Hawaii 2019 Day 17: Na Pali Sunset Cruise

In the morning Dallas, Jordan and George went golfing. Grace wanted to stay with her grandma (and get spoiled by her aunties), so Jose, Caroline, Makai and I decided to go to Polihale Beach.  The water was SUPER rough and I only trusted to go ankle deep and hold hands. Makai mostly collected shells and played in the sand. No one was really at the beach which was nice. Jose wanted to drive their jeep on the beach, which is allowed, but not allowed by Caroline! Makai was all for it. He said “Yah! Let’s drive on the beach! I never did that before!” We also saw some dolphins from the shore!

For lunch, Liz, Mahea, Makai and I met up with Aunty Cathy at Wranglers. Liz and Aunty Cathy got the “tin can lunch”. You open the layers of the tin can and there is teriyaki chicken, shrimp and vegetable tempura, and kimchee.

From lunch I had to jet over to Port Allen where we were going on a Holo Holo Charters 4.5 hour catamaran tour of the Na Pali coast.

All of the Korean aunties and uncles, Kathy, Jose, Caroline and I all went on the tour.
 On the boat there was the captain, whose name I forget, and the crew, Heather and Stefen.

 Heather and Stefen helped the captain and helped anyone on the boat with anything they needed. We enjoyed unlimited beer, wine and cocktails. We also had cheese and cracker pupus and a dinner of fish and pork tacos.

I took A LOT of selfies!

 We saw so many sea caves and sea tunnels and waterfalls! The views were unbelievable. And this was a part of the island I’d only seen in photos. There’s no other way to really explore it except from the ocean.

 These are the pali that I love!

 So gorgeous! One of the Korean aunties was singing, it was so beautiful. But not singing for long! A lot of people started getting seasick. Luckily Caroline and I took 25 mg of dramamine, which made sure I was not seasick, but also was a small enough dosage that I did not get tired!

 We saw sea turtles in the distance and dolphins swam right next to the boat!

Caroline and Jose caught so much air (and water) bouncing around on the catamaran!

At sunset there was a champagne toast. The whole trip and experience was so lovely. Once I will remember forever, I’m sure.

Dramas of Kalalau by Terence James Moeller


finished 03.24.11

Over the years and my visits to Kauai, I have hiked the first two miles of the Kalalau trail twice (2004, 2007), and have always wondered what it would be like to hike all 11 miles. And wondered about the people who go in and camp, and the people that I heard lived in Kalalau Valley (illegally). Thanks to this book, I now have a good idea both about how the trail is and about the people in the valley. The book gives both detailed descriptions of the trail and tips for hiking it, as well as past and recent histories of the valley. There are also a lot of interesting short stories written by people who live in the valley or who have visited it. Also, in some stories I recognized a family name of one of Dallas’s relatives. He confirmed that they were one of the last Hawaiian families to legally live in Kalalau Valley, so the book was also interested from a family history aspect. Recommended to anyone who loves Kauai and has been on the Kalalau Trail.

Polihale Beach

After visiting Waimea Canyon, we continued up to Polihale Beach. Let me just stop and tell you what we were driving. Kristin was driving a Jeep Wrangler with Jen and Jill inside. Tien was driving an SUV with me, Shannon and Jess G. inside. Richard was driving a Jeep Wrangler with Amanda, Stephanie, and Jessica inside. The reason I mention this is because the road to Polihale is always rough, with lots of holes and boulders and stuff, but this time it was also very muddy from all of the rain. When I say muddy, I mean like off-roading-TV-commercial muddy. Like don’t-try-this-at-home muddy. If you didn’t have 4-wheel drive you weren’t going to make it in.


What did we get ourselves into!?

Kristin lead our small caravan and was really cautious about the mud, trying to avoid it where possible. Tien was very aggressive about driving as fast as he could through everything. I thought we were going to die, or at the very least, break the car. My brother was in the back and I think was driving somewhere in the middle of the two styles. The road was fun, but it was long. It seemed to take forever! Maybe it was a half hour?


Stephanie & Richard


Tien (Photo by Jen)

Once out to the beach we took a look at the cars. Yep. Muddy. So muddy.

We hauled all of our things to the beach and made a kind of camp. Polihale is never busy at all, very secluded, because of the long and treacherous drive it takes to get there. It’s so beautiful and quiet, with the Na Pali cliffs looming to the west.


(Photo by Jen)

After setting our stuff up and eating lunch, some of us took a long walk as far as we could go. Polihale Beach is the western-most publicly-accessible beach in the United States, so I was trying to see how far west I could really go. Ha.


Stephanie


Jessica

The only problem with this beach, aside from it being difficult to access, is that it’s not good for swimming. The currents are extremely strong so we made sure just to only go about ankle deep or so while walking along the coast. Needless to say, there are also no lifeguards at this remote beach! Although, surprisingly, there is running water, toilets and outdoor showers.


Driving Out of Polihale


(Photo by Jen)


Jill took this video of Tien driving out of Polihale

Somehow we miraculously made it out of there without throwing someone from a Jeep (Jill!) and without breaking a vehicle (Tien!). On the way out we did stop and warn some people that they weren’t going to make it in their fancy Mustang convertible or regular sedan car. We had the mud to prove it!


Rachelle & Jessica in Waimea. Very proud of the mud!

Source

Polihale Beach

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The last time we were in Kaua’i we tried to go to Polihale beach, but it was closed, so when we saw Jordan and he said that he and Caroline and Caroline’s friends were going there later in the day, I was psyched to go. Yay! A beach I’d never been to!

