Failing to locate any museums, art galleries,
or theaters on our island map, we heard there was a nice botanical garden west
of here, so this morning we headed west on State Highway 560. Just before the end of the road, we saw a
sign for the gardens: National Tropical
Botanical Gardens. Now, for those of you
who are unaware of the games being played in Washington, the Park Service and
related entities are no longer in operation.
The word “national” has been temporarily (we hope) redefined to mean “closed
until further notice”.
So, failing in our first real effort at
enlightenment, we continued a hundred
yards or so, where we encountered a packed parking lot at a place called Ke’e
Beach. We finally located an empty space
facing traffic on the left side of the road coming out, and headed for one of
the most beautiful beaches you can imagine.
With golden sand, a protective reef, plenty of coral in shallow water,
huge trees providing shade, and a view of the north shore mountains, this one
was just about perfect. We spent time
strolling the beach and sunning, but delayed our snorkeling for another beach
we would visit.
West end of Ke’e Beach
Returning
from the beach, we noticed a couple of the local constabulary writing something
on a pad near the back of our rental car.
It turns out that it is illegal to park off the side of the road facing
traffic in Hawaii. It is also illegal to
park in a no parking zone. And how was I
to know it was a no parking zone? Tricia
didn’t say anything about the signs, and I was only responsible for driving and
parking—she was responsible for navigation and sign reading. I have no culpability whatsoever in this
matter—which Tricia thought was hilarious while she shot photos of the
scene. These guys are making a fortune
for the local government—cars all down the road on both sides had tickets;
apparently ours was the last one they found. The tickets they hand out even have a list of
code sections with specific violations, with little boxes for check marks, so
the cops don’t even have to look up the section number. And they give you an envelope to fill out
with your credit card information so you won’t even have to stop at city hall
to pay your fine. If we had known it
would have cost $70.00 to park, we would have spent the entire day (actually,
Charlie would not have seen the beach at all if he had known it would cost
anything).
Collecting a souvenir at Ke’e Beach
We headed back
east until we came to Tunnels Beach, so named for the underwater lava tubes
that divers can swim into. The parking
lot here was full, too, but we managed to park on a side street, on the right
side, after carefully watching for no parking signs all the way up and down the
street. Here we snorkeled over the reef
the rest of the morning, with a million beautiful fish and dozens of varieties. We even spent some time soaking up the
rays. A person could really get used to
this.
Tunnels Beach
After lunch, we headed further east,
hoping to spend some time examining the Kilauea Lighthouse and the surrounding 203-acre
wildlife refuge which surrounds it. Listed
on the National Registers of Historic Places, this was sure to fit in with our
plan of cultural awareness. Built in
1913, this is one of Kauai’s most visited sites, with more than half a million
visitors annually. It was a pivotal
navigation aid for ships on the Orient route in the days before radar and
GPS. But after driving out to the entrance on the
north shore, we first noticed the gate to the grounds was closed. We then noticed the entrance sign: National
Wildlife Refuge, Kilauea Lighthouse, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Closed until further notice. Uh-oh.
Kilauea Lighthouse from a distance
There was a nice place to take photos of
this lighthouse, but no way to actually get to it on this day. So we backtracked a bit and found a path to
another fantastic beach, called Secret Beach.
A few other people had discovered it—there were a dozen or so scattered
along the mile or so of fine tan sand.
Here there was no snorkeling, as huge waves crashed onto the shore along
this unprotected area. But it was a
great place to just enjoy the scenery and reflect on the affairs of the
day. We were so relaxed we forgot to
take a photo of the beach, so you will just have to imagine its beauty.
Much later, after a meal in the nearby
town of Hanelei, we stopped by Foodland to pick up a few extra groceries. And at Lapperts Ice Cream, Tricia had the
coconut and pineapple, while I had a small cup of Maunakea Secret, a mixture of
raspberry, brownie, and vanilla. What a
way to end the day.
Charlie and
Tricia
©2013
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