Day 5: Life is a Beach

Left: Ke'e Beach at sunset
Mary swimming at Ke'e (recognize the hair?)
Today was beach day! Kauai has a higher percentage of sandy beaches per mile of coastline than any of the other Hawaiian islands. As the oldest of the island chain, the Pacific ocean has had longer to grind rock into fine sand. Each beach has it's own topology, wind and currents that define it.
All beaches belong to the public, so even multimillion dollar homes can't own the beach that they front. In most cases a public access point, usually between multiple owners and cordoned off with fences wide enough for a foot path, is provided. Our first beach of the day is known as the "secret beach" because it's hard to find.
About 7 miles from our condo to the turnoff, then 1 mile of dirt road to parking area at the end of the road. The path is about a 15 minute hike down a steep path to a beautiful beach that is secluded. We had a picnic lunch there, but I was reluctant to get in because of the reputation of the killer rip currents.

Secret beach: Mary braving the surf!

We saw maybe less than a dozen people while we relaxed on the beach. We hiked back to the rental car - did I mention earlier that it is a PT Cruiser? I think all the rental car companies got a really good deal on them because they are everywhere on Kauai. Most of them are silver and the license plates on them all start with KZJ. More than once I tried to open the wrong PT!
We drove back to the main road and Mary spied a thrift store, so naturally we stopped. I found a CD for $1 and a book, Mary found some shells and a book. Some day I think she'll become a garage sale queen like her cousin Merrie in San Diego.

Back in the "cruiser", we drove next to Hanalei. It was about 3:30 at this point, so we drove past the kayak rentals and drove to the end of the road where the Na Pali coast begins. This narrow 2 lane road winds around headlands and swampy valleys and rivers. All of the bridges are 1 lane, so you must wait and yield to oncoming traffic, if they got to the bridge first. I nearly plowed into a stopped car on one of the bridge approaches. Guess you shouldn't look at the scenery while 'cruisin'! Whew!! I hate to admit that, because I'm such a good driver ordinarily...
The end of road is the trailhead for the hike into the Na Pali interior valleys - it was way too late to start that. Instead we enjoyed the magical Ke'e Beach - a protected cove with a spectacular backdrop of the Na Pali cliffs. We could swim in this cove, because outer fringing reefs break up the surf swells. We stayed at Ke'e until past sunset - beyond words beautiful!

There are facilities there to rinse off the sand, so we were able to drive back to Princeville in the dark in relative comfort. We stopped at a market on the way and bought a fresh mahi mahi filet which I cooked in the condo kitchen. I was too tired to finish this post last night!