Living Positive: Exploring Hanalei

June 17, 2021

I have to say, breakfast on the lanai was nice. It is so weird to me not to be freezing in the morning. While listening to the roosters announce the morning, literally, we planned our itinerary for the next few days. Many people tend to do this months in advance but we like to be more laid back - at least that’s our excuse! Of course sometimes this is not to our advantage especially during the busy season. However, we ended up putting a good plan together.

Today the plan was to snoop around Princeville and then head down to a town called Hanalei. Hanalei is not too far away and is probably where many people who stay in Princeville go to eat but now there is a problem with that scenario. There was a mud slide due to heavy flooding in March which caused major road damage so now there are only certain times that cars are allowed on the road during the week so that repairs can be made. The time slot we were shooting for was 1:00pm.

Before starting out, we had seen people with beach chairs following a path next to our condo that supposedly led to a secluded beach so we decided to find it. Of course there were no signs so I trusted my Eagle Scout to guide us...a few minutes of forging streams and bushwhacking through the jungle uphill was not successful. We caught up with another couple who were just as lost. Working together we retraced our steps and finally found the right path which was much easier and eventually led us to the beach. Once we arrived, there were some big rocks that had to be negotiated to get down to the beach. We didn’t go all the way down since we weren’t staying but we added a true visit here to our agenda.

Princeville to me looked like one big neighborhood with beautiful homes surrounding a golf course. There is a little shopping area where we found the local grocery store, Foodland, and a few shops. After enjoying an açaí bowl and a little live Hawaiian music, we headed out to get in line for Hanalei. There were many cars lined up but once we started going, most people were courteous and took turns merging into line but there were a few who obviously flunked the “take turns” lessons in preschool. Once we started down the road, it took no time at all to get to the little town of Hanalei.

We drove through the town and continued down the road to see where it led. We crossed many one lane bridges which made me thankful that we weren’t in Don’s huge truck. Although there were many beaches along the way, we often couldn’t see them because of the foliage but a big give away were cars parked along the road. There were no signs. We stopped at Haena beach which had a parking lot and the name of the beach on the lifeguard shack. Across the road we also explored a little cave which thankfully was not too deep and had no bats. At the end of this road was the entrance to Haena State Park which had many popular hiking trails. Well, because we didn’t plan ahead we could not get a permit to enter the park. They limit how many visitors uper day ( I think 700) so you have to get a permit months in advance. June and July were completely sold out.

Instead, we stopped at Limahuli Garden and Preserve and did a little botanic walking tour. It was very interesting and gave us a great education on all of the plants we had been seeing around the island. A big takeaway for me was that when the Polynesians came to the island, there were no edible plants so they brought with them plants and animals so that they would be able to survive here. Only about 3% of the plants on Kauai are native, the rest have come from somewhere else...even pineapple. We also learned that the banyan tree that I love so much is actually an invasive strangling fig tree that pretty much kills whatever it decides to take over..Hmm it might have dropped a little on my favorites list. Also the Albizia tree is one that I’ve admired since we’ve gotten here and originally came from Indonesia. However, it is one of the fastest growing trees so it doesn’t fully root and is very unstable. Because they are huge and tend to blow down, the Hawaiians do not intentionally plant these trees and are trying to get rid of them. I’m starting to really question my tree judgement!

We did a little beach time at Hanalei Bay ( well we think that’s where we were - again, no signs!). The surf was strong so we thought we would get in the river next to it but it was very cold.

On the way back we stopped in the town of Hanalei to find an early dinner. We happened upon Bar Acuda, a tapas restaurant. There was a line, which was pretty normal. Tourists are once again flocking to Hawaii and Hawaii is not quite ready. Not every establishment is open and if they are, aren’t fully staffed. We had heard several locals comment that people aren’t wanting to work because they are enjoying their unemployment benefits. While visiting with the couple in front of us, they had tried 2 months ago to get reservations here with no luck (big planners!) but they thought they would take a chance to get in. I guess if you stand in line before they open, you may be able to get a table. Who knew? We waited and as luck would have it, we got a table with the understanding we would eat up and be out of there before their next reservation which gave us an hour and a half- no problem! It was a nice place with delicious food and wine. We were a little underdressed but they served us anyway!

Before getting to the condo, we decided to stop at Foodland along with many others. While standing in the checkout line, I thought I saw someone I knew but couldn’t tell because everyone are still required to wear masks in stores in Hawaii. I almost walked up to her but didn’t want to embarrass myself. I later messaged her and found out it was my friend Lauren who I worked with several years ago. Small world!