Friday was our 7th and final full day in Hawaii as most of us would start our trip home on Saturday. Once again we woke up early and headed down for a sunrise but once again, there was a large cloud that kept much of the sunrise hidden. Then we headed back to the house for a quiche breakfast, sweet bread, and yogurt with granola. Then we had another marriage session before heading off for another day's group adventure.
Our first stop would be back in the town of Waimea where we would visit a brand new coffee shop called Milk and Honey Coffee Co. The owner of this small business is a believer and our hosts want to try to support her and her business in any way that they can so they try to bring all of their large groups there at least once during the week. Noel and I aren't coffee drinkers but the ones who bought something all said that it was excellent tasting coffee.
After coffee and a bathroom break, we all loaded back up into the vans and made our way up the westernmost coast to Polihale State Park, a remote park that is also known for the infamous Na Pali Cliffs. The beach provided us with one of the most remote beach locations and the views were once again unforgettable. And speaking of unforgettable, the drive there might have been just that. Wow! What an adventure. About five miles of dirt road full of pot holes and bumps. It took about 30 minutes to get all the way back to the beach because we had to drive so slowly getting there. But once we got there and got parked, it was definitely a place well worth visiting.
Except for a couple of surfers further up the beach, we had almost the entire place to ourselves so we set up our chairs and ate some lunch. Then the guys decided that they wanted to get wet so they all went in for a swim. Most of the times the waves are too high and rough to swim at this beach, but for some reason they were much calmer this day, so Brent said that it would be perfectly safe for us to go in.
I thought that I had taken quite a few pictures of them swimming and being pelted by the waves but for some reason I cannot find them now so I only have these two rather boring ones. LOL
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After swallowing quite a bit of the salt water, Noel came up to dry off and we decided to wander down the beach. We were told that it was only another three miles from where we were to the end of the beach and back so we headed off by ourselves. The sand was actually really deep and soft so it was a lot more challenging to walk in than it looks...our calves were burning by the time we got back. We were able to see the Na Pali Cliffs to our right and out in the ocean to our left was the "Forbidden Island". (If you want to know the story behind that Island, you should look it up. It's fascinating!)
As you can see, it is a pretty secluded beach and a great relaxing way to spend our afternoon.
Noel and I were fascinated with how the sand piled up in one or two spots to create a "cliff" of sand but then the beach would be perfectly flat in other places. Why didn't the waves come up farther in these areas?
And if you look at them quickly, it was almost like you could see the front of cities on the face...almost like we had used giant sand buckets to form them.
As we came closer to the end of the beach, we saw one lone monk seal lying on the sand. At first we feared that maybe he was dead and had washed up on the sand, but as we got closer, we realized that he was alive and just sunbathing.
I wanted to get close enough to check him out, but then I stepped back so he didn't feel threatened. (Do seals even really care if we stand close to them? I don't know. He definitely cannot move fast enough on land to hurt me, but I didn't want to cause him any harm)
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After spending some time at the beach, we all loaded back up into the vans and started making the drive back down the bumpy and rutted dirt road back to the main highway. Then we started to drive south towards our home, but made one final stop at Kauai Coffee, the largest coffee estate in the United States, at least for now. Sadly, I have to say "for now" because we were told that developers have recently purchased quite a bit of the coffee estate for Island Development and many of the employees would unfortunately lose their jobs in the months to come. While we were visiting there however, we were encouraged to try as many coffee samples as we wanted and then we could buy our own beans to take home. Since Noel and I aren't coffee drinkers, we weren't able to support them that way, but we did walk around the plantation grounds on the self-guided tour.
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After an afternoon of adventure and exploration, we all arrived back at the house in time for our final meal as a group and our final evening session before heading out for a late night ice cream treat and then heading off to bed as our final full day in Hawaii came to an end.
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