Kauai - North Shore

We have to check out of our first condo today. We slept in and we were in no hurry to do anything this morning. At 10 we loaded up all of our stuff. The jeep looked like a clown car. We had junk shoved in every nook and cranny, under our feet and all around us. We still have so much food left that we’re bringing to our new place. We went a little crazy at Costco. 

We headed to Queen’s Bath. It’s one of the last places I wanted to see on the north shore. We endured a short, muddy hike to get there but it was worth it. There were so many sea turtles swimming around and black crabs running over all the rocks. I told Stephen I wanted to film with the GoPro so he handed it to me. I “filmed” the crabs and turtles for about 15 minutes and then asked Stephen what button to push to turn off the camera. He looked at me like I was an idiot and told me it wasn’t even on. I’ll figure it out one of these days.

Stephen really wanted to jump into Queen’s Bath. We saw the sign that mentioned that 19 people had died so far when the surf rushes in. The water appeared calmish today so I told him I would go with him. We jumped in, swam around for a few minutes and the surf started getting higher and higher. We both freaked out and climbed out as fast as we could. Stephen kept shouting how scared he was. Trying to calm him down while I was so freaked out on the inside was a bit tough. We should have stayed in the water though. The water calmed down. The other five people who were swimming with us stayed in and a whole bunch of turtles came in and started swimming with them. We watched from above and longed to have our snorkel gear. 

After leaving Queen’s Bath we ventured over to Secret Beach. Johnny, our tour guide from the tubing adventure told us it was a great beach to check out. We hiked down to the beach. It was an easy hike down but tiring on the way back up. The boys got in the water and were tossed around like dolls. The waves were so big that they kept getting pulled under and tossed up on shore. Stephen thought it was fun diving under the waves. Kyle not so much. He asked to leave before Mike and I even finished digging out some “chairs” in the sand. Mike and I decided to try snorkeling here since the guidebook said it was good for snorkeling. Nope, it sucked! The water was so churned up all you could see was sandy water. I was getting sea sick while snorkeling because the waves were so intense.

Although this beach sucked for snorkeling and swimming, it was a long beautiful beach for relaxing. It was also the most entertaining beach. We laughed so hard at all the people attempting to boogie board, snorkel and just walk into the water. We saw more grown men getting tossed about, slammed into the sand and pushed over then anywhere else. Nobody got hurt so we could laugh hysterically at them!

We only stayed here for about an hour and hiked back up to the car. Mike purchased some fresh made guava and pineapple juice from a local guy who sells it out of the back of his truck. Mike and I thought it was delicious. The boys, not so much. Kyle said it needed lots more sugar.

We still had a couple hours to kill before we could check into our next condo in Kapa’a. We were all feeling lazy and tired so I text the condo owner and she said we could check in early. Prior to our arrival we stopped at Ono Shave Ice. We got some sweet treats. Everyone enjoyed their desserts. We continued on to our new place…with air conditioning 😊 and we relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. 

The boys and I decided to check out the beach which is really close to the condo. In the book that was left in the condo, the owner said it was not the best beach and encouraged visitors to check out Lydgate Beach Park instead. We still wanted to see it. I led the boys about a half mile out of our way to get to a beach that was literally a two-minute walk from our condo. We stepped over chicken eggs as we walked. The chickens in Kauai run wild everywhere!  The beach is very narrow and there is a rocky reef barrier a few feet in the water so it is not an ideal beach for swimming. As we continued down the beach I discovered where all the transients and drug addicts live. There were make-shift transient camps in the bushes and the boys were a bit fearful of the guys who were stumbling about and the women who were “walking weird” (you know the erratic meth-induced body movements). Mike’s fishing boat captain mentioned that Kauai has an issue with homelessness since several people buy one-way tickets to Kauai with no money or plan and never leave. He also said meth addiction is rampant here. It’s so sad and not something I had seen since this stroll on the beach. 

We continued further down the beach because we heard drumming. We thought we might come across a drum circle. The drumming was coming from a tent where there was a private event going on at the Marriott but we did find a couple who had just gotten engaged as the sun set. She was staring at her ring and he was turning off the drone that was flying above them. How exciting for them and what a beautiful place for an engagement! We congratulated them and we headed back toward the condo. 

We walked across the street, got some supplies for dinner and made tacos. We can walk to everything here in Kapa’a which is nice. After dinner we watched a few movies and crashed out. 

The best thing about today: Stephen – “Going to secret beach.”, Kyle – “Going to our new place and taking a shower. It felt nice to get all the sand off.”, Mike – “Seeing the big beautiful Secret Beach.”, Amber – “Seeing all the sea turtles at Queen’s Bath.”