Tunnels and "Puke a dog"

Today was another mostly relaxing day, since we were tired and sore from our 8-mile hike yesterday.  We tried to find Tunnels Beach, which was only a few minutes from our house and was supposed to be the best snorkeling on the island.  We couldn’t seem to find the entry, so we parked at Ha’ena Beach Park, the better-marked beach just down the road and planned to walk to Tunnels. Unfortunately, we had forgotten to bring our beach towels, so we had to go right back to the tree house!  Since we had to go back anyway, we did some internet research that allowed us to find the tiny dirt road entry to Tunnels Beach this time around.

Tunnels was beautiful: lovely golden sand and blue water, and the cliffs of the Na Pali coast in the background, but the water was too tempestuous for snorkeling, a common theme on this trip. (things I have been reading say to visit Hawaii in the summer for snorkeling/calm water, and in the winter for surfing/waves).  Gavin wanted to try getting just offshore to a drop off where the reef probably started, but I wouldn’t let him.  I didn’t want to go out farther than our feet could at least touch the bottom; even barely offshore in hip deep water a sudden wave instantly pushed Gavin 20 feet away from where we had been standing – luckily it pushed him parallel to the coast instead of 20 feet out to sea to deeper water!  We were some of the only people even in the water, and once again there were a plethora of signs warning of strong currents.

Tunnels Beach.

Obligatory yoga on the beach photo.  :)

After drying off in the sun while reading some books, we headed back into Hanalei for lunch at Pukadog (which we jokingly had been pronouncing "Puke a dog" every time we passed it), a hot dog shop that one of Gavin’s friends had strongly recommended.  They certainly had some interesting and creative options for hot dogs.  I tried coconut relish on mine, but that was a mistake.  It was so syrupy sweet it was like eating frosting on my hot dog.  Gavin liked his mango relish better.  Their homemade mustard was really tasty, though!

After lunch we decided to do some more relaxing on the beach, so we went to the nearly-deserted Wainiha Beach Park.  This beach wasn’t as picturesque as some of the beaches we have been to, but it had plenty of nice shade trees and a few surfers and even SUPers on the smaller waves.

For dinner we chose Bouchons, a restaurant on the second floor of one of the little touristy strip malls in Hanalei.  We only chose it for the balcony and were planning on having just a drink there and then heading back to the Dolphin Restaurant for our last meal in Kaua’i, but we ended up just staying for dinner at Bouchons since we liked the view and our waiter was nice enough to seat us on the balcony even though we originally told him we weren’t having dinner.  I convinced Gavin to have some sushi with me, even though he doesn't really like it.  :)

We went back to the tree house to pack for our flight, but as we pulled into the driveway Gavin noticed that we had our first clear night on Kaua’i, not a single cloud above our heads.  The stars were incredibly bright and numerous; I always forget how the sky looks away from the town lights where we live.  We stood in the driveway and watched the sky together, a lovely end to our Hawaii vacation.

The beautiful Na Pali coast

This morning I dragged Gavin to our last, longest, most strenuous, and most challenging hike of our trip: two legs of the Kalalau Trail on the Na Pali coast.  Our plan was to do eight miles: two from the start at Ke’e Beach to Hanakapi’ai Beach, two miles in to Hanakapi’ai Falls, and back to the start again.  Since we didn’t big enough bottles of water to attempt a long hike, we had to wait until the Last Chance Wainiha General Store to open so we could buy a couple liters of water for the trail.  Our tree house was conveniently located about 10 minutes by car away from Ke’e Beach, but we discovered we weren’t the only people interested in this trail; we had to park almost a half mile away from the start of the trail!

The first mile of the trail hiked up the cliffs to awesome views of the coast from above and huge waves crashing onto the cliffs below.

The Na Pali coast.

Gavin is smiling now, only 1 mile into the hike...  :)

The second mile started to get a little muddy and slippery, and led down to the Hanakapi’ai Beach.  The water there was so tempestuous that we couldn’t even see any sand, just the worn-smooth lava rocks out of which visitors had made many balanced stacks.  No swimming is allowed here, before the final descent to the beach is a wooden sign with a death tally of more than 80 people killed there!  We stopped for a snack and some water, then continued inland to Hanakapi’ai Falls.

