North

Another morning, another early start. This time, we started with breakfast at Art Café Hemingway. We were pleasantly surprised by this café. They served a seletion of hot croissant sandwiches, sweet and savoury crèpes, and various omelettes. We chatted with one of the owners who was happy to share a few words with us. It was apparent by the art on the walls decorating their café that they had a strong connection to Prague. The gentleman revealed that his wife was Czech and they had lived in Prague before relocating to Kauai. It turns out that they had been accomplished gallery owners in Prague. They sold everything to achieve their dream of relocating to Kauai. What an amazing story.

We drove northbound along the coast. We arrived at Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge and were surprised to see the gate was closed. We were, in fact, too early. We spent a few minutes admiring the scenery and waited for the gates to open along with about a half dozen other tourists. The area was framed by steep cliffs on one side, and the ocean on the other. This wildlife refuge was a habitat for local nesting seabirds, many of which relied on the ocean for their food. 

This would not be just another beach day. It would be a day of many beaches. Our first beach was Kauapea Beach (also called the "Secret Beach"). We could clearly see it while we were touring the wildlife refuge. We casually asked for general directions at the refuge's admission booth. The park ranger in the booth told us that for liability reasons, they never give directions to the beach. The riptide along the beach was extremely strong. He said just standing in ankle-deep water on the beach was sometimes enough to get into trouble. We managed to find the footpath to the beach without too much difficulty. A dead give away that we were on the right track was a sign on a gate that read "Secret Beach Organics". The path down to the beach was fairly steep but manageable. It was through a fairly heavily treed area so I sustained quite a few bug bites on the way down and on the way back. We walked a short distance along the beach and could see up close how violently turbulent the water was there. It didn't take us long to snap a few photos and then continue on our way.

The next beach we stopped at was Anini Beach Park. This stretch of beach was considered one of the safest beaches on Kauai. It has a protective reef which provides consistently calm water conditions. We took the opportunity to have a quick dip in the ocean here since the waters were so calm. We also had a mini picnic on the beach that consisted of some snacks that we had packed with us in the car. After we splashed around in the ocean and then soaked up some rays on the beach, we had lunch at Tropical Tacos. I ordered a grilled fish soft taco while Matt had a beef taco. After lunch, we walked around the little shops near Tropical Tacos for a few minutes. We also made mental notes of some dinner possibilities in the area.

We continued travelling northwards and found ourselves at Ha'ena Beach Park. The lifeguard tower had a signboard that provided all sorts of information on local weather and water conditions. We walked along Ha'ena Beach to the adjoining Tunnels Beach. As we walked, we watched tiny little crabs running to and fro on the beach and digging little holes into the sand to hide. We also picked up a few tiny shells until we gathered a small handful. We will probably add them to our coffee table as a reminder of our trip to Hawaii. We also took a quick look at the Maniniholo Dry Cave since it was cross the street from the entrance into Ha'ena Beach Park. It was a sizeable cave with a low ceiling and a sandy floor. There were some plants growing on the walls close to the mouth of the cave. We waited until it was close to sunset so that Matt could do more sunset photography on the beach. We stayed until it was dark. The walk back to the car in the dark earned us more bug bites. For dinner, we stopped at L & L Hawaiian Barbecue, a local barbecue chain. The portions were generous in size, even the "mini" portions.

Our drive back south wasn't dangerous or treacherous, but it had to be done with care. The single lane roads were unlit for the most part. We arrived at our hotel without incident. Since this would be our final night on Kauai, we spent the rest of the evening preparing for our departure to Oahu.