2018 Kauaʻi Trip Report Part 4: Anahola Beach

To celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary, we took a trip to the Hawaiian island of Kauaʻi (read the previous parts here). We had spent the morning checking out some waterfalls, but now it was time to visit a beach…

Thursday, July 5, 2018 (Continued)

With all of our exploring, we were starting to get a little hot, and we were getting ready to get to a beach. But we were also getting hungry, so we started checking out our lunch options. Our usual lunch plan when we are going to the beach is to get some Lunchables (free plug for you there, Oscar Meyer) and eat on the beach. We looked for a grocery store of some sort, and we happened to see another Longs Drugs beside the highway in Kapa’a. We turned in there and went inside.

Like the other Longs Drugs in Poʻipū they had a good souvenir selection as well. We ended up not buying any souvenirs there, but only a couple of lunch things and a Coke and Cherry Dr. Pepper. We did have our bottles of water and ice in our cooler in the car, so we just put our purchases in there to keep them cold. Laura had thought ahead to bring our Disney Cruise Line fold-up cooler bag from home, and we had filled it up at the hotel before leaving that morning. We also filled up our Grand Hyatt water bottles, as well as our water bottles we had gotten from the Phoenix airport. We had to take one set of water bottles out to fit everything else in the cooler, but we needed to drink some water at that point, anyway. With lunch secured, we hit the road again.

Traffic was not bad going the direction we were going, but I noticed that there were quite a few cars going back in the other direction, and they were not going anywhere fast. I was hoping that the traffic would clear out by the time we would head back to the hotel.

Laura had been looking at beaches on her phone and based on recommendations for swimming and such, she had decided on Anahola Beach Park. We turned off the highway and drove past a few houses to get there, and I wondered what it must be like to live that close to the beach. Would you take it for granted? I would think that I would not, but I don’t know. It would be worth it to do a science experiment, wouldn’t it? After turning off the neighborhood street, we drove down a long, rough gravel road and reached the beach.

We were delighted to find a restroom facility there, as well as a lifeguard, which Laura was expecting after reading the reviews. We always feel a little safer swimming where there is a lifeguard. You canʻt be too careful sometimes.

But first things first. Our first thing was to eat lunch. We found a picnic table in the shade. It overlooked the beach, and there were very few people around, except for the people who would occasionally walk down the beach. Lunch in the shade with a beach view - how perfect is that?

Lunch at the beach makes for a perfect day

After eating, we decided to get in the water for a while. As with all of the beaches that we had seen so far, the waves were bigger and stronger than what we were used to. But we decided to go on out, being careful not to go too far out into the water, and not to stray too far from the lifeguard hut, either.

A beautiful view down the beach

The view in the other direction, as seen in the earlier post Mountains and Waves on Kauaʻi - read all about it there

The water was slightly cold at first, but it felt good after our morning activities. And off to the left as we looked out to the water were large mountains looming over everything off in the distance, with the shore and the water down below. What a great view! Farther off to the right, there were a few more people. Behind them, back up on the shore, there looked to be some sort of vacation home, and we guessed that all of them were somehow connected to that. But we had a good stretch of beach to ourselves. Much different than what you sometimes see of Hawaiʻi beaches on television. There are some advantages to going to a less touristy island and then searching out some secluded beaches. So far, it had been a perfect vacation day.

A few other beach goers, but not many

Us at the beach

Up at the restroom building, on the side that faced away from the water, there was a group of local people singing and playing ukuleles and guitars. So whenever we visited the facilities, we were serenaded by this group. Of course, we could not understand the words of the songs, since they were in Hawaiian, but it was really cool to hear. We got the impression that they were just some friends who got together to play from time to time, and we were happy that they were where we were. Just another cool part of the day.

A little music for our beach activities

Chickens love the beach, too

We walked along the beach for a while, enjoying the views of the waves, the shore, and the mountains beyond. I particularly enjoyed seeing the waves crashing against each other, sending big sprays of water up into the air. Once again, I am easily entertained. There must have been a pier of some sort out into the water at one time, but all that is left now are the concrete bases that supported the structure. Still cool to see, though. And climb on, if you are brave.

Crash!

Laura is queen of the rock

After we had finished swimming, we decided it was time to head back to the hotel and that area of the island. So we loaded up the car, enjoying a little more serenading as we did, and headed back toward Poʻipū. Unfortunately, we caught back up with all of that traffic that we had seen earlier in the day, so that our drive back to the hotel took us well over an hour. We decided that if we were to go back up that way again, we might want to see if there were a way around the traffic. I was not sure that there would be, because the maps did not show all that many roads, but it would be worth looking into.

Once we passed through Līhuʻe, the traffic was much lighter, and the drive was more enjoyable. We once again drove through the Tree Tunnel, which was still cool to us. And along the road closer to our hotel, there were some very interesting flowering trees. We definitely do not have those back at home!

Driving through the Tree Tunnel

These flowering trees were fascinating

When we got back to the hotel, we decided that we were not quite finished with swimming for the day. So we got some wristbands and pool towels and headed out to the saltwater lagoon for a while. The sun was starting to get low, and the breeze was gently blowing the palm trees. Just beyond the lagoon, we could hear the waves crashing onto the shore. It was the perfect time for a late afternoon swim. It appeared that most people had gone to eat, because there were not many of us in the pool,so that we could enjoy it.

While we were changing clothes and getting ready to go eat supper, I helped the rental car company out just a little. The car display kept telling us that the key fob battery was getting low. So when we stopped at Longs Drugs to get our lunch, I had bought a replacement battery. Actually two batteries, because it takes two. I replaced those before we left, and after that we never got the message again. Youʻre welcome, Budget.

For our evening meal, we went back to the same Poʻipū shopping center as the night before. We thought we would try Savage Shrimp one more time. They were open this time, and it was similar to Bubba’s Burger in that we ordered at a counter and then waited for our food. Laura got a shrimp scampi plate, and I got garlic shrimp tacos. We had to wait a little while for our food, but that was because I think only two people were working there, and one had to stop and take orders whenever anyone came in. Our food was plenty good for us, although we decided we had actually liked the burgers from the night before a little better.

After we ate, Laura decided that she wanted to go back to Bubba’s Burger for another banana milkshake. While she drank that, we checked out a few more of the shops in the center that we had not visited the night before, and then we headed back to the hotel.

We stopped in a few of the hotel shops before heading back to our room. I was actually surprised by how many shops were in the hotel. A couple of them were some of the same shops that we had seen at some of the shopping centers. We did not find anything to buy for the moment, but it was fun to look around and see who had what there. We figured that we would be back to the general souvenir shop a time or two before our visit ended, too.

And once again, like old married people, we were back in our room around 9:00. It had been a fabulously fun day, and we looked forward to the next one, hoping it would be at least as good.

Watch for the next day’s adventures coming soon in the 2018 Kauaʻi Trip Report!