Hanakapi'ai Beach. 

Definitely no swimming here! The photo doesn't do justice to the waves
crashing in all directions on the beach!

Lots of little man-made rock piles on the beach.

The trail to the falls immediately got quite a bit more challenging.  It wasn’t any more challenging in steepness, but the terrain got more difficult – the trail was mostly mud and various sizes of rocks covered in a layer of slippery mud; each footfall had to be absolutely precise!  My five fingers shoes were GREAT for this since they allow so much more feeling of the ground underfoot and use of grippy toes!  :)  The interior of the jungle was still really beautiful, though we couldn’t spend too much time looking around; we’d trip/slip and fall if we weren’t careful with every step!  We also had to traipse back and forth across Hanakapi’ai stream tiptoeing across rocks and trying not to fall in.  :)  Our hike was also delayed by people coming back the other way; many parts of the trail only had room for one person at a time so slip and slide over the rocks, and there were quite a few people on the trail.

After two miles of slugging through mud and dodging peoples’ hiking poles (we were one of the few people without them  :)  ), we arrived at Hanakapi’ai Falls.  Several other people were leaving as we arrived, so we ended up having it to ourselves with one Australian guy who was kind enough to take a photo of us.  We swam for a bit in the frigid water of the 300 foot (!!) pool at the base of the falls.  

Our first view of Hanakapi'ai Falls.

We made it!

Falls and the pool underneath.

Gavin and I at Hanakapi'ai Falls.

Time for a swim!!

The hike back down from the falls seemed to go much quicker, as there were fewer people on the trail, and it was all downhill.  It started to rain, but we didn’t mind since we were already wet and muddy.  :)  The hike back from Hanakapi’ai Beach to Ke’e beach was rather tiring, since that was much steeper and it was the last two of our eight miles.

Rainstorm on the Na Pali coast on our way back. It was only sprinkling
a bit where we were standing. 

The hike back up from Hamakapi'ai Beach.
The strip of red is part of the trail.

Gavin trudging up the last two miles of our hike.

All in all, the whole hike, including the extra mile to the car, a couple water/snack breaks, and swimming in the waterfall pool, took us about 6 hours.

We went to dinner in Hanalei again, this time trying the Kalypso restaurant.  We got to sit on the outdoor deck and had a decent meal.  I also tried a lilikoi margarita (lilikoi is passion fruit), which was delicious!

After dinner we went to Tahiti Nui, a “tiki dive bar” in Hanalei.  This bar was the only time on the trip that “felt” like how I expected Hawaii to be.  We sat in the fresh air, listening to an older man sing slow, sensual hula music. Two of the waitresses (the singer’s nieces) took a break from serving food and danced hula to a couple of his songs; one of them was like 9 and a half months pregnant and could STILL dance hula!  We ended our night there, sipping mai tais and passion fruit margaritas in the warm night.

Turtle on a slow day.

Today was another slow day because I need to bribe Gavin for more hiking.  :)  (Kalalau Trail tomorrow…) We headed down to the south of Kaua’i to try snorkeling at the Po’ipu Beach Park, supposedly one of the few places it is safe to snorkel on Kaua’i in the winter.  Other places on the island are not safe this time of year due to strong currents and large waves (great for surfing, though).   When we arrived at Po’ipu, the first thing we saw was a crowd forming at one part of the beach; a sea turtle had chosen to crawl ashore and take a rest among the many beachgoers.  The lifeguards had to put signs around it and blow the whistle frequently to get people away from the turtle.

Sea turtle on the beach!

"Can't a guy get some rest without all the paparazzi??"

The snorkeling here could have been really good if it wasn’t so rough.  I saw lots of fish, but I don’t like snorkeling in shallow water with lots of waves and no fins, so I only stayed in the water for a few minutes.  I did see a strange little snake-looking fish in the water that I had never seen before. (looking it up later, I think it was a saddled snake eel)

After hanging out on Po’ipu beach for a while, we headed the almost two hours back to our house to get ready for dinner.  On the way, we took some pictures of the drive and various scenic points we had noticed but never stopped at.  We ate at the Dolphin Restaurant in Hanalei, and it was probably my favorite meal of the entire trip.  Both of us ordered teriyaki-grilled ahi tuna and it was REALLY tasty and fresh.

