Since we had to to go to Old Koloa Town to pick our dive pictures CD anyway, we decided to do a drive to follow the highway as far west as it goes - which is the Navy's Pacific Missile Range Facility. There are gates to keep the public out.
Here are the highlights (and some cool pictures) from our little (all day) jaunt.
First - the stop in Old Koloa Town, which has become very familiar to us. It's hard to describe this little place, but it kind of feels like time is really torn between standing still to preserve and honor its history, but also knows it needs to find a future. It's a strange little town, but very cute. Our dive shop operator of choice is there...and they still weren't able to get the CD burned. ARGH! Ah, well...at least we got a cute picture or two.
I usually object to Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving...but who can resist this?Well...onward then, to the west. Next, we drove through Kalaheo a very small village with a great pizza place..back to that later. Our next stop was in 'Ele 'ele, to find the port we are going to Saturday for our catamaran tour of the Na Pali coast line (Port Allen). We had lunch near the harbor and then checked out Glass Beach.
Described by some as "arguably the ugliest beach on Kauai" it is also somewhat fascinating. This beach is located behind the power generating station at 'Ele 'ele (they burn oil to generate electricity here...fascinating) down a dirt road. Glass Beach is so named because thousands of tiny pieces of glass are deposited on the dark sand from an old dump that was located nearby. The result...see for yourself.
Next off, we went to Salt Pond Park. There is a beach there (of course) and it's pretty (of course) but it...feels weird. Both Dianna and I felt a strange spiritual vibe there - a disturbance in the force, if you will - so we didn't stick around long.
We wound our way around the southwest corner of the island until we got to a turnoff onto a dirt road (and again, I use that term very loosely) for a little over 4 miles. It was rough road and made us glad we'd rented a Jeep. About a mile in, Di started having doubts - but manly man that I am, I coaxed her into hanging in there with me (mainly by refusing to stop the Jeep). We finally came to our landmark, a huge Monkeypod tree, turned left for few hundred yards, hairpin turn to the right and OH CRUD...we were in deep, soft sand and not sure which way to go so the worst possible thing that could happen, did...I stopped. We could not go forward and we could not go backward without spinning the tires. I didn't want to sink the tires too far in that fluff so I didn't push the accelerator. I calmly put it into 4WD (silently praying that I wasn't really THAT stuck) and put the Jeep in to D1, and eased ever so gently forward, then back and then presto...we moved through the "mini-dune of death" to a safe parking place.
This part of the beach is called Polihale State park. It's as far as you can go toward the Na Pali coast without a boat. It's also the far end of over 15 miles of uninterrupted sand beach. Unfortunately, you can't swim in the ocean here most of the time - it's too wild. They lost 4 tourists in a 36-hour period just a week and-a-half ago on this stretch because they were careless. The currents and surf are tricky, with rogue waves pulling people into the surf when they are foolish enough to stay on the wet sand. It is a favorite place for hardcore surfers, however, and we saw several braving the huge waves (15-20 ft., I'm guessing). Because it's so hard to get to, it is very unspoiled and absolutely, breathtakingly beautiful.
The lighting was a bit tricky and we didn't have "the big camera" with us so I apologize...the images really don't do it justice.
We headed back down to Kalaheo and had what is considered by many to be the finest pizza on the island. It is certainly one of, if not the best I've ever eaten. I've eaten pizza in Chicago, L.A. (pretending to be a Chicago pizzeria) and just about everywhere else west of the Mississpi. It was great pizza. Now, I know a couple of my east coast friends are going to contend that it can't compare with New York's pizza and I have to concede that I've never had pizza there so I'm not going to argue. It's the best I've ever eaten...I'm just sayin'.
Another mellow day planned for tomorrrow. A little more exploring, and possibly a trip to the medical clinic. I still can't seem to get the water out of my right ear from our dives, so we're going to have it checked out to make sure it doesn't get infected or anything awful.
Aloha!
We wound our way around the southwest corner of the island until we got to a turnoff onto a dirt road (and again, I use that term very loosely) for a little over 4 miles. It was rough road and made us glad we'd rented a Jeep. About a mile in, Di started having doubts - but manly man that I am, I coaxed her into hanging in there with me (mainly by refusing to stop the Jeep). We finally came to our landmark, a huge Monkeypod tree, turned left for few hundred yards, hairpin turn to the right and OH CRUD...we were in deep, soft sand and not sure which way to go so the worst possible thing that could happen, did...I stopped. We could not go forward and we could not go backward without spinning the tires. I didn't want to sink the tires too far in that fluff so I didn't push the accelerator. I calmly put it into 4WD (silently praying that I wasn't really THAT stuck) and put the Jeep in to D1, and eased ever so gently forward, then back and then presto...we moved through the "mini-dune of death" to a safe parking place.
This part of the beach is called Polihale State park. It's as far as you can go toward the Na Pali coast without a boat. It's also the far end of over 15 miles of uninterrupted sand beach. Unfortunately, you can't swim in the ocean here most of the time - it's too wild. They lost 4 tourists in a 36-hour period just a week and-a-half ago on this stretch because they were careless. The currents and surf are tricky, with rogue waves pulling people into the surf when they are foolish enough to stay on the wet sand. It is a favorite place for hardcore surfers, however, and we saw several braving the huge waves (15-20 ft., I'm guessing). Because it's so hard to get to, it is very unspoiled and absolutely, breathtakingly beautiful.
The lighting was a bit tricky and we didn't have "the big camera" with us so I apologize...the images really don't do it justice.
We headed back down to Kalaheo and had what is considered by many to be the finest pizza on the island. It is certainly one of, if not the best I've ever eaten. I've eaten pizza in Chicago, L.A. (pretending to be a Chicago pizzeria) and just about everywhere else west of the Mississpi. It was great pizza. Now, I know a couple of my east coast friends are going to contend that it can't compare with New York's pizza and I have to concede that I've never had pizza there so I'm not going to argue. It's the best I've ever eaten...I'm just sayin'.
Another mellow day planned for tomorrrow. A little more exploring, and possibly a trip to the medical clinic. I still can't seem to get the water out of my right ear from our dives, so we're going to have it checked out to make sure it doesn't get infected or anything awful.
Aloha!
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