White Plains Beach

Annie had been telling us about White Plains Beach for months now, so before we left the island we had to check it out. I didn’t really have any expectations about this beach but she said it’s great for surfing, so we loaded up our two longboards, her SUP, and made our way south for the summer swells. It had been flat all summer on the west coast, so this was Jake’s first chance to surf in months. He was going to use my board but as he was carrying it down to the beach he jumped off a short cement block retaining wall (because I told him to go that way) and as he jumped down the back of the board hit the top of the wall and cracked open! I did the exact same thing my first time carrying that board down to the beach. You’d have thought I’d already learned that lesson. It was a major buzz kill, but Jake attempted Joey’s big ten footer anyway and while it was way too big for him, the boy surfed! and I didn’t get any pictures! but that’s not why he likes it anyway.

Unlike the reef beaches we’d been surfing on this one has a soft sandy bottom, so I was really looking forward to surfing myself but between my cracked board, and Jonas’ foul mood, I wasn’t up for it. Instead I boogie boarded with Jewel for a while and then set off to get a few photos.

I walked over closer to this fence thinking I could try to get a shot of Diamondhead through a chainlink.
And after I get one uninspiring picture that way I look down and see these guys sleeping right in front of me!
Two Hawaiian Monk Seals. Funny how my mood instantly brightened.

There was a man there from a monk preservation society who was making sure no one molested them, and to answer any questions people may have, and to just basically educate. While most people spent a couple minutes taking pictures, and then going back to the beach, Jewel stayed there for probably forty five minutes just soaking up everything he had to say and waiting for this Dad and his Daughter to wake up. They never did, but it was still exciting to be so close to these guys in their natural habitat. The thing Jewel remembers most was the story of how the big one (Dad) got bit by a shark and was able to make himself stop bleeding. Apparently they have a way of cutting off blood flow to wounded areas. Pretty cool.

White Plains gets a two thumbs up but I would definitely recommend not going on the weekend.

I like my beaches a little less crowded.

Diamond Head on Dwellable

Turtle Beach

Tucked in between two small resorts is a beautiful, clean, and soft, sandy beach that some call Turtle Beach. We first discovered it back in ‘04 when we scored a week stay for free in the below condo. Up until then our stays had always been in either the Plantations or the Towers, up country. It was beyond our wildest dreams to actually stay right on the beach. During that week the waves were insane, too! I remember sitting on the lanai (patio) watching the huge waves, grow bigger by the day. That’s also when I learned that each size wave brings out a different group of beach goers. The large waves by the rest of the world’s standards, but small by Hawaiian standards would bring out the elementary school kids. The next day with larger waves brought out all the junior high kids. By the times the waves were so huge that they decided to just cancel school since no one was showing up anyway, brought out ALL the high school kids and twenty something’s. We’d have front row views of boogie boarders doing tricks in the extremely dangerous shorebreaks, and of the unsuspecting tourists losing their tops! It was better than T.V. We saw one girl lose her top and her boyfriend was more concerned with covering her up then getting safely out of the water so then they’d both take another pounding. It wasn’t funny, I know, but we laughed so much just from people watching from up there.

This stay was also the time I was snorkeling out about a hundred fifty feet from shore when a sea turtle popped up out of the water right next me. I yelled to Joey on shore who immediately brought Jonas, who was five at the time, out to me, making it both of our’s first time swimming with a sea turtle. I can still remember his excitement! The turtle swam with us for a while, diving below to grab algae from the rocks then coming up for air, within inches of us. I wanted to touch him but we were too chicken, besides I think it’s illegal. He didn’t seem to mind us being there at all, either. That is until he decided to dive below us and then relieve himself! We literally had to move quick to get out of his torpedo zone. For the record, turtle poop looks just like human poop ….and it floats. You’re welcome.

We’ve been back to this beach a few times this trip, with two of the times being right after hiking Maunalahilahi. Once with Jewel, and the last time after completing the hike with Joey. And then this time with the kids.

Each time we’ve floated on the water and said “I could just lay like this forever”.

It is such a relaxing place.

Jonas is snorkeling, while Jake lets the waves softly push him up the beach.

And Jewel lets the shorebreak gently tumble her over.

The only downfall is knowing that there could be people up there on their lanai’s watching ……..and waiting. And with my track record, it’s just a matter of time before I do something to embarrass myself or anyone around me, so yeah…….we don’t go here too much.

