Day 4: Kauai - Princeville

Woke up this morning feeling momentarily disoriented, not sure where I was. Looking out of the window, seeing the endless blue water extending to the horizon, I finally remembered I was on Kauai island north side. I had been experiencing some insomnia issues for over a year now, had been taking a bit sleeping pill to help me sleep. Thinking back, I was so tired every night since I came to Hawaii, I didn’t need sleeping pills for the a couple nights now, and have been getting at least 8 hour sleeps. Apparently Hawaii can cure insomnia!!

Due to Evan’s injuries, we were taking it easy today. Simply drove up along the coast and admired the scenic views. Kauai is so breathtaking that every turn we made awarded us a gorgeous viewpoint. We met a kind woman by the roadside who insisted leading us down to a path, to a beach seemed favored by the locals, which was one of the best beaches we’ve been to. Thank you, kind stranger!

We found that the local people here were generally very kind and courteous. There were several one lane bridges on route. At first we were very surprised to see there was no traffic lights for these bridges. The order of crossing was entirely depended on the decency of the drivers. Each direction should only have 5-7 cars cross at the time. As we drove up and down this road several times, only once there were more than 7 cars crossed from one direction.

Lunch was at a little tourist town crowded with people. Unfortunately since there were very few dinning options here, