[Kauai TR] Day 4: The End of Work, The Begining of Vacation

More shots from the day can be found in the gallery.

On Thursday, we finished up at the conference, and adjourned an hour or so early so people could make their flights. Tak and Kaz were gracious enough to let me tag along as they drove south to their next hotel, and eventually, they would drop me off at the car rental place so I could get the car and pick up Mark at the airport.

The sky above the north shore was doing that thing where it was sunny one minute, and pouring rain the next (repeat as necessary). Looking back on my shots, this rapid and repeating transition made them all very mutable, one minute clear and colorful, the next dark and ominous.

Our first stop was a small beach down a steep (STEEP) wet and muddy trail. The maps called this one “Hidaways Beach” or Pali Ke Kua Beach. It was a beautiful little spot of sand and clear blue-green ocean wedged in between two hundred-foot-tall sea cliffs. Beautiful.

The next stop was called “Queen’s Bath” and required a longer, but less scary, hike to get to. The trail wound through dense rainforest and then out onto a black, volcanic rock coastline, with huge waves crashing all around us. There were waterfalls pouring over the rocks, waves crashing 50ft into the air, and supposedly turtles swimming just off the rocks (I never saw one).

The Queen’s Bath itself was a large pool formed in the rock, and as the waves crashed over the edge, they filled across the pool in a beautiful way that I think I was completely unsuccessful in capturing in the camera.

Our final stop on the road to the airport was Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge. While you couldn’t (or maybe we just didn’t) hike through the refuge, there was a great overlook where you could see hundreds of birds swirling through the air. They were all carrying sticks and grass for nest-making, I guess it’s that time of year!

In the evening, I stopped in at the car rental place, and was plesently surprised to find out that the “Toyota Corrolla or equivalent” that I had reserved turned out to be a charcoal grey 2007 Mustang coupe! Vroom! When I saw Mark’s smile as he walked out of the airport and saw me in this car, I knew it was going to be a fun weekend!