Kauai - Friday

Today was a pretty low key kind of day....We spent the whole day on the North Shore, attempting to check out some of the beaches. First we went to Java Kai in Hanelei for breakfast (great breakfast and smoothies), then we attempted to go to Ke'e beach (the beach the furthest north that you can go on a road on the island). When I say attempted, there was NO parking anywhere within a mile and a half of the beach. So, we went to the next beach, Ha'ena beach. The water was a beautiful turquoise color, and the sand was incredibly soft...The first two pictures are from that beach. The surf was really strong, so there wasn't anyone swimming there...
Our next goal was to go to Tunnels beach, but it is another one that is lacking in parking. Most of the time, the best bet is to park at Ha'ena beach and walk. What looked like a short walk turned out to be about a half mile (each way) in very loose sand. This is the view from Tunnels beach looking back to Ha'ena beach. We parked near the mountains and walked. We both got our workout today...I think the correct caption here is "Maggie, stop complaining about your feet hurting. Just suck it up and keep walking!!!!" (although knowing Bryon, it was much more pleasant and nicely put than that)This is a surfer at Tunnels beach. You can see the surf breaking in the background. This is a popular snorkelling beach because it is completely protected from the waves by a large reef.
Since the other beaches were so crowded, we went to Hanelei Bay. This is Hanelei pier. (and of course, anytime I write or type or think Hanelei, I can't get the Peter Paul and Mary song "Puff the Magic Dragon" out of my head...I have the people from our sailing trip on Wednesday to thank for that) This is the catamaran that we look on the sailing trip on Wednesday. They must not have had a trip today (this is their low season)This isn't a great picture on the blog, but the panaramic view from the pier at Hanelei is really impressive.......