Big Waves

Of all things, we found ourselves in a timeshare pitch today. No, we didn’t buy another week but we did get a $75.00 American Express gift card and a VIP discount card which we are actually able to use on the dinner theater production of South Pacific on Wednesday night and Carl’s fishing trip on Tuesday. This killed a huge chunk of time between the orientation breakfast and the promotional tour so after lunch at the unit, we hit the road for just a bit. We headed north on Rte 56 to the end of the road at Ke’e beach. The high surf advisories weren’t joking and the waves were pounding in. Lifeguards have closed most beaches to all water activity and if you should be stupid enough to enter the surf zone and get into trouble, I hope you have deep pockets. It actually took us longer to find a parking spot than it did to take the 100 + photos. The spot is very popular, beautiful sandy beach, facilities and normally some snorkeling. It’s also one end of the 11 mile long Kalalau Hiking Trail. On a scale of 1 to 10, most people say it’s a 14 in the degree of difficulty. But it’s the only way other than by boat or air to see the most pristine part of the island, the Na Pali coast. Pali means cliffs in Hawaiian and they are humdingers. Razor edged peaks rise from the ocean more than 3,000 feet in some places. I saved some memory card for other waves and we headed for the world famous Tunnels Beach. Here we found a collection of tents complete with smoldering campfire, occupants having a beer and waiting for the word to hit the waves. And those waves certainly seemed much larger here than they were at the north facing Ke’e Beach. I would have loved to stay longer when those campers turned into surfers but the light was fading. On the return home I counted the11 one way bridges, all very narrow, our guest relations staff told us about.