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| Partway down the steep trail, we spotted this view, a few days ago when the sun came out and we headed down the path to Hideaway’s Beach. Wow! Today’s remaining photos are of the trek down to the beach, not the Full Moon Party. |
We thought the planned outdoor Full Moon Party would be canceled due to bad predicted rain. When it was cloudy but not raining when it was time to go, we grabbed our beverages and our homemade “pu pu” (appetizer in Hawaiian), and off we went to Richard’s house to help set up a few tables.
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| We were surprised that the steep path was paved most of the way down. If a person has knee or back problems this would be too steep of a trek to the bottom. |
With our fabulous normal height Costco beach chairs, our beverages and dressed in warm clothes, we made our way to the ocean view vacant grass trimmed lot where the party was to be held.
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| We noticed that photos do a poor job of illustrating how steep a path may be. |
Tom helped Richard set up the tables in the relatively heavy winds, while I stood bundled up trying to stay warm. At that point at 6:00 pm, as the darkness fell, I assumed few would show and we’d be packing up everything and heading home in no time. Hawaiian residents are hearty. Rain or shine they’re ready for a good time.
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| The clarity of the seawater below was breathtaking. |
Some of these monthly parties are held at the homes of local residents and others are held on this beautiful vacant lot. Much to our surprise, by 6:10 other bundled up guests were making their way to the sheltered spot we’d selected. By 6:30 there may have been 25 party guests and the fun began.
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| Turning around to shoot the path we just climbed, we laughed over how it didn’t appear as steep as it felt. |
Richard, bless his heart, is the coordinator and planner of many of these events. In his usual social director style which we all love and appreciate, he makes sure that all is in order and plenty of people are coming.
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| We weren’t the only ones visiting this remote location. |
We met many wonderful new people we hadn’t met last month and saw many we’d met in the past, spending considerable time with a new couple, Beverly and Sam who invited us to their home this upcoming Saturday for their twice a month “movie night.” They invite numerous guests to come to their home for a huge screen movie viewing event with guests bringing more “pu pu’s” to share.
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| Areas of Hideaway’s Beach are covered with lava rock but not nearly as much as the beaches on the Big Island, where there are few sandy beaches. |
Saturday is our 20th wedding anniversary. Today, we’ll cancel the dinner reservation we made at a local restaurant, instead, going to the movie party. With many less than ideal reviews on most local restaurants, we surely won’t miss anything not dining out. What a great way to celebrate!
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| By the time we reached the bottom, we were warm. With the sun peeking out, the temperature and humidity climbed considerably. |
Again, thanks to our dear friend Richard for orchestrating and including us in these events which invariably result in us making more and more friends, many of whom are experienced world travelers, many having seen more world than we have in the past 29 months since we left Minnesota.
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| Almost to the bottom, we stopped at a level area designated for a picnic with tables and grill. It would be great to picnic here but carrying a cooler up and down would be tricky. |
We never felt a drop of rain and after a while, the wind died down a bit making the event in the dark all the more enjoyable. Back home by 9:00 pm and hungry since there was little I could eat of the pu pu’s, I whipped up a quick bite to take off the edge.
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| The flat open space near the end of the path. |
Today is a workout day. As soon as I’m done here I’m off to the golf club to work out with Richard whom we meet there many mornings after uploading the day’s post. We won’t use the pool today in the cool cloudy weather.
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| Finally, the sandy beach was before us. |
There’s still no sun and the temperature is in the 60s, not Hawaii’s usual 70s and 80s. We’d lucked out with sun most days during our first month in Kauai and hardly feel frustrated at this point after two full weeks of rain and clouds.
The hardest part is the lack of desire to get out and do any sightseeing in the less than ideal weather. With 79 days remaining in Kauai, surely the sun will shine again.
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| Looking up, we realized how far down we’d come. More photos tomorrow. |
Today’s photos are those we took a few days ago when the sun came out for about an hour. Immediately, we took off on foot to check out Hideaway’s Beach, a steep incline to the below the cliffs across the road from us. We’ll share these photos over a period of a few days with too many to post at one time.
Have a happy day!
Photo from one year ago today, March 5, 2014:
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| Hamoudi, the owner of a spice shop in the souk with Tom. We wandered around the maze-like souks, the most popular of which is the Jemaa el Fna, located outside the front door to our riad. For more details on that date, please click here. |