Day 84: Hawaii Day TWO

When I say it rained today, man, you have NO idea.

Everyone’s all “oh it rains for 10 minutes and then it clears up!” Or “drive 20 minutes and it’ll be clear!” No. You’re all lying.

It rained. It poured. It was beyond a monsoon. It was RIDICULOUS. It rained, according to the radio, FOUR inches in THREE hours.

I’ve never seen rain like that in my life. And I’m from Seattle.

But you know what, it was a very warm, tropical rain, and we paid to be here, dammit, so we were going to be out in it. I mean clothes dry, right? 

We started with a quick jaunt from our back porch onto Barking Sands beach, which is unswimmable due to pounding surf but is still pretty to walk on (even in rain). Then we piled into the car to go on an adventure, trying our best to have our windshield wipers win the world record for speed. 

Feeding Hei Heis on the back porch. The ocean not 50 yards from our house

Barking Sands beach - miles of empty sand. Water not swimmable safe, but the beach was just stunning, and 50 yards from our house. 

We headed to the little town of Hanapepe, which is the town that was inspired by Disney Animators for the town in the Lilo and Stitch movie. So of course we had to take “Little Stitch” to his hometown! We found the mural on the main road and then went to the Midnight Bear Bread Company bakery for some macadamia and almond danishes, then explored this super fun book store that had everything from Kauai guidebooks to fiction to comic books, and even some Nintendo Power magazines from the 90s.

I’m a fan.

Little Stitch visiting his hometown bakery! 

Rain puddle splashes in Hanapepe!

Super cute artwork at the storefront of the bookstore. See Lilo and Stich hiding in there?

Cam is over the moon!

Stitch on his home street!

After exploring the town, we braved the rain and crossed the famous Swinging Bridge across the canal. The only destination on the other side is this little green private home, where a tiny older lady named Jan (or Aunt Jan, as she introduced to us) sells self-photographed art off her literal front porch. Every photo came with a story (“I’m a storyteller” she said) and so of course we walked away with 3 photos because I’m a sucker for overly friendly whimsical people like that. She also declared “I LIKE the young man that asks all the questions!” Meaning Camden, who definitely had a LOT of questions for her.

Hanapepe's Swinging Bridge

Another angle of the sugar canal we walked over

Back into the car we go, thoroughly soaked from the rain. We drove out to the Makauwahi Cave reserve on the south shore, thinking “caves! Yay!” Like it’s some sort of indoor sport.

Well.

The road to get there was almost completely washed out, leaving massive clay potholes and several inches of water to smash through. We did fine, but once we got to the Cave Trail entrance and saw that it was an actual walking trail (in the monsoon, remember), Brad’s parents decided to bail and the kids and us braved the weather. 

Just when we thought it couldn’t rain any harder, it did. It poured to the point where our rain jackets were useless and we were soaked absolutely to the bone. But we kept on walking! We marched through this amazing ridge line trail that would have been gorgeous on a SUNNY day, then down into the jungle. The trail was muddy and wet but whatever, we were all in sandals anyways. We reached the cave, which is really an “amphitheater” by nature, with a cave entrance to this huge pit in the earth. The cave was closed due to paleontologists doing some work, but we still could peek our heads through and take a look. Next door was a random, privately owned tortoise preserve, where we found a couple of huge tortoises hanging out in the rain (and got to pet one). 

Massively full coconut trees

This randomly cool tree tunnel footwalk bridge 

The amphitheater! There's a cave entrance to get there, but it was closed today because paleontologists are digging up fossils. Uh, cool!

Since we were by ourselves and already soaking wet, we went out exploring. We could hear the pounding waves and found a little trail that took us to Gillin’s beach, completely secluded and definitely not save to swim in (especially considering the storm), but that didn’t stop Camden from stripping his clothes and playing in the waves that washed up.

Gillin's Beach!

We headed back up the trail and to our car, soaked through and shivering, but it was an adventure nevertheless. Nothing stops us! 

We met up with Brad’s parents and headed to lunch at Puka Dog, a small joint seen on Anthony Bordain’s No Reservations. Basically it’s a polish sausage with Puka sauce and mango relish, wrapped completely (and I mean completely) in a toasted bun. The jury is out - Calen and I loved it, Brad and Cam not so much. We found covered park benches (because it’s still raining) at Poipu Beach, completely populated by chickens and baby chickens. 

Hei Hei and baby Hei Heis

Puka Dog!

As we finished lunch I wandered onto the actual beach - and found Sea Turtles!! A TON of them, sleeping on the shore. I yelled for Camden - they’re his bucket list item after all, and we sat where the area is roped up and just watched them. Amazing.

Staredown

The rain was finally subsiding, so we decided to plant our butts here and spend the afternoon at Poipu beach. It was a FANTASTIC beach for snorkeling - we saw all sorts of tropical fish, including “Gil” from finding Nemo, a flounder, a baby octopus and other tropical fish. It was surreal to see them in person!

Calen and I rounded off the day by exploring a lava field that’s right on the shore - natural disasters are his favorite and this was a real treat for him. And bonus round, this guy! A young monk seal decided to take a very long nap right on shore. Calen said it reminded him of a dog, and he wanted to take it home. 

Calen and I elated that the sun actually came out!!

All in all it was a very wet day, but I think we really made the most of it.

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