After our relaxing day on Monday, we decided venture away from our rental area on Tuesday and head to the North Shore which was a little over an hour away. During the winter months, the North Shore gets a significant amount of rain. An incredibly green, lush area is the result.
The North Shore also has a large number of different beaches. We spent the day checking out three of them.
Our first stop was Tunnels Beach. Tunnels is known for its huge coral reef. The parking for Tunnels is incredibly limited so we ended up parking at Haena Beach and walking. While walking down the beach to Tunnels, we saw a Hawaiian Sea Monk. The creatures are so large. They are protected species so if you do anything other than take a picture from a far distance you get a large fine.
JP spent a lot of time snorkeling at Tunnels while I relaxed on the beach under the trees that surrounded the beach. The waves were almost non-existent in the summer. To show you how much the weather changes on the North Shore, in the Fall and Winter, when I'm writing the blogpost the waves are forecasted to be 6-8 feet!
After checking out Tunnels, we headed to east to Hanalei Bay. It was bright and sunny all around except for over the mountain where the clouds seemed to accumulate. We hung out the beach for a while, and JP used his engineering skills to get a puddle of water in front of us to drain out into the ocean.
Here we are at Hanalei sporting our rashguards I bought us before the trip. I had read that the sun is stronger in Hawaii, and I wanted to minimize the chance of getting burned. So, JP wore his pretty much all the time since he burns easily, and I wore mine probably half of the time. We both did get some sun burn but thankfully not too bad.
After Hanalei, we were both starving but wanted something quick and not too heavy because we had reservations at a nice restaurant for dinner. I had remembered reading on TripAdvisor about a gas station with really good burgers. Sure enough the North Shore General Store was inside the Chevron Station we had to pass to get to the next beach we were going to visit. And like all the reviews said, the burgers were really good and well priced. They used grass-fed Kauai beef. Anywhere else I've ever been you pay a high price for grass-fed beef, but not here. The fries were really good too with a large serving. Large enough for JP and I to share- which means it must have been a large serving!
After our quick lunch, we headed to Hideaways which ended up being our favorite beach. The parking for this beach is extremely limited, but we lucked out and someone was leaving when we arrived. Just to access it you have to climb down a very steep path that has ropes installed so to keep you from falling. The steep hike is worth it to get to this quaint tropical beach. We were there in the evening and got to see the changing skies. Unfortunately it was not the best sunset due to clouds, but it was still such a beautiful experience.
Once the sun set, we hiked back up the steep trail to head to dinner. I had booked a nice dinner on the East Shore- which we would drive through to get back to our place on the South Shore. However, after a day spent at the beach we were not nice restaurant quality. Unfortunately, Hideaways did not have any showers. So, I had asked on the TripAdvisor Kauai forum which beaches on the North Shore had outdoor showers. Anini beach did and was in the direction we would be going so, we stopped there to shower. We had brought shampoo etc. I air dryed my hair with the windows rolled down. Not how I normally prepare for a nice dinner but it worked.
We arrived just in time for our 8:30pm reservations at Hukilau Lanai where we had a wonderful dinner. To be honest I don't remember what we got and I did not write it down. However, I do remember it was delicious as was the chocolate dessert we had to finish off the meal.
After such a fun,but long, day we were ready to head back to our rental after dinner.