Polihale is the last beach when you drive down Hwy 50 west from Waimea, past the Pacific Missle Range Facility.* Actually, you go all the way to the end of the highway then you get on a dirt/gravel road and drive for about 20 more minutes. That was the most bumpy road I’ve ever been on. Huge holes… er.. pukas? 🙂 You really have to wear your seatbelt or you’re going to get some bruises. Good thing we had an SUV. It wasn’t a fun drive, but the beach at the end was totally worth it.

Polihale Beach is Kauai’s westernmost point and it’s Hawaii’s longest beach with 17 miles of white sand. At the north end of the beach, where we were, are the cliffs of the Na Pali coast. I heard that the dunes here can get up to 100 feet tall and that because the entire beach is unprotected from the ocean, the surf and currents can get really fierce.

*The Pacific Missile Rang Facility (PMRF) is the world’s largest instrumented, multi-dimensional testing and training range. It’s also he only range in the world where submarines, surface ships, aircraft and space vehicles can operate and be tracked simultaneously.

When we left Polihale, we went to Waimea Brewing Co. in Waimea. I had two beers – the Leilani Light, a crisp light golden ale brewed with just a touch of crystal malt and malted wheat that delivers a pleasantly mellow hopped character along with a smooth finish, and the Lilikoi Light, a light golden ale with a passion fruit flavor sure to tantalize your taste buds. The Lilikoi Light was a little too fruity, but I liked the Leilani Light a lot.

On the way home we called Brick Oven Pizza and picked it up in Kalaheo before going back to the condos. The pizza at Brick Oven is excellent and we often get while in Kaua’i, but $80+ for 3 pizzas is kind of ridiculous! Don’t remember it being that much the last times. Then again, I think Dallas’ parents paid last time.

Pihea Trail in Waimea Canyon

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Dallas

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John & Susan

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Dallas & John

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Susan, Dallas, John

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John & Dallas

The Pihea Trail was pretty cool. It went along a cliff side and had views of the ocean and the Ne Pali* coast. I think. It was really foggy up there so we couldn’t really see anything. Dallas said if you kept going on this trail for a real long time you’d end up in the Alakai Swamp, one of the wettest patches of land on earth. We only went a mile or something, because we were hungry and had to get back to meet Allison when she arrived from the airport.

* I learned on this trip that “pali” means “cliff” which is helpful because it’s mentioned a lot in Hawaiian.

Hiking the Kalalau Trail on the Na Pali Coast


Rob


Sarah


Rachelle


Rachelle, Sarah, Cousin


Rob, Cousin


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Rob & Sarah


Cousin & Rachelle


Sarah & Rob


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Cousin & Rachelle


Cousin, Rachelle, Sarah


Rachelle & Cousin


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Cousin


Sarah & Rob


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Muddy Shoes


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Sarah

(Photos by Rachelle & Rob)

So after the long drive up the coast Sarah and I considered just chilling out at Ke’e Beach but I didn’t want to be intimidated by the 2-mile Kalalau Trail. I’ve hiked hard trails before and wanted to do it again. “What,” I asked Rob, “is in it for us if we do the hike?” Rob said Fabio was at the end of the trail waiting for Sarah and I and every time we got discouraged he reminded us .. Fabio! Finally, I was like “Rob, I don’t even like Fabio or find him attractive” and he said “Fabio is symbolic”. What actually was at the end was a secluded beach.

So on the hike was kind of hard. It had been raining earlier in the day and many parts of it were steep and muddy clay. I slipped and fell on my ass once and everyone laughed, including myself.. no big deal, yeh? So then there were a few streams running over the path. I was very careful .. stepping on stones, not into the water and then Sarah stopped me to take a photo standing on a rock in the stream in front of a waterfall. I lost my balance and stepped in the water.. no big deal.. now I have to hike with wet feet but whatever.

So then we were hiking down this slope and this chick walked by hiking the other way… and Rob looked at her in front of me.. and I looked at her.. and .. uh.. she didnt have a shirt on! What the hell!??!?! Nobody knew what to say and shortly after we all just bust out laughing and talking.. and Cousin kept making jokes.. Cousin is one funny mofo and let me tell you from experience.. belly laughs are no good on slippery, steep footing! So I slipped and instinctively grabbed this tree to avoid falling over the cliff… and from then on Cousin wasn’t allowed to talk or laugh.

Alright. So we pass all of the warning signs about not going into the rough tide at the secluded beach.. our last obsticle is a river with rapids. Sarah takes her shoes off runs across and is out of sight. Rob does the same but hangs out on the other side of the river to wait for Cousin and me. I give Cousin my camera to put in his ziplock back in his backpack, just in case, so it doesn’t get wet. Then I sit on a rock and take off my already wet socks and shoes. I take one step into the river and slip on a rock and dunk my shoes.. why did I even bother to take them off?!?! Rob is watching me and so is Cousin.. I’m trying to regain my balance and plan my next move. … I slip, fall, and drop everything, including one of my sneakers into the rapids. First thought: “I know how that girl lost her shirt!” Second thought: A vision of myself hiking 2 miles back up the trail with only one shoe on. Rob was the only one who sprung into action.. He chased my shoe down the rapids and managed to get it where it briefly was stuck on a rock. Thank god! With his help, I crossed the river and sat by the beach for a bit. My toes were all stubbed and my left knee was swollen pretty badly. Oh, and I had skinned the front of my leg at Queen’s Bath earlier in the day. And did I mention that a couple days previous I’d fallen in the shower and got a huge bruise on my inner right thigh? Lets just say that the 2-mile walk back up the trail wasn’t very fun and that the dip in the ocean I took afterward was the most refreshing swim I’ve ever taken in my life. That night I soaked in the hot tub with Gordon Biersch. We grilled out in the condo’s BBQ area and played dice afterwards.

I’m going to make a separate post that documents these injuries and the ones I accumulated in the following days.