Hawaii (Kauai island): Day 4

Sunday morning we didn't get to enjoy breakfast at the B&B because we had to get to the dive shop for a 7am check in time. So we headed right back to the South shore. We grabbed a quickie breakfast at a Starbucks (yummy spiced cider!) and then checked Trent in. They told us to meet them down at the boat dock. By the time Trent finally left it was almost 8:30. Trent thought I should go back to the Sheraton beach and hang out there for a while. But I wanted to check out a couple beaches on the South shore that we hadn't been to yet.

First I went to Shipwreck beach. I brought a beach chair and my book, but I just had no desire to read. I just wanted to soak everything in. Shipwreck beach was really cool, because you are sitting at the edge of a pinetree forest that comes right up to the sand. I climbed the little trail up to the cliff to check out the view. It was really pretty up there and I walked a little further on the other side to look at some other cliffs. Then I headed back to the beach. There were tiny little sand crabs popping in and out of the sand and running sideways everywhere.

The water was pretty rough, so I didn't get in. There was a young man on the beach with a pile of fresh coconuts. He was ripping off the outer green peel with a sharpened stick sticking out of the ground. Then he would hack the top off the coconut with this big machete knife so people could drink the juice out. He wanted you to pay him after that and he would cut it in half for you to get to the fruit. It was pretty cool to watch.

Then I decided to head over and check out Poipu beach park. It was a great family friendly beach with tons of kids and snorkelers all over. By the time I was there for 20 minutes or so it was time to head back to the dock and get Trent. Trent had loved his dives and was excited to go back the next day. I was not as excited to spend another 3 hours alone on my romantic anniversary trip. I wasn't really happy about it, but we decided to let Trent do the dive the next day too.

We drove out to a diffenrent secluded beach off some long dirt road but it was starting to sprinkle and the waves were big and we didn't even get out of the car there. I took Trent back to see Shipwreck Beach. We had borrowed some boogie boards from the B&B, so we took them out to try. Trent got a couple good rides out of his, but after I got knocked around and flipped upside down I went back to my chair to watch.
Before heading off the South shore we grabbed lunch at Keoki's Paradise. The atmosphere was really cute and I liked the place. My sliders were okay and Trent's fish tacos were tasty. We headed up North. We hadn't seen anything North of Kapaa yet, so we decided to try to see a few more spots while we had light. We drove to the Kilauea Lighthouse. The road down to it for visitors had closed about 10 minutes before we got there, so we just stayed at the lookout for a bit.
 Then we headed just a little bit further North to Kalihiwai where we took the road to a place that looks to be nowhere by a beach. You park by a cool home being constructed and there is a little trail by a fence that leads to a little downhill hike through some thick trees. Then you pop out at this gorgeous, secluded little beach called Secret Beach. It was beautiful and we could see the lighthouse from there as well. Then hike a little farther to the left on the beach and up onto some lava rocks and you come to a little waterfall and Secret Lava Pools. It was really a cool place. The ocean was pretty wild, so we mostly just climbed around checking it out and got a good view of the sun going down over the cliffs the the Northwest of us. I would definitely go back to that spot.

When we got back to the car it was getting pretty dark and we were tired. We headed back towards the East shore, got dinner at a chinese/pacific place that was recommended in my guide book called Pacific Island Bistro. It was gross. Or maybe we just ordered the wrong stuff? Then we ready to get back to our room adn get cleaned up and tucked in.