What to do with a Wednesday on Kauai?  Stay close to home or head out yet again?  On the top of Nou Nou the day before, the older gentleman who was really chatty started to quiz us about what hikes we had done.  He suggested we do the hike that began at Shipwreck’s Beach in Poipu.  Given that we had not done this one and this seemed like just as good of an idea as any, south we went.  Knowing that the south of the island is typically hotter and drier than the north side, we figured we get as early as a start a possible.  For us that meant pulling out of Princeville around 7:30.  We navigated our way thorough all of the small towns on the island and shortly before 9 we arrived.

The trail that we were to take was the Mahaulepu Heritage Trail.  So we walked, up dunes, around ancient limestone formations, down the 15th fairway of a golf course, through an ancient fishing temple, and once I think we were in the jungles of Vietnam.  That was on the way back though, and  I think I may have strayed from the ill-defined “path”.  As I told Margeaux, so people follow trails, others like to make things complicated and make their own paths.  Admittedly, there were some neat views, but on the whole the hike was not the best one we had done on island.  We got back to Shipwreck’s in time to see the ocean patrol guys come flying up on a jet ski to save some guys.  According to folks on the beach, the guys had jumped off of one of the cliffs (I’m assuming for fun) and got stuck in the rip current.  Since, I am not keen on dying just yet, I really thought this was dumb.  But in the end, it made for a cool thing to watch.  From the beach.

At this point we went further west than before and ventured in to Waimea.  Waimea was the spot where the west first set foot in Hawaii.  It is also the location of really good fish tacos and shave ice.  We split a plate of fish tacos from Island Taco.  Grilled mahi with rice, cabbage, and a great crema and salsa combination was wonderful.  Oddly, it was the first time we’ve had seafood here.  After splitting the tacos we made our way to the shrimp station for some shrimp and rice.  Splitting plates was a real stroke of genius here and a good way to try some things while saving a bit of money.  From shrimp, we decided to have dessert and visited JoJo’s Shave Ice.  Here at JoJo’s one can get a shave ice the size of your head with pretty much any flavors you can imagine.  Over the course of eating mine, I got about 10 ice cream headaches (never learned to slow down), lost feeling in my face, and spilled some of the ice cream melt onto my leg.  Essentially, I looked like I had never eaten before.  Margeaux has forbidden me from ever eating shave ice again.

On a sugar rush, we drove back to Poipu to visit the beach.  Securing a parking spot, we called home before hitting the beach.  We plopped our stuff on the sand and commenced to reading.  Also, I commenced to photo-bombing a group of Japanese tourist taking selfies on the beach.  In my defense, they were standing between me and the ocean and that wasn’t cool.  I also tried to take my own selfie with a group of beach chicks but they were too fast for me.  Also, they were actual baby chickens.  After a bit we headed back to the car and started our drive north.  But before we departed, we finally saw our first seal on the beach.  So darn cute it was almost silly.  If this was my last time on Kauai’s south coast, he was a great parting shot.

On the way home, Margeaux suggested we stop by the Lava Lava Beach Club for happy hour and I thought this was a great idea.  We stopped, valet parked, and sat in on a comfy couch on the sand while sipping drinks.  It was sort of the first time where we had been waited on this entire trip and was neat.  Also, the beach was gorgeous and the couple on the neighboring couch we pleasant to talk to.  These were the first people we’ve engaged in conversation since we’ve been here, glad they were friendly.  Given the fact I still had to get us safely from Kapaa to Princeville, we left Lava Lava and headed home.

Exhausted, but not quite ready to call it a day, I pulled over at the lookout near our Foodland.  Purple mountains, green taro, and the Hanalei River made a spectacular backdrop for our close to the day.  Until we started up the hill and saw a huge full moon hanging over the palm trees.  All in all, nature was the winner here at the end of the day.  She put on a heck of a show to close out our Wednesday.  Once home, we noshed on homemade bacon cheese fries (gotta clean out the fridge) and did a load of laundry.  A fun day to be sure with more still ahead.