Trip of the Decade: Part V

 By day 7 I had this vacation thing down pat.  No make-up.  No bra (because I was wearing a swim suit.)  No kids.  No worries.  We hiked down to Queen's Bath on the North shore.

 We couldn't believe how nothing was crowded or busy.  Every where we went, we felt like we owned the island, like we were the only ones there.

 These tiny little shells were everywhere between the rocks.  Jeff pried one off and all sorts of legs and antennae sprung out.  We left them alone after that and just tried not to step on them.

 The surf was too high to swim or snorkel at Queen's Bath, but the ocean was putting on an amazing show.  We sat on the rocks and just watched.

 We decided to hike down to Hideaways Beach to see if the snorkeling was any better there.  Neither of us had ever snorkeled before, and we weren't sure what to expect.  I'm not a super strong swimmer and, like I said, the surf was high that day.  We waded out into knee-deep water where Jeff put his underwater camera into the water and snapped this shot just to see if there was anything under there.  When he showed me the picture I was grabbing for the snorkel gear.  I couldn't wait to see more!

 The sand was different at each beach we went to.  Sometimes it was small and grainy and hard to wash off.  Other times it was coarse and easy to walk in.  At Hideaways it was multicolored like a billion tiny shells all broken and rounded off by the water.

 Hideaways was such a nice place to snorkel because the reef was so close to the surface.  In fact, there were a couple times that a wave came and bashed me into it.  I had the bruises and bloody cuts as evidence.  But the beating was totally worth the experience.

 I got brave and swam out to where the surf was breaking when I came across these.  Oh yeah.  Sea turtles.  And me.  Together.  Swimming in the ocean.  In Hawaii.

 I stayed out as long as my legs could take it and then swam back in to tell Jeff what I found.  He was ready to relax on the beach for a while but I insisted he go in and swim with the turtles.  And yes, he thanked me later.

 On the way back from Hideaways we stopped at this Farmer's Market.  Everything in Kauai was so expensive...except the Farmer's Market.  The produce was exotic and really well priced.  We bought a bunch for snacks and breakfast.

 I couldn't get over the fact that these tropical wonders were being sold out of the back of a pickup truck for a buck.

 One nice thing about vacationing in Hawaii is that you are still in the United States.  We called the kids every day and visited with them about everything we were doing and everything they were doing.  This helped us from missing them too much.

 After the Farmer's Market we wanted to stop at the Kilauea Lighthouse, but it is a state park which means it closes at, like, 4:00.  So we snapped so pictures and postponed the Lighthouse to another day.

 Ice cold coconuts were being sold out of coolers and storefronts everywhere.  Not big fans of coconut milk, we never imbibed, but thought they were cool just the same.

We did, however, take advantage of the shave ice.  And what they say is true.  Hawaiian style shave ice is like nothing you've ever had before.  It, like everything in Kauai, was paradise.