Hawaii 2011 (Day Seven)

There are some things about Hawaii that are just a little bit different than other places. Breakfast seems a particularly interesting intersection of urbane, mundane, and funky. On the second day on the North Shore, we decided to get away from our tea-house/waffle palace preferences. Instead, we decided to try something a little different with our Starbucks coffee (how different can we get, really?). A bowl of acai sorbet with bananas, granola, honey, and frozen blueberries/raspberries/blackberrie was maybe one of the best things we bought on this side of the island.

A little less successful was the Shark’s Cove Grill veggie scrambler. Great concept, but a Velveeta execution.

One of the pleasures of the morning was getting to sit across the street from Three Tables and Shark's Cove, watching them being absolutely pummeled by huge swells, and realizing that we avoided getting crushed by these waves by a mere few hours. Thank you again, LK, for letting us know these monsters were on their way.

Of course, these waves were really only a fancy invitation for the surfers to wax their boards and get out in the water. Despite the pull of our singularly-important morning hike at Ka'ena Point, the surfers hitting the large waves in Waimea Bay were too much to resist. There was a huge crowd at the beach, and it was just amazing to watch these surfers drop in on these huge waves in groups of 3, 4, and even 5 people.

By the time we got to to paking lot for the Ka'ena Point hike, the sun was getting pretty high in the sky. What I thought would be an easy hour-long hike turned out to take more like three hours.

I wanted to turn back petty often, but the azure color of the waves (and even the foam) against the backdrop of the lava rocks, the beach, and the succulent plants was just too mesmerizing to us. We pushed on.

At moments, when we peered over the edge of the rocks, it seemed like it would be pure bliss to just jump in. It was only in our imaginations did this plunge into the turquoise bath actually take place.

Although these waves were huge--we could feel them hitting the beach through the vibrations conducted through the sand--pictures don't usually do justice to their scale.

When we got to Ka'ena point, we thought our only reward was seeing predator traps (to protect the albatross nests), and to see the Coast Guard practicing their high-wind maneuvers.

Upon a little closer inspection, however, we realized that we happened upon two rare Hawaiian monk seals.

It took a few seconds to see these sleeping beauties. We would have kept even more distance had we been able to more clearly distinguish them from their background.

After our brush with these wonderful creatures (and our decision to invite sun stroke), we took a leisurely drive back down the Kamehameha highway to find Giovanni's famous shrimp truck.

Regardless of your dinner choice, your lunch requires a flotilla of napkins and/or wet wipes (personally, I'm a big fan of wet wipes).

We stuck with the garlic shrimp, and did not regret the decision thankyouverymuch.

A day at the shore wouldn't be complete without a sunset on the patio. Good night sun. Good night dolphin statues.

Of course, a few tropical drinks complete the picture. Good night Piña Colada. Good night Blue Hawaiian.