Day 3: To the North Shore

Saturday, Aug 29, 2015

Just like last year, Chica, the resident cat, makes a last minute appearance to greet us on our way out. What a pretty girl!

We're going to try a new place for breakfast at the Kukui'ula Village Shopping Center in Koloa. Living Foods is a grocery store that focuses on healthy, locally-sourced, organic products and lucky for us there's also a cafe that prepares all kinds of delicious meals. 

Tjitske has her first ever gluten-free crepes (a bit dry) while Sandy and I split a rustic eggs sandwich with bacon, egg, cheese, and aioli on a brioche with home fries, and we also order an a açai bowl topped with granola and fresh fruit including chunks of cut up dragon fruit. Yum! Both good, but the açai bowl was the clear winner.

Finding an open restroom involves a tour around the shopping complex and I must say it's quite nice; for one (very important) thing there's a quicksilver surf store! Also, some of the biggest plumeria I have ever seen.

Great view from the back of the complex! That 2 mile bathroom search was totally worth it! Ha ha

While Hawaii is generally very safe, car break-ins do happen and having all of our luggage stuffed in the trunk makes me nervous about leaving the car unattended, so I've planned only short stops on our way to the North Shore.

Stomachs full we start out for Ninini Point Lighthouse. It's located by the Marriott and Sandy gets a bit nervous when we must pass a guard station to get there, but it's unmanned and we can drive right through. It's bordering on the airport and it's pretty cool to watch as one of the planes is coming in for the landing.

Just as Sandy is narcing on me and telling Tjitske that I always direct us onto a dirt road -- with me vehemently denying it -- we find ourselves on some real Kauai red dirt.

Afraid of getting stuck we park off the road and walk the last little bit to the lighthouse. Boy is it hot today! Rex, our rental car, says it's only 95 but all day long the sweat would just pour from us. Yuck!

We're right at the edge of Nawiliwili Bay:

The lighthouse is pretty cute and the area surrounding it is beautiful. A Bureau of Land Management worker is parked nearby in his truck and I ask him if they ever do tours of the lighthouse, but he doesn't think so.

We add another crazy caution sign to my collection as we drive through the golf course on our way out.

Next, we head towards Wailua Falls. They're generally best in morning when you can catch a rainbow in the spray. So we wait for a break in the clouds and .... no rainbow. Well that was disappointing ha ha. We must've gotten here too late or something.

On the plus side, this monkey pod tree in a field nearby was already worth coming out.

Lydgate Beach wasn't on the list for today, but hey, might as well stop by and see if those crazy logs we saw rolling in the surf last time are still there.

Unfortunately, there are just a few of them and after snacking on Tjitske's leftover fruit bowl we get back on the road.

'Opaeka'a Falls is another quick stop. They are OK, but too far away to be really impressive.

 

Someone was flying a drone and this poor confused tropicbird kept trying to attack it.

The Wailua River overlook across the road. Sandy & I went kayaking here last year.

We pull over at a random scenic overlook along the coast. You can see part of the Kapa'a multi-use path running along the shoreline.

The road leads past my beloved ABC store, home of cute jewelry, caramacs and other assorted souvenirs along with munchies. I'm happy to find out they still have the 'spend $100, get a free gift' promotion, because I foresee many more ABC store visits in the coming weeks.

We've almost reached Kilauea Lighthouse National Wildlife Refuge when I realize it is part of the National Park Service and we can get in for free with our annual pass. Sandy confirms my suspicion that the pass is in the trunk ... with our luggage! Uh oh.

Sandy & Tjitske look at me like I'm crazy when I ask her to turn around and drive down one of the side streets before digging through our suitcase without any onlookers. Maybe I am a little paranoid, but all I know is we kept our luggage and we found this cute Japanese cemetery.

A pair of nēnē, Hawaiian geese, are walking around at the top of the lighthouse parking lot and I'm out of the car before it fully comes to a stop. Can we blame my preoccupation with the nēnēs for missing the sign warning people not to walk down the hill?

