Like I said in Part 1 of the Kaua’i adventure, Amanda and I aren’t the best planners, which leaves lots of room for spontaneous activities (for better or worse). On Wednesday morning we woke up and, after harassing Sadie, the surfer chick who lives on the farm, for information about where to paddle out at Hanalei (before she had coffee, poor thing), we headed out to surf.
Hanalei Bay is a really famous surf spot, and even though it was knee to waist high, I saw the potential for perfection on a big day. Sadie told me about paddling out on massive days, and just how epic it is. I’m not trying to surf Hanalei Bay on a huge swell, but chest to head high would have been nice. The good thing about surfing it small was there weren't any crowds. After a fun little surf, Amanda and I did yoga on the beach, had a delicious poke lunch, and drove west to the end of the road on the north side of the island.
Unlike Big Island, the road on Kaua’i doesn’t go all the way around the island, because the Na Pali coast on the northwest side of the island is too rugged to build a road through. I’m sure this is a part of why the industrial development on the island has remained limited. The road on the north end of the island hugs the coastal mountains and winds through little towns, with stunning views of long, white sand beaches and the infinite ocean around every corner. This road ends at the famous Na Pali State Park, but you have to secure permits in order to hike it, which I dropped the ball on (like I said, not a good planner). I was bummed to miss it. As a consolation, we decided to go to Koke’e State Park the next day, to see the Na Pali coast from the mauka side.
The Na Pali coast can be enjoyed many ways – many people do the day hike into the first pristine beach, some people backpack the 11 miles in to Kalalau Valley and camp overnight, others hike the 17 miles all the way through the park to the other side of the island and get picked up there. For the less athletic, there are boat tours and helicopter rides to view the coastline, but Amanda and I were too cheap for those, and/or didn’t want to die (R.I.P Kobe). Other people, like Marika and Orien (our hosts on the island) packed up their 2 and 4 year old kids, and kayaked the 11 miles down the coast to camp at Kalalau Valley for like, a week or something. They are pretty badass people, but it seemed we met badass people everywhere we went on this trip, and as one does when they travel in general.
After sussing out the north side of the island to the extent we could without permits, Amanda and I headed back to the house to check out the local beach and do the river paddle. I ended up going for a long walk on the beach before we decided to paddle up the river to find the waterfall, which Marika said, was a “short hike after you can’t paddle any more because it is so shallow.” So Amanda and I took off, sharing a paddle board because we didn’t plan well, and didn’t realize how far the paddle was. The Kalihiwai river is stunning, lined with lush jungle and dotted with plantation houses with wide grassy lawns. Birds called to one another and bugs chirped as we paddled, until the ravine got steeper and the river got shallower. Finally, when we started scraping rocks, we pulled over to the shore to hike the rest of the way to the waterfall. Unfortunately, by this point, because we were deep in a ravine and because I had totally lost track of time, it was starting to get dark. Maybe not dark, but the sun had certainly set behind the jungle walls. We hiked for a while but Amanda was a bit out of sorts, and I didn’t want to risk us having to stumble back home in the dark, in an unfamiliar element on an unfamiliar island. So as much as I wanted to reach the waterfall, using my better judgment, we headed back to the paddle board and down the river. The sun cast its golden glow over the treetops and we got back to the beach just as the sun set. Good timing… I guess… and I guess I will just have to go back one of these days.
It was another lesson in why planning is sometimes a good thing. The other lesson we learned is that when a local says something is close, or a short paddle or a quick hike, don’t believe them. It is kind of like how Hawaiians give you wave sizes – for whatever reason, Hawaiians measure waves from the back of the wave, so a wave 4 foot Hawaiian is more like an 8 foot face.
Yet it took another experience for us to learn our lesson. Sadie recommended a hike in the Waimea Valley to check out the Kalalau Valley, which she said was a quick little walk, and we believed her. I woke Amanda up early on Thursday morning to drive to the south side of the island to check out the Na Pali coast from above and the Waimea Canyon, which is known as the Grand Canyon of the Pacific. We brought surfboards just in queso, as we had heard of some fun breaks on the south side.
The lookout from the ridge behind Kalalau Valley was another Soylent Green moment. Spires and ridges line both sides of the sweeping valley that has been carved out by millions of years of storms, wind and rain. It is hard to imagine the amount of time and force of nature that created this beauty, and imagine the fact that some day this island will be an atoll, and then just a seamount, but none of us will be around to see it. I tried to spot Marika, Orien and the kids, but even the birds of prey looked like little dots swooping around the valley. The grandeur of the whole place was again, hard to comprehend (and even harder to describe).
Amanda and I did a little, one mile Hawaiian hike along the ridge behind the valley, stopping every few feet to gawk in awe of the beauty. We could tell the trail is usually super muddy, but it was exceptionally dry the whole time we were there, and the hikes were pleasantly dry and the views stunningly clear. After our short hike (Hawaiian) we had a quick lunch at the Kalalau lookout. I was tempted to drag Amanda on a long hike (Hawaiian) along the spine of the valley ridge, but I knew if we did that we wouldn’t have the energy to surf. So I put that hike on the list of things to do upon return. That’s the thing about visiting a place for such a short amount of time – when I finally figure out where to surf and where to hike, it is time to go home.
Before going to look for surf, Amanda and I stopped at the Waimea Canyon Lookout, which gives stunning views of the three thousand foot deep canyon as well as the coast to the south. There are a bunch of gnarly hikes to do in the canyon too, but again, I decided to save those for another visit. Feeling like we had seen enough to say we’d seen the State Park, we headed back down the mountain to the coast to look for surf.
Our friend Amy had recommended a “super fun left point” on the south side of the island, and Sadie confirmed that it is a really good wave, so we decided to check it out. The thing about surf breaks is that they aren’t always well identified, and after driving past the pull out on the highway for Pakalas twice, we saw a guy with a surfboard disappear into the jungle and decided we must be at the right place. It was super windy out, so we sat in the car and hemmed and hawed about whether or not to go, when a few guys walked out of the jungle with their boards. They looked like nice enough tourists, so I asked them for a surf report. Super fun! They said, and super windy! But super fun! Go get it. So we grabbed our boards and went out.
Sure enough, although it was pretty windy, there was a perfect little left peeling down the side of the reef. The waves were only waist to chest high, so it was playful and fun, soft and uncrowded. I thought again about how this wave compares to the lefts on Big Island and well, there isn’t a dry reef section or a big coral head right in the lineup that you have to surf around. What luxury! Sure the water was a little murky and there have been reports of big sharkies around there, but I didn’t see any. It was probably the most fun surf I had on the island. And to think, Amanda and I could have missed that surf because we didn’t want to hike into the unknown in the wind!
After surfing, I dragged Amanda through a few more tourist spots on the south side of the island because we were right there, but we were both pretty beat. I felt such a deep love for the island that I wanted to squeeze out every bit of time and energy I had to explore it. But on our final day we decided to hang out in Hanalei Bay, have one last surf, do some shopping and just enjoy the vibes before getting on our respective planes to come home.
Alas, I have visited and fallen in love with yet another wonderful little corner of the world – scratched the surface just enough to know that there is so much more beauty and awe to be experienced on this little fleck of land in the midst of the Northern Pacific Ocean. I created what I hope to be life-long memories, and am deeply grateful for my time in Kaua’i. I hope to return someday.
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