Kauai, Hawaii, 28 February 2015

In our first full day on Kauai, we took off for the north coast.  On the way, this is Moloaa Bay, a secluded beach at the end of a side road past a handful of no doubt very expensive houses.

.

Lagoon, Moloaa Bay.

.

Kilauea Lighthouse at the north point of the island.  It was a Saturday and the lighthouse was closed so we were only able to get as close as a nearby lookout.

.

Driving back from the lighthouse, this is a view looking west along the coast.

At the next point there is a hotel complex.  The guidebook said there was a very nice beach there but the hotel complex have closed it off by the simple expedient of buying all the land and not providing any parking for visitors.

.

We have driven probably beyond the distant headland you can partly see in the previous image.  We had hoped to visit Limahuli Botanic Garden but unfortunately that was closed as well.  We kept on going to the end of the road and were fortunate to snare a rare parking place in the end carpark.  We are now at Ke’e Beach.  The trees on the edge of the sand are still alive but their roots have been eroded by the tides and storms.

.

.

.

.

.

This is a zebra dove, common in Hawaii, an introduced species.

.

A grove of trees just behind the beach.

.

.

.

The beaches in Hawaii often look idyllic but before you plunge in you should understand the risks – in this case: high surf, rip currents, sudden drop off, slippery rocks, strong current and waves break on ledge.  There was a lifeguard here and while we were at the beach he yelled out over a loudspeaker to warn a swimmer getting too close to the channel.  There is a coral reef here and though it may look calm on the surface, close to the channels through the reef there can be savage currents.

.

We took off on the Kalalau Trail along the wild Na Pali Coast.  We were not intending to go far, just to a lookout.  Here is a view looking back towards the beach.

.

Rain is not unknown here.  A small waterfall beside the path.

.

The vegetation is thick enough to provide a serious object to easy passage (in the absence of a path).

.

From the lookout, looking along the Na Pali Coast.

.

.

.

A corner of the beach, now on the way back.

.

Looking up at the steep peaks above us.

.

… and at surf breaking below us.

.

Back down at the beach, this is a moa.  You may have heard of the moa, the extinct giant ratite of New Zealand that could grow to 14 foot tall.  Well, I can confidently say that this is not one of those.  The Polynesians usually brought chickens with them (as well as dogs, pigs and inadvertently, rats) when they settled new islands.  In both Hawaii and Easter Island, and probably other islands, the islanders call the chicken moa.  According to Tim Flannery, the Maori brought chickens with them but they abandoned them and the chickens became locally extinct when the Maori discovered that the moa in their new home were much larger and tastier than the moa they had brought with them.

.

Not far from Ke’e beach, a beckoning cavern.  Who knows how far you would get in a canoe.

.

.

.

And driving back along the north coast, a viewpoint over farm land and wilderness.

.