry for the first 3 miles of the hike, I finally decided it wasn't worth it.  I ended up just getting my shoes wet and walking through the creeks, which let me give Tina a balancing hand while she walked across the rocks.  It got me bonus points from people along the trail saying "What a nice guy to give his wife a hand across the river like that", while I got to keep my feet nice and cool along the way.  Then on the way back I just enjoyed the best of the situation and every stream we passed I took off my shirt and soaked it in the water, then soaked my head in the cool river water.   Tell me that this is not a man who knows how to enjoy the back half of a long LONG hike while also getting bonus points for being a true gentleman to his wife of 25 years. 

We made it back, totally exhausted, but equally happy that we'd pulled it off.  We switched into our swimming suits left in the car when we left and took a much deserved cool down swim on the beach.  Tina normally hates to get in cool ocean water.  She hopped in and enjoyed the cool ocean water on this beach without a moments hesitation.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

So Thursday morning was not an easy morning to wake up and face.  The B&B we were staying at had FANTASTIC breakfasts every morning, but both Tina and I were a bit slow moving this morning.  We woke up in time for breakfast and then figured we'd just go hang out at the beach and maybe do some snorkeling if we felt up for it.  We went back to the "Tunnels" beach we'd been to before but were a bit hesitant to jump in ocean quite so quick as we had the previous afternoon.  Looking back at the mountain we'd climbed, we appreciated the beauty of what we'd tackled the day before, but also appreciated the fact that we were beaching it this day rather than climbing again.

 HOWEVER, I remembered to bring the underwater camera this time, so after 30 minutes of prep time, Tina and I were ready to snorkel again.  On the positive side, the cool water and easy motion in the ocean helped soothe our aching muscles a LOT!

 

 It wasn't as great snorkeling as back on Maui, but it was good snorkeling, and gave us the opportunity to capture some really unique pictures.

 This was a pic looking straight down into the rock formations.  It only shows a bit, but the name "Tunnels" was obvious once you swam out a bit and saw the tunnels and deep drifts that form that area of the beach.

After catching some lunch we went to visit Queens Bath, a place Kara and Chris had told us about that I also found on tripadviser.  There's a ton of signs everywhere warning you about waves crashing against the rocks and carrying people out to sea, and Kara had been adamant about being careful if we went out there.  When we were there, the surf wasn't an issue at all.

But Tina's walking ... now that was an issue.  She was having a rough time going downhill at all.  It reminded me of Kara's post about her "tard walk" (her words not mine).  I kept trying to get a good picture of Tina doing the "tard walk", but didn't really capture it to its full beauty.

I'm not sure which saying I like best for this revelation.  "Tards of a feather flock together" ... or "2 tards in a pod" ... or "Like Mom Tard Like Baby Tard".  Anyway, it was a couple hundred yards down a path next to a stream, and then a couple hundred yards across lava rocks, but then we finally reached Queens Bath.  A bunch of people were enjoying the swim in it, but we'd already showered and switched into dry clothes after snorkeling.  It was still a pretty place to watch the surf and a family of maybe a dozen sea turtles, as well as some very colorful crabs..

For the short amount of afternoon left, we explored some roads that led into a wildlife preserve, others that just led partway into the mountains, and took a short walk down to a place called "Secret Beach" ... another beautiful and pretty secluded Hawaiian beach.

Friday, October 28, 2011

Our time on the islands was quickly reaching an unfortunate end ... but we were also about ready to get home and catch up with family and friends again.  We did a couple more loads of laundry (always nice to return home with clean clothes in the suitcase) and then set out to the airport late morning.  We stopped along the way back to the airport to visit a few more places we hadn't seen and try to capture a few more pictures of a beautiful place.

I found it rather humorous that throughout the islands, with the notable exception of Oahu, you run into one way bridges all over the place.  I'd be willing to say on Maui and Kauai the number of one way bridges to two way bridges is about 20 to 1.  So when we drove up one of the roads in Kauai and found this at the end, it struck me as rather humorous.  When you decide that building a two way bridge is too expensive, and even building a one way bridge is also too expensive, just don't build any bridge at all and let people drive straight across the stream.

By late afternoon we were back on Oahu for our official last night on the islands.  As I sit here now, we're in the Outrigger Reef Hotel on the Ocean.  I took these pics just a couple of hours ago shortly after sunset.

It's seems like most people we've talked to here on the islands and told about our 25th anniversary celebration as well as those we've corresponded with throughout this period always ask us what our favorite island was ... and truly we don't have any clear answer.  The history of Oahu and some of the best restaurants around ... the wilderness of Maui and what has to be some of the best snorkeling anywhere ... the awesome nature of the volcanoes on the big island as well as the enjoyment of a fun as heck beach town with a laid back attitude ... and then the mountains of Kauai, with the difference of the Grand Canyon of the Pacific to the tropical rain forest nature of the Na Pali Coast.  Each of the Hawaiian islands is totally unique and different from any of the other islands.  Furthermore, even on the same island, one side of the island is totally different from the other.  We have been ever so fortunate that we were able to spend this amount of time acquainting ourselves with this treasured place, spending time on both the "windward and leeward" sides of all 4 of the major islands here.  It was an amazing trip that this blog can only serve to show a hint of what we experienced while enjoying our time here.

 

So with Tina now sound asleep breathing easily behind me ... and with my own eyes starting to get a bit heavy, and our airplane scheduled to bring us home leaving shortly after noon tomorrow, I bid each of you Aloha and Mahalo for sharing this part of our anniversary with us.

Mahalo - Tom and Tina/Mom and Dad/Grandma and Grandpa/Waipa and Waigong