Turtle Bay on Dwellable

Pray 4 Something

  This is by far our favorite beach, and even though we call the beach barking sands, we don’t actually know the official name for this particular spot, this rocky spot that houses those bathtubs the kids love to play in.

One day we were out here when the water was not this calm and after testing out the pools for a bit decided they were just too big of a risk to enjoy. At he same time there was a young couple from Japan walking on the beach who just happened to see Joey coming out of one of the tubs. They went in them right after we got out, while the water was calm, so had no idea they’d soon get a swell washing over them. It wasn’t a pretty sight. He got pushed into her, pinning her to the side of the pool, and then the water was so strong it drug them right out of the pool, belly side down over the lava rocks, dragging him on top of her. I felt bad for her little skinny self, but hope they learned to watch the waves for a while first.

In the above photo I’m standing on the rocks, above the cave, that’s in the below photo.

The cave that Joey noticed tunneled below the rock and said that one day when the water wasn’t so rough he was going to see how far he could get in that tunnel.

Jewel beat him to it.

With the help of some little local boys, which she was so shy to talk to, they showed her the way.

We also carefully climbed that big rock in the center…….just to take in the views.

The local teenagers like to jump from this rock, something that we see more and more of everywhere now that the huge winter swells are gone.

And now we officially know the name of this great little spot. I had heard there was a place the locals called Pray 4 Sex but never knew where it was, and now thanks to some local vagrants not only have they revealed the location for us but they’ve solved my biggest dilemma for me (as to what to call this spot) ……………………. Only, since this is the, approximately, two feet of water they’re jumping into below, I think I’d be praying for something else!  

                                                                           

Another time Joey and I were out here alone with only another person or two within sight, just floating in the water and then walking in the sand, when a man from Iowa walked up to us, completely puzzled, asking:

Why is there nobody out here?

We’re still trying to figure that out ourselves, but ……………we’re not complaining.

west coast, east coast

We can go weeks with never leaving the west side of the island, but occasionally we feel like a cruise to one or more of the other sides. Yesterday was one of those days. We made plans to meet friends in Waimae Bay for a little paddle boarding, rock climbing, snorkeling, and rock jumping and figured the Fourth of July party goers would be long gone from the beach and back at work…….we couldn’t have been more wrong. Hawaii had Furlough Friday last week so I never expected them to also have monday off. It was quite possibly the busiest I have ever seen the island. It was crazy! Haleiwa had lines fifty people long waiting for shaved ice. SHAVED. ICE. The traffic was also at a crawl, and every parking lot along the North Shore was overflowing with three cars waiting for one parking space. We basically went from Shark’s Cove to Waiamae and back, and then repeated, and then circled again, then popped into Foodland for some fresh fruit and poke, then searched some more for a parking spot. Our friends decided to turn around and head home before they even caught up with us, but we figured we’re in this mess, we can’t give up now.

Only we did give up on the North Shore. We headed east to Kailua where we did find parking, but for what..?

A friend of ours took his kids to the beach on Father’s Day and when I commented that we didn’t go because it was so crowded that day, he called us spoiled.

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West side beach:

I guess we are.

Our Own Personal Fish Monger

Yesterday I talked about Tim, the spearfisherman that got stung by a jellyfish, but what I failed to mention was that he tried to sell us some of his fresh speared fish from his high tech set-up…..a cooler on wheels.

He succeeded.

We had no idea what we were getting or if we were getting a good deal, it was, as one wise observant woman pointed out……just because we COULD. We wanted a couple of the big ones, and then he threw in a couple more……just because. {When they do that I figure they’re overcharging to begin with, but I was happy to learn today that we indeed got a good deal (for Hawaii standards)).

We paid thirty dollars for all our fish and at the local grocery store, Tamura’s, they want thirty dollars just for the one blueish one in the center. We got three times that.

We baked the first three in a stuffing mixture that Tim recommended, only substituting it for items we actually had, and they were ehh…so, so. We saved the big one for last, eating it the next day after baking in garlic butter and it was by far the best tasting fish we have ever had. From now on we will only be buying fish from Tim, where he can be found every other day strolling Farrington Hwy in front of Makaha Beach. We all agreed he has a pretty rough life, too. Spearfishing everyday (except Sunday) and hanging out on the beach a few mornings a week. (Heineken  was not for sale, that was Fish’s breakfast)

This was the one fish that scared me a little bit…look at it’s teeth……THEY’RE HUMAN!!

