EXPERIENCING KAUA'I: part 6

Big plans for today—a return trip to Polihale Beach and then a big hike in Waimea Canyon. We start the day with breakfast again at Tip Top Café. PM stays behind as she is still a bit rocky and needs rest more than food.

We quickly decide that we will come back to Tip Top on Sunday, so that frees us to order something besides the macadamia nut pancakes. I rise to the occasion (maybe just so I can blog/brag about it) and order the ½ serving of Ox Tail Soup. It’s a clear broth with a couple of rings of meat/cartilage, several leafy vegetables, peanuts, cellophane noodles, daikon radishes (or something resembling), and a side dish of rice and parsley and grated ginger condiments. The soup is presented with a spoon and also chopsticks. It is very, very good. And fun! MM goes for the Denver omelette and CA chooses fried eggs, hash browns, and corned beef hash.

PM is ready and waiting when we return to the villa, and we set out for Polihale Beach, with a quick stop at Bread and Deli for sandwiches. We have packed lots of water and Diet Cokes, knowing we will need to re-hydrate regularly. We park behind the dunes at Polihale around noon—not usually a wise time to arrive because the western side of the island is hot, especially mid-day. There is a lot of storm activity off the coast, so there are breezes to compensate for the temperature and though the sun beats straight down, conditions are tolerable.

Today the sky and beach are gorgeous shades of green and blue and every color in between. The Na Pali cliffs are darkly contrasted with verdant green, and the sand is soft shades between tan and white. This is the loveliest beach in the world. Polihale never makes the 10 best beaches in the world lists because the waters are treacherous with undertow and other dangers.

After an hour or chasing waves and sitting on the beach I head for the shade by the car and my half of a turkey club sandwich, Maui chips, water, and Diet Coke. After a bit PM approaches the car and she is very, very sick. Too much sun for someone with the flu. I thought the trek uphill from the beach was a challenge, but for her it was too, too much. MM and CA are close behind her, and I immediately insist she drink some water and begin pouring it over the back of her neck. She is very, very pale and weak, and needs quite awhile to recover. The guys eat their sandwiches, but PM is having none of that and even without, she still upchucks.

We are all sand covered, especially PM, so we shower off as best we can—it takes quite awhile before PM has even the strength to be helped to the outdoor shower. The sand is everywhere. The nice ocean breezes are sand-laden and it sticks to anything it touches.

The three of us—the healthy ones—decide that we will skip Waimea Canyon until tomorrow and immediately return to the Marriott. PM is recovering, so we stop for shave ice at JoJo’s in Waimea. MM tries again for raspberry and gets the red raspberry rather than the Smurf blue raspberry of a couple days ago. CA chooses rainbow over a scoop of macadamia nut ice cream, and I have root beer with vanilla cream over a scoop of vanilla ice cream. YUM! PM is recovered enough to spend her time while we freeze our brains with the shave ices chatting on the phone with her kids and little girls who are visiting California and Disneyland this week.

CA decides to swim as soon as we hit our room, but I shower off the sand and dive into the duvet without pausing to read or ruminate. I am exhausted!

We’ve talked a bit about dinner plans and decide to keep it cheap. I lobby for a return drive to Hanapepe for the Friday Art Walk because the Monster Taco stand sets up there on Friday nights. In the end we drive to Po’ipu and the three of us have a Puka Dog at the Po’ipu Shopping Center. PM joins us for fresh, shaken lemonade and a bit of bread. Puka Dogs are pricey for a hot dog, or actually a Polish sausage. As the dog is grilling, the server inserts a large rectangular roll over a heated spike which hollows out a tube for the dog and warms the bun. Then she squeezes in some mild lemony garlic sauce, mango relish, and Hawaiian mustard (Lilikoi). YUM! And, DOUBLE YUM!

By 8:30 we are back in our villa. Other than hiking a bit on the beach we didn’t over-exercise today, but it sure feels like a workout. Tomorrow is another Kaua’i day and we can rest well and expect another beautiful sunrise in the morning. No rainbows yet this week, but there is hope for tomorrow…