Haena Beach and the Dry Cave

This will be the last post from Kauai. Unbelievably, our time here is almost done and we fly out tomorrow!

I just wanted to document a few things we did... so I don't forget 😀

We headed back over to the North Side with Mom and Gary to see the "Dry Cave" (Manini-holo). This is one of the things we didn't get to on my birthday because we ran out of time. It is located across the street from Ha'ena Beach. It is a giant rock hill that has an enormous cave at the bottom. For some reason, we don't have a photo of the big hill, so it is hard to see how big it is!

The cave goes back about 150 feet and you can stand up in most of it! Here are Mom, Gary and I inside.

Hawaiian legend says that the cave used to be a tunnel to Waimea Canyon. Geographically, I have no idea if that is possible... but who knows! When we first got in the cave, all I could think about was how big the rock is on top of the cave... and what if there was an earthquake?!?! Since I'm writing this, you can tell there wasn't 😀

I found this cave quite interesting... but a little freaky when I saw this giant spider web!

You would be proud of me, I didn't run away screaming 😀

The view looking out of the cave was also beautiful!

After looking at the cave, we went and sat on the beach to watch the waves!

They were quite big and one surfer was in the water, but not anybody else. When people got too close to the water, the lifeguard announced on his megaphone to get away from the water!

Sometimes when the waves are cresting you can see turtles floating in the waves. I am not sure what that is floating in this wave, but it looks like a swimming dinosaur with claws! Maybe that is why you shouldn't swim in the water here!?!

Definitely not a swimming beach. While we watched the waves Steve took some photos of the water... and of course the surfer!

We also stopped in Hanalei on the way back home and had some delicious ice cream at "Pink's". I would highly recommend it if you are in Hanalei. Mom and I both had the Aloha Cherry Truffle, which was delicious!

The next thing I wanted to mention was a restaurant where we had dinner in Koloa Town. It is not your typical Hawaiian restaurant, it is Italian. It seemed fitting since it was Mom and Gary's last night in Kauai, and the next vacation spot we will be meeting them will be in Italy! (We were just practicing for our Italian vacation 😉 )

The restaurant is called "La Spezia" which is a town we've actually been to in Italy! It is the main hub near Cinque Terre. Spezia translated from Italian also means spice, which is the more likely reason for choosing the name 😀

I'm not going to lie... the name of the restaurant did entice me in... the connection to the place La Spezia was only a small part of it... the words "wine bar" also attracted me 😀

We had an amazing meal! Definitely the best we've had in ages... it may seem like I say that fairly regularly but let's put it in perspective. I eat in restaurants A LOT, and you probably only hear about 1% of them. I only talk about them if I really like them!

They have a few options for wine flights... which is one of my favourite things. I love to have small tastes of a few wines!

Here we all are enjoying our last meal together in Kauai.

We all enjoyed our meals, but I definitely want to make a recommendation if you are having desert. The decadent chocolate torte was amazing! It's very rich... we couldn't eat much... even sharing with four people... but it was oh so yummy! It was particularly delicious when you had it with a little red wine! MMMMMM!

After Mom and Gary headed on their way home we only had a few days left, which we dedicated to enjoying the sun 🌞 We lazed by the pool and went to the beach. Perfect activities for this "year of early retirement"!

We both laughed at Poipu Beach when the lifeguard made this announcement, "The lifeguard is going home for the day!" I've been to a lot of beaches, and have never heard anyone say this before!

And so ends our lovely four weeks in Kauai. Tomorrow we fly to Los Angeles to pick up our car and start the drive home. We plan to be home April 1st as we are making a few stops along the way. Here's a hint, they both involve things I like. One involves wine and the other books!

We're planning to be home for 2-3 weeks before heading out on our way again. We're looking forward to a busy three weeks meeting up with friends from home 💖