Day 5: Lighthouses and Waterfalls
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We "checked out" (left without telling anyone?) of the condo this morning, and meandered up to
Kilauea for breakfast at a bakery that someone had recommended. As usual, I almost drove off the road because I'm too busy looking out the window, until I eventually give in and just pull over to take some photos.
Next stop, just up the road from the bakery, we tried to go to the
Kilauea Lighthouse and/or wildlife sanctuary, but it's apparently closed Sundays and Mondays. (Did you know today was Sunday? I had forgotten. Twice.)
We headed back down the coast, with a rough plan of seeing one or both of the car-accessible waterfalls on the Wailua river. But first, we stopped in
Kapa'a for a snack. There was a food truck that was closed for a private party...?
First up,
ʻŌpaekaʻa Falls.
Not bad, as far as waterfalls-seen-this-week go, but one would need a much better lens to get a decent shot of it; it's only viewable from a lookout that's quite far from the falls. The lookout also had spectacular views of the Wailua river, though, which we kayaked up/on a few days ago.
Feeling slightly let down by Opaekaa, we had high hopes for the
Wailua Falls. The first challenge, though, was to drive 10 miles, virtually in a complete circle, to get there. En route, we stopped at a fruit stand where a very nice Japanese man was selling "flesh papaya, pineapple" etc.
The road literally, and suddenly, dead-ended at the falls overlook. The view from the top was stunning, and a strong breeze carried enough mist from the base of the falls to create a rainbow. Below, people swam in the large pool at the base of the falls. I suggested that we could get down there. Sabrina was neither interested nor amused.
We found some shade and ate the mango that I bought at the fruit stand. While we were cleaning mango juice from our hands, a feral pig peaked out from the vegetation and approached us. It quickly retreated, but returned a few minutes later in the parking lot.
Having seen our quota of waterfalls, we headed towards Nawiliwili harbor, to do some sightseeing within easy reach of the airport, as we needed to return the rental car around 5 PM. There were two lighthouses visible to the east, and some people fishing.
Just past the harbor/port, there's a scenic lookout above the
Menehune Fishpond. It's essentially a very wide part of the river that was walled off with lava rocks, by original Hawaiian inhabitants, to make a protected area for fish farming.
Having been denied an up-close visit to the Kilauea lighthouse, I vowed to visit both of the lighthouses that we saw across the harbor. So we made our way through the Marriot resort, through the golf course, and found the first lighthouse. Actually, calling it a "lighthouse" would be generous, but the location was beautiful.
The
next lighthouse was on the opposite side of the golf course, accessible only via an unpaved road that snakes around the south end of the airport. The Mazda 6 proved adequately capable in this off-road scenario. We encountered one of the fishermen from the harbor pier. He asked if we were following him, and showed us the fish he had just caught.
This concluded our sightseeing of Kauai (until next time?), so we gassed up the rental car, returned it, and went to the Lihue airport for a cocktail.
We landed in Honolulu around 8 PM, got a new rental car, drove to Waikiki, checked into the
Parc hotel, and headed out in search of food. While waiting for a table at the
Yard House, Sabrina convinced me that we needed new flipflops.
It was after 11 when we got back to the hotel. Tomorrow, Sabrina will attend the
WEAI conference while I explore some of Waikiki on foot.