Oh look, more nēnēs!

I just love them! Half a century ago nēnēs were threatened with extinction, but they are making a comeback and you will find them on all of the islands except for Oahu.

Three more crazy caution signs to add to my collection!

Having walked all the way down, the ranger manning the entry booth tells us we weren't allowed to do that, but at this point what can we do?

“It'll be worse on the way up,” she tells us with a laugh.

The visitors center is tiny and has only a few displays, but they have a great size reference on their outside wall.

Do you like boobies? If you do, you're in luck, because the cliffs are dotted with them!

Easier to tell with this close-up of a red-footed booby. All the white dots in the background are birds!

Beautiful views looking west.

This lighthouse is even prettier! Sadly, we just missed the last tour of the day.

Lots of birds!

Black and white of a red-tailed tropicbird

After a million pictures of birds in flight and Sandy & Tjitske's teasing me relentlessly, I decide to put the camera away. It doesn't last long; Tjitske spots a wedge-tailed shearwater chick in a burrow just off the trail.

The ranger was right; trudging uphill to get back to the parking lot is harder than it was coming down! Did I mention how hot it is and how we were already sweating buckets?! Maybe they should make a more obvious sign than this big bright one? 

Hey, at least we didn't get arrested!

So the upper parking lot is apparently just so you can watch the view from here:

By now it's already after 4pm which means we can check into our home for the next 5 nights. We'll be staying at the Casa Pau Hana at Mauna Kai in Princeville.

OMG. It's huge! Two bedrooms, each with their own en-suite bathroom, a full kitchen, dining area, large living room, vaulted ceilings throughout and large wraparound lanai with 3 separate seating areas. Did I mention there's a also a great community pool we have access too? A full washer and dryer? Beach chairs, umbrellas, boogie boards, snorkeling equipment, an extensive book collection, exercise balls, pilates DVDs …. you name it, we've got it! Couldn't have picked a better place.

Dining area and part of kitchen.

Living room

The lanai

Retro Hanalei Bay panel

It's still early by the time we've settled in and I figure now is a good time to relax a bit. I ask my cousin if she would rather hang by the pool or by the ocean and she picks the ocean so that sounds like Hanalei Bay to me!

I get so excited just driving across this bridge!

This might well be my favorite place on all of the islands ...
 

While we're at the beach I try to set up a surf lesson for tomorrow, but unfortunately they're all booked up, so Monday it is!

Tiny rainbow over the beach.

Tjitske takes one look at all of the sticks and debris floating in the water and says she's not swimming in that, but I brought a boogie board from our condo and I'm not about to bring it back dry! Caught a couple of nice waves even though they were small.

Hanalei Bay is a phenomenal place to watch the sunset and Tjitske loves sunsets just as much as I do.

 Wow!

After changing into a dress on the beach, we go over to Bouchons where I order some of their yummy sushi. Tjitske thinks there's no way I can finish two of their big rolls, but puh-lease, you don't waste good sushi! Om nom!

Sandy has the dinner special, shrimp and scallops over penne pasta in a lemon garlic mint dressing. Tjitske tries a tofu salad, that barely passes on account of very bland tofu.

Our last stop for the day is the Foodland grocery store, where we stock up on some basics and a large jug of POG juice (Passion-Orange-Guava) for me, as well as ridiculously expensive lilikoi mochi ice cream. Even Tjitske succeeds in finding some exciting new things that work with her dietary restrictions, such as taro chips.

Wish I could have some of my ice cream tonight, but I'm stuffed. You can expect a full report from me tomorrow, since I have to eat all 8 pieces before we fly to Maui.

Rough, but someone's gotta do it ...

♥

Breakfast: Living Foods Gourmet Market & Cafe

Lunch: leftover Costco fruit bowl

Dinner: Bouchons

Hotel: AirBNB Casa Pau Hana at Mauna Kai Resort