Cows at sunset.

A perfectly still pond.

Taro fields.  (I think...)

A view toward Hanalei Bay.

We turned in early, because I want to do the biggest hike of our trip; we’ll get up close and personal with the Na Pali coast!

Pleated cliffs, red dirt, and waterfalls

Gavin is tired of me dragging him out of bed early for activities, but we did one last early morning on this trip.  We got up today to drive back to the airport and take a helicopter tour of Kaua’i, including a landing at the waterfall featured in Jurassic Park (Manawaiopuna Falls).   The helicopter tour was about an hour and a half, and it was our first view of the sharp cliffs and canyons carved out of the north end of the island and through the middle, the Na Pali Coast and the Waimea Canyon.   Gavin got a window seat, but we both got stuck in the back row of the helicopter, and I was stuck in a middle seat with views obstructed by everybody’s heads.  <sigh>

Sunrise at the airport.

Our ride for the morning.

Ready to fly!

My view from the helicopter.

Waimea Canyon from above.

More of Waimea Canyon.

Look at all the little waterfalls!

The north coast of Kaua'i.

A green river valley. 

The Na Pali coast. 

"Pleated" cliffs. 

The Na Pali coast.

Jurassic Park falls was nice, about a 300-foot waterfall.  The helicopter pilot played the theme from Jurassic Park on our headsets as we approached. It was a good thing he played it, otherwise Gavin said he would have sung it for everybody.  :)

Maniwaiopuna Falls (Jurassic Park Falls)

Gavin and I at the helicopter landing place at Maniwaiopuna Falls.

After the helicopter ride, we decided to drive right to Waimea Canyon to see it from the ground, as it is hard to have size perspective when one is flying.  The scenic drive through the two parks (Waimea Canyon State Park and Koke’e State Park) that make of the canyon is full of lovely viewpoints.

Waimea Canyon from the ground. 

There were several lovely viewpoints along the Waimea Canyon Drive

That little waterfall in the left side of the photo is actually an 800 foot waterfall: Waipo'o Falls.  We hiked to it!

A closer viewpoint to Waipo'o Falls.

We also stopped to do a hike from the Pu’u Hinahina lookout to the Waipo’o Falls inside the canyon.  It was about four miles and not too strenuous, though it was mostly downhill on the way to the falls and uphill on the way back.  The hike also included a stop on a plateau inside the canyon with a vertigo-inducing sheer drop off on the side.

View from the end of the Cliff Trail, a short detour from our hike to
Waipo'o Falls.

Waimea Canyon Trail, a tree clinging to the side of the cliff. 

On a plateau inside the canyon.

Looking over the edge of the cliff.

Bright rusty-red dirt on the trail.

Gavin on the Waimea Canyon Trail.

The waterfall itself had nice little pools to get wet in, but we hadn’t brought any swimwear and the water was COLD!  We were able to stand at the top of the tall part of the fall and look over the edge.  Helicopters passed by for views of the falls and our group of 15 or so tourists lounging on the top of them.

We made it! This is just a small part of the Waipo'o Falls; the rest is
below us.

Panorama of Waipo'o Falls.

Gavin admires the view.

Looking over the edge of the falls.

View of the canyon from Waipo'o Falls.

After hiking, we headed to the end of the Waimea Canyon drive, ending at the Pu'u o Kila Lookout.

Pu'u o Kila Lookout with views of the Honopu Valley and the ocean.

Panorama of the Pu'u o Kila lookout.

After our scenic drive, we headed back to our tree house to get ready for a fancy dinner.  We headed over to the St. Regis Resort in Princeville to have dinner at the Kaua’i Grill, the top recommended restaurant on the island of Kaua’i in a massive resort that had basically taken over an entire peninsula of Kaua’i.  The restaurant had a large wall of windows facing the ocean, and was supposed to have a good view of sunset.  We had some tasty, fru fru expensive food, but it was delicious.  We couldn’t actually see the sun from this point on the island, but we got to watch the colors of the sky change and darken.  After dinner, we went to the less-fancy Makana Terrace restaurant in the resort that had actual outdoor seating facing the ocean.  We ended our night with tea, coffee, and fresh ocean breezes.