Awoken by rosters once again, it seems to be a theme here on Kauai. After a quick breakfast, we headed to the beach to see if we could get some early morning snorkeling in. Instead we found an empty beach littered with orange warning flags and signs. The surf was still very high. We sat down to watch the waves crashing and some locals surfing. I noticed a series of sand mounds about nine inches high just a few yards away. I went to investigate and found those mounds to be sand pulled out of tunnels the diameter of my fist! That must be one huge burrowing crab! I started to move towards another tunnel entrance when I almost stepped on the crab itself! It is by far the biggest burrowing crab I have seen here. It wasn’t moving around too much either. I poked at it with a stick, Mat even picked it up from behind. It just kind of squiggled but no real movement. We left it to it’s fate, sad to see a little burrowing crab get so huge only to be gobbled up by a bird probably.
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Empty beach with high-surf flags
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| Rainbow on the beach |
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We walked further down the beach to the point where we found a Monk seal resting and digesting on the sand, as well as about a dozen sea turtles bobbing in the surf just beyond him. We sat and watched the wildlife for a while before heading back to camp. While packing up the tent, a park ranger came by to check our permit. He told us that the campgrounds are below capacity at the moment so we could camp at any county campground we’d like. This was good news to us because tonight’s reservation was at ‘Anini beach park which, while definitely nice camping, we weren’t too impressed with the snorkeling and basically we were ready to see some new territory on the island. We started back towards Lihue, stopping in Hanalei for some Wishing Well Shave Ice. Shave Ice is a Hawaiian treat, kind of like a snocone but a millions times better. They shave the ice with a finely sharpened blade instead of crushing it like in snocones. Then they pour a syrup chilled to the perfect temp over the ice. The result is a delicious tasting treat that melts on your tongue as delicately as powder snow falling from the sky.
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| View from Tunnels beach |
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| Walking back to the car |
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| Shave Ice |
We continued on to Wailua where we stopped for some lunch at Monico's Taqueria. They had the most delicious fish tacos! Seared ahi tuna with fresh veggies & aioli, plus delicious rice, beans & guacamole! Very tasty, we thought we were in Mexico instead of Kauai! Now full, we needed to find somewhere to take a nap and possibly a swim. We stopped at Lydgate beach park. Although the surf was up, this beach has two swimming ares protected from the surf by an artificial sea wall. Unfortunately the swimming areas were crowded so we found ourselves a shaded area around the corner for a nap. I also snapped some photos of the ancient ruins at the entrance to the Wailua river.
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| Monico's taqueria |
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| Lydgate State Park |
Now fed and rested, we continued south, the only detour being a quick visit to Wailua falls. We ended up near Salt Pond Beach Park near sunset so that’s where we decided to camp for the night. The beach is beautiful! A lava bench makes two different natural lagoons that are quite safe for swimming when the surf is high. The smaller, more protected lagoon even had small waterfalls on the lava bench fed by surging waves. On the back end of the beach/campground area were salt flats where ancient and modern Hawaiians collect sea salt. The sunset was beautiful from this beach and we enjoyed watching it as we cooked up a little meal. There were plenty of chickens & cats at this campground, it could get pretty noisy. As darkness settled, a local reggae band started playing in one of the lighted, covered picnic areas. They were practicing their songs for a performance, and they were good too! We listened to them for a while as we watched the amazing stars. Mat even went for a night swim. All while listening to good live reggae music.
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| Ranch near Wailua Falls |
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| Camp at Salt Pond Beach Park |
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| Sunset from camp |
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| Listening to this excellent reggae band practice while lying on the beach under the stars |
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