Ke'e and Ha'ena beaches

On Monday morning, bright and early (like, 8:30), we drove up the road to Ke'e Beach. It's at the end of the road, on the northwest end of Kaua'i. The day before, we had taken our helicopter ride, which is when Kevin took this photo.

Ke'e beach is right at the bottom of the picture. You can see the road winding through the trees at the base of the cliffs. Our pilot called it "the land of no parking spaces." There were only about four cars in the lot when we got there. We walked around the point to Ha'ena beach, which is in the cove. Then we walked the road back. As you can see, the beaches are ringed with reefs. They say it's great snorkeling in the summer when the ocean is calm. That's a really big reef (obviously) out from the point on the far side of the cove. The point in the distance is Princeville, and the point in the haze beyond that is Kilauea. You can see two little points sticking out into the bay this side of Princeville. Just this side of the nearer one is where the road headed up into the valley where our cottage was. The second is the near side of Hanalei Bay (the other side of which is Princeville). So there you have it. Now back to our walk...

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Looking up from the beach.

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This was looking west into the Na Pali coast. There's a trail the follows the cliffs. And it's not all that high up - it's just dug into the cliff face in places.

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These were crab holes, apparently.

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Notice Kevin's footprint.

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A squatter camp. Ladders, ropes, platforms, shelves. There was ketchup on the shelves, and a fire smoldering on the sand. Possibly the site of the infamous Taylor Camp in the sixties and seventies.

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Where a stream rippled through the sand.

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There were some good sized waves in Ha'ena Bay. Probably could've surfed that one.

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There was a cave across the road from the beach. The road ran right in front of it. It was pretty good sized. Not a high ceiling, but wide and deep with a flat dirt floor.

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Maile vines climbing the cliff. You hardly think this sort of thing really exists.

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From there, we walked back via the road. It was a beautiful place. There were a few homes there, and Limahuli Garden (part of the National Tropical Botanical Gardens).

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A hala tree and some ginger plants.

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The second cave. We climbed a rocky trail, where there were warning signs about falling rocks. Then, once under the cliff edge, Kevin went down the hill into the cave. Yes, that's water down there. It was shallow near the shore. I have no idea how deep it got near the back.

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The third cave. Right at the road, not too far from Ke'e's parking lot.

And when we got back there, people were sitting in their cars, waiting for parking places.