Our last day in Kauai. We wanted to spend it at our favorite beach Kiahuna. We relaxed, had lunch, swam in the big waves. And Chie had a Mai Tai in the afternoon.

At 5;30 pm we went to Foodland and bought some fish and clams for dinner. Chie made a tomato sauce to that and salad.

After dinner we packed.

To get to Gillin’s beach you have to drive a dirt road for a mile or two. And that is what we did this morning. When we arrived we saw three legged dog and a few cars. We stayed here for two hours, reading and swimming.

By lunch time we moved to Kiahuna beach. Our favorite beach. Today the waves were even bigger than before. I got totally wet again when a wave came all the way up to where we were laying in the sand. So we moved even further up.

Around 5 pm we went to Koloa town to buy groceries. But first we had an ice cream. Coconut ice cream in a waffle cone. Yummy!

At home we cooked dinner again. Today we had tomato, anchovy, capers, olive sauce and pasta. With edamame and tomato salad, as well as greek salad. Delicious. But before we had dinner we went down to the beach to watch the sunset again. It was beautiful.

Drove to Moloa’a beach which is next to the Larsen beach on the east shore. It is located in an isolated and quiet area surrounded by green green green trees and bushes. We spent most of the day here relaxing and reading and swimming.

By 1:30 pm or so we packed our things and went to the Anini beach about 5 miles further north. It is a quite beautiful beach with very shallow and calm water. It is famous for the special shell that is used for bracelets and other things. You can find people laying on the beach collecting the small shells.

However, today there were no shell collectors. Perhaps because this weekend is Labor weekend. And Americans usually spend time with their families going out BBQing. The camp site at Anini beach for instance was full of locals BBQing. You could see that they were locals because their cars were not rental cars. Mainly big pickups and some old ordinary cars too.

On our way home we stopped at Foodland to buy some groceries for dinner tonight and lunch tomorrow. At home we had Kalbi BBQ again. Leftovers from the other day – it seems that Chie and I don’t eat as much as what is the normal American package at the grocery store. We had edamame (soya bean) and tomato salad as a side dish. Very yummy!

Had to wake up at 4:45 am to get to Port Allen by 5:45 am. That was the check-in time for our rafting tour at the Na Pali coast.

By 6;30 am we were on our way in the small rubber boat (same as US Coast Guards use) with our skiper T and his help Cory. At first it was a little bit cold in the wind, we were driving in 40-60 miles per hour, I guess that would be about 35-55 Knots or 64-96 km/h. It was a fun and bumpy ride along the Na Pali coast.

Before we got there though our skipper stopped the boat to watch some dolphins that we passed. At first they were not so playful, probably because it was early in the morning and they were having fly-fish for breakfast hen we popped in. But after a while they started to come closer to the boat and were spin-jumping. Even the kid dolphins tried to spin-jump but with less success than the adult ones. However, the kids really have to learn how to spin-jump – would be an embarrassment to be named Hawaiian spinner dolphins without being able to spin-jump wouldn’t it?

We did small stops like that all the way throughout our raft. Either to watch sea turtles, dolphins, caves, or just to stretch our legs. It was great to be able to come so close to the Na Pali cliffs that you could touch them and to be able to go into the caves with the boat. And great fun to jump on the waves in full (or maybe 75% or so) speed. Although of the 8 people joining the ride only Chie and I seemed to enjoy it.

It was even an American couple on their honeymoon that argued afterwards. The wife wanted to sit in the back were it was less bumpy and the husband wanted to keep on sitting in the front. Apparently they disagreed in who was the most selfish one not wanting to be together with the other one during their honeymoon. Kind of making a hen out of a feather to me, but who am I to tell?

By 11:30 am we were back in Port Allen. Even though it was very nasty to get up so early it felt quite good now because we had been on a 5 hour rafting tour and still had many hours to enjoy left. We went to our favorite beach… Kiahuna.

The waves were big today as well and still fun to play in. Between playing in the waves we were relaxing in the sand. Until one of the waves splashed up all the way to where we were laying. My towel got all wet and we moved to a more secure place. Sounds dramatic? It was not. It happened before and it is just water.

4;30 pm we went back home to take a shower and get ready for dinner. Tonight was our first dinner out. At Roy’s.

We started with grilled shrimps with kim chee amd wasabi souce. Then Chie had a teriyaki grilled salmon on rice and I had a filet mignon on a creamy risotto. For dessert we had a delicious warm chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream. Yummy!

When we woke up in the morning it looked like it was going to rain all day long. But after checking the weather on the Internet we found out that good weather was on its way. Even in the north. So we decided to go to Ke’e beach, the last beach of the north shore.

It took us an hour and a half to get there and the few parking spots available was occupied. We took a side (dirt) road and found a spot where someone was just leaving. Lucky us.

We spent the day at the beautifully Ke’e beach. Snorkeling. Relaxing. Reading. Enjoying the sun. Enjoying the views of the green and steep mountains surrounding the Ke’e beach. And what seemed to be a rainy day turned out to be a blue-sky day.

On our way home we stopped at the Foodland again, one of the best grocery stores on Kauai. We bought edamame (soya beans), fruits, and salad. And Sobe, of course.

Finally at home we had Italian herb chicken for dinner. With soya bean salad and bread. Yummy!