May 18th

Or I could title this post, Three Days in One, or Sun Up to Sun Down, or This is Why We Live Here or better yet… Why I Drag Them Away from XBox Live.

Jewel and I were both up at the crack of dawn, before SIX A.M. and since we had some time to kill before the rest of the house woke up she suggested we go walk down to the beach. It’s a little over three miles down there and back up, and I knew she could handle it, so after consulting with Facebook it was determined we should most definitely go. 

You may recognize this scene, minus the horny peacock, from Tsunami Day. We took this road all the way down to the beach. Where we enjoyed being the absolute only people on the entire beach. I did some yoga stretches and then buried Jewel in the sand. And we still have yet to see the sun. After a while we made our way back up the hill but not before Jewel was wishing that someone could drive her up. By the time we made it back home she said she won’t be doing it again, but was glad she did. I kind of remember feeling the same way my first time too, but it’s actually a pretty easy walk ……….and you can’t beat the scenery.

After getting home Jewel made herself a necklace, while I ate some health food.

And I figured that would be it for our day, but then as much as I just wanted to watch Arrested Development on NetFlix ALL DAY long, I decided we needed to get out of the house together and to introduce the boys to Mr. Sun. I told them we WERE going outside and they could pick the place. Jake said Kailua, and then they were all ready and waiting on ME. It took us about an hour to get there, one long tunnel, and one rainforest.

Jake was hoping for the large waves that flow into the stream, but instead it was almost no waves and a sandbar separating the ocean from the stream.

The stream was green too, and smelly, so there was no playing in it today.

But no worries…. the ocean here is always turquoise blue and the sand is almost as fine as powder.

After a couple hours we went in search of food and then the boys said they were “ready to get back to Xbox Live”. They actually said those exact words. Ugh! I knew if we headed back at this point we would be stuck in traffic so they agreed it’d be better to hang on a beach for another hour or so, then to just sit in traffic. That’s when I remembered this little cove that I’ve always wanted to go to and I’ve already learned the best time to be on the beach here is between 5 and 7pm, while everyone else is eating supper, and before it gets dark, so I just knew we would love this spot, right at this moment.                                                

It was BEYOND all expectations! It’s called Halona Beach Cove and is just around the rocks from the famous Halona Blowhole, and the filming site for the love scene in From Here to Eternity. For us, it was wicked cool fun! There’s only a small sandy area to play in the water and there were some teenagers in it when we got there so the kids climbed around the rocks first and explored as far as they dared, a cave.

The cave appeared to be about two hundred feet long, and even though we could see light at the end of the tunnel, we were not brave enough to follow it to the other side without a flashlight, so we definitely have to make another trip back.

 

Soon enough we were in the water and body surfing the waves in, managing to avoid all reef and rocks. I’m not afraid to admit, I played in the water more than anybody! The water temperature was perfect, the waves were perfect, and we even had great visibility for some snorkeling. The cove was full of rocks so it was also full of fish, and at least one sea turtle. While I was in the water swimming and the kids were climbing the rocks, Jake noticed a sea turtle right next me. He was eating seaweed off the side walls right up on the surface, and before I knew it Jake had my new crappy cell phone (not Droid) out and snapping pictures.

 

This wall is also where we were jumping into the water from.

I swear I felt like a kid yesterday. We’d body surf for a while, then climb up and over and around the rocks so we could jump in again. The best was Jonas and I holding hands and jumping in together.

Before long the local teenagers left and we had the cove all to ourselves. Occasionally some tourists would make the trek down into the cove and you could hear all the “this place is amazing” and “Wow!”s, and one even got in the water, but mostly they’d take their pictures and then go on to their next gorgeous sight. We were lucky enough to not have a thing to do or a place to go and we got to spend hours down in the cove.

We’re also in a lot of people’s vacation photos and videos, as both sides of the cove had scenic viewing areas directly overhead. wow….That’s a little uncomfortable to think about.

 

The right side of the cove is where we spent ninety percent of our time. We jumped from that large rock into the water and also climbed it all the way around and out of the cove. At one point I had to rescue Jewel because she got herself scared stuck.  

                                                                                                                     

Jonas had my heart racing when he climbed out on the point. As wet as it was, was proof that waves could and would, crash over these rocks But all was good. It was hard tearing ourselves away from this cove but the fact that it would be pitch dark any minute got us going, so we shut the place the down.

A great day was had by all.