Despite my previous comments about the rain being quite nice at times, we were relieved to see more sunshine poking through on Friday. Around mid morning we strolled to the beach to check out the waves and discovered that they were looking a little more promising, at least from a surfer’s perspective. Michael and Dusk decided they wanted to surf, so we went off to one of the surf shops to rent them some boards. Hanalei Bay can have epic surf in the winter. At times it can get really big. In the summer, it tends to be smaller. Since our trip was during an in-between time, we weren’t quite sure what to expect. The surf had been pretty mild so far. It wasn’t very big that day but there was enough that it looked worthwhile to play around in. So the boys went down to surf and I chose to stroll the town for a bit before joining them in the water. I wanted to get a few shots of the area with my bigger camera.

A typical view with clouds on the mountains and waterfall

Main road through Hanalei

One of the many local roosters

The Hanalei River

A Taro field

After my stroll I went down to the beach and went for a swim. The water was nice and the waves looked so fun I ran back to the house to get a boogie board and my fins. Back at the beach I swam out to the lineup and said hello to Dusk and Michael who were bobbing about with the other surfers and catching the occasional wave. It was definitely beginners surf, but that suited me just fine. I’m sure they would have liked bigger waves. I tried for a few waves on the boogie board and swam around for a bit. Then I borrowed Michael’s surfboard when he was done and tried a little surfing myself. The conditions were good for someone like me, but I needed a bigger board. All in all we had a fun afternoon at the beach and enjoyed playing in the water. Hanalei has a perfect beach. It has a sandy bottom and there are no sting rays or jelly fish to watch out for.

Since it was Dusk and Rinda’s last evening, we went out to dinner at The Dolphin Restaurant and Fish Market. Wow! It was fantastic. Some of us had sushi and we all tried some poke which is a Hawaiian dish of marinated raw fish, a little bit like ceviche. Here we are having a drink before dinner.

Dusk and Rinda wanted to take a helicopter tour of the Na Pali coast and Michael and I were game to join them. So on Saturday we had a new adventure with spectacular views. Stay tuned for an account of our flight in the next post.

Mahalo and aloha!