Kauai Day 4

We woke up at 5am again, ate breakfast, then got ready for our morning hike. We drove the short distance to the trailhead of Nounou Mountain, also known as the Sleeping Giant. There were only a few other cars in the lot and we hiked up fast, passing everyone on the way. We had some pretty views of the island and enjoyed the quiet morning and the rising sun. Once again, I loved these trees:

 Once you get to the top there is a short ridge you can keep hiking along to reach the very top. Here I am contemplating the last stretch:

The guidebook had warned there were steep drop-offs on each side and it was dangerous, but as someone who has a healthy fear of heights, I can say I didn't even have to think twice about it and it wasn't bad at all.

But I couldn't get myself to go out on this edge that Dan did. Just watching him made me nervous. You can't tell from the pictures, but there's a huge drop off to the right of him.

 We sat up there for a good 20 or 30 minutes just taking in the view.

 Trying to get a panorama:

A local lady chatted with us for a minute and asked if we'd seen the giant's "nostril" right below where we were sitting. We hadn't even noticed the hidden trail and she said to be sure to walk down there on our way out. We did and found the cave-like opening in the rock that you could climb through. It would have been the absolute perfect spot to watch the sun rise. Next time!

We hiked down and my knees were killing me by the end. It had been a pretty steep hike and I was feeling it!

We hadn't planned what we'd do for the rest of the day, but decided to check out the north side of the island. We started driving and were amazed at how different it could look from the other areas of the island, even just a short drive away.

We got off the main road in Kilauea to get a poke bowl from a fish market that had been recommended, but it was early enough in the morning that nothing was open for lunch yet. Since we were there we decided to check out the Kileau Lighthouse overlook.

The lighthouse itself was closed, but we probably wouldn't have paid to visit it anyway. But the overlook was right next to a cliff full of nesting seabirds so I whipped out my binoculars (never go on vacation without them!) -

 and even got Dan in on the action:

We saw frigate birds, red-footed boobies, the endangered Nene goose, and the most exciting, a couple Laysan albatrosses. Those birds are incredible to watch, they are so big!

We looked up all the beaches in the area and chose one that promised to be good, calm snorkeling. We drove to Anini beach - a beach with a reef right up to the shore to stop the waves and provide a perfect home for lots of creatures. I was hardly nervous at all as we swam around watching all sorts of colorful fish - some pretty angelfish, pipe fish, some box fish with black and white spots, those fish that have rhino noses, and more. My favorite was watching three turtles swim around together. We saw several turtles and I loved seeing them maneuver and eat away at things in the sand at the bottom. We never got deeper than 5 feet so I could always touch the bottom, and as long as Dan stayed near me I handled it all pretty well.

Even with a wet suit top I felt pretty cold after awhile and after sitting on the sunny but breezy sand, I couldn't warm up! So we got back in the car and drove to our next destination - Hanalei Bay. The views along the main road and once we got to the bay were incredible. It was probably our favorite part of the island and I'd love to stay there sometime. We ate lunch at some shops in town, Chicken in a Barrel for Dan and Puka Dogs for me, and we shared a piece of chocolate haupia pie, which was good but not great.

We were loving the views so much that we decided to just keep driving. We made it a beach parking lot with a large cave near the road and decided to park there. Dan wanted to try diving at Tunnels Beach but the parking lot there had been full, so we walked from this farther beach. I loved the roots of these trees:

It was a pretty long trek but we made it and I set up my spot on the once again practically empty beach while Dan snorkeled. He saw more reef fish and turtles as well as a big puffer fish. The waves were still big enough that he didn't dare go out to the farther reef, which I was glad to hear.

The picture is backlit, but the view was incredible. I was happy to sit on the beach and read with that backdrop! I got sprinkled on a little but it felt nice to have the cloud cover. I facetimed with the girls again. Alta answered and within a minute of talking to her she yelled, "Grandma! Ellie just threw up again!". Oh boy. Apparently Ellie had already thrown up and was just getting out of the tub when it happened again. It turned out to be just a day full of too much fun and food, which has been known to make her sick. I was glad to find out the next day that she was fine.

Dan and I sat on the beach until the sun started getting low. We stopped at Sushi Girl for a sushi burrito and an ono poke bowl and ate it at a park in Hanalei with a beautiful view of the mountains. The food was so good, probably my favorite meal of the trip. I've finally been won over by raw fish!

We loved having a low-key day of exploring the beauty of the island. I think my favorite part of Kauai is how different each side of the island looks and feels, and I definitely loved the north.