I’m still waiting for the day that we go to the beach and don’t learn or see something new or exciting.

Catch with a Crustacean

This morning while the kids slept, the adults big kids, went for another early walk along the beach, and I’m happy to report no jellyfish this time. Speaking of jellyfish…..we met a lot of local folks that didn’t even know about the monthly jellyfish invasion which resulted in about a hundred people island wide getting stung. With thirty of them happening on Makaha Beach alone! We met one of them the other morning while talking story with Joey’s friend Fish, while at the beach. This local named, Tim, had been spear fishing that morning when he got stung on the only part of himself that wasn’t protected, his face. He said he had to swim over half an hour to get to the nearest house and then for whatever reason, they shooed him away! They wouldn’t help him. Luckily he had a lifeguard friend that lived nearby so he went to his place and he poured boiling hot water on his face to stop the stinging, and Tim said it helped. He also said he was really struggling to swim, as he was in such intense pain and felt like his muscles were trying to paralyze. It took him this whole week to recover, but we could still see the scar. I don’t think he’ll ever go out without a face cover again!

Anyway, this morning was much more playful. After resting our burning calves while sitting along the shore, little crabs started coming out of their holes. As soon as they’d see us they’d hurry back down, except this one. He just sat on top of his hole staring at us, so eventually I threw a little stone his way to see what he’d do, and to my surprise he chased after it like a puppy dog! He quickly got on top of that thing and hugged it as tight as he could. Thinking that was just a freak thing he did, we tried another pebble….and he immediately abandoned the first stone in favor of the new one. Then he did it again, and again, and again.

After a while we felt we teased the poor thing long enough so we continued on, only to find another brave crab farther down the beach. What are the odds to run into two crazy crabs in one day? Normally they’re gone before you can even spot them, and here we have another one just staring us down. This one was bigger and wasn’t interested in stones though, he was looking for a fight.

Joey slowly lowered his keys above him and he tried with all his might to get them. After a few failed attempts he’d run away from Joey backwards. But a crab running backwards results in him doing backwards somersaults. So he’d run, and then flip, then prance up real high on his tippy claws and run again, and flip backwards again. But he always came back to Joey for more. He could have easily ran back in his hole, but I guess he was probably having a little fun with us, too. (I just wish I would have had video on my phone, so you could see these silly crabs in action, too.)

Eventually the crab won, and Joey walked away in defeat.

**PS** No crustaceans were harmed in the making of this blog post

Sand Island – Now & Then

Just your everyday walk on the beach

Instead of our usual morning walk up to the water tower this morning, we chose to drive down the hill to Makaha Beach and walk in the sand instead. What an adventure that turned out to be….. with some new knowledge, to boot. (insert plug for unschooling here)

Those are not our footprints in the sand.

They were dozens……if not hundreds….of potentially deadly, Hawaiian box jellyfish. And we almost stepped on the!…….repeatedly…… They left a trail along the high tide line almost half the shoreline long.

Then the next quarter of the shoreline  was dotted with large holes with large piles next to them. Some of the holes were almost as big as my foot! Normally , during the day, we see only the small crab holes… so I guess you have to get up pretty early to see the big boys.

Continuing south the sand is almost completely washed away, exposing rock that had been covered all winter.

You can see where the sand level was along the right side ridge

It also exposed some tide pools

Back to the north end of the beach, and back to the jellyfish.

I noticed that the milkier ones would occasionally bubble up, like it was gasping for air, but the clear ones never moved. These two had the tentacles entwined. Like two lovers that couldn’t bear to separate.

When we got back home we told the kids about them, and first, Jewel was sad we went without her, but then we were all interested to figure out why this happened. (enter unschooling activity plug here). With a quick search of the amazing, ingenious World Wide Web, we quickly learned, of all things…….the spawning habits of box jellyfish. Apparently this is a monthly thing, just most common on the windward and southern shores. About nine to ten days after a full moon thousands of jellyfish come near the shoreline to spawn, and it usually lasts three to four days. I checked the spawning calendar on 808jellyfish.com and sure enough, we are smack dab in the middle of their egg laying.

It made me sad to see all these helpless jellyfish just laying there, but then we watched crabs start to come out of their holes and check out the jelly’s. We hoped they would eat them, so it was nice to learn later that the jellyfish did not die in vain, and will in fact be scavenged up by the sand crabs.

And we thought we were just going for a walk.