We recently took the coast trail on a very hot but breezy day. Most of the path was cut through tall grasses, cactus plants, and was barely visible at times. The breeze evaded us for long stretches of time, spurring me to suggest that we turn around and take the lighthouse trail instead. Jeff pushed us on toward the coast with continued comments that we'd be there "just around the next bend." Uh, huh. Sure. Finally, after the fourth "next bend" the coast and the crashing waves greeted us with a loud roar. I can't even begin to describe how blue the water is or how amazingly contrasting the white wash is, especially on a rough day. Breathtaking.
I bounced around from rock to boulder, continually exclaiming about the little scurrying crabs, tadpoles, striped fish. Jeff gazed into the ocean, found some neat urchins, and dealt with my excitement like a trooper. The highlight came when we were heading back over a rock bridge to get back to the main land. Jeff almost stepped on a dead puffer fish. It was as big as a football! I ran back to check it out, shouting, "Whooooaaaaa! Gross! Whooooaaaa! So cool! Whoooa! Neat!" Not my most articulate. Wish I'd had a camera! Jeff is so good at finding neat things for me to go on about. It always makes my day. By the way, we've seen restaurants string lights inside the puffer fish as ornaments. It's kind of gross but still pretty neat. Actually, mostly gross.
The last time we were in this area, we took the point trail, to get a bird's eye view of the Pacific. I believe it was April, the end of whale season. About halfway up, a large group of people were staring out into the ocean. I overheard some college girls talking about the whale's spout. One of the girls pointed it out for me, so Jeff and I were able to see the whales. The shooting water was relatively easy to pick out, once you we what to look for. While sitting on some rocks for ten minutes, we saw a whale turn on it's side and flap its fin on the water. I was amazed by how clearly we could see the whale's body from so far away, reminding me of how large these animals really are. No snapshots of whales on this trip, sicne we didn't have the right lens with us. We did get some decent shots on Kauai another time.
The views from the top were stunning. A very strong and constant wind kept us from feeling the heat. This is one of the great things about Hawaii, the trade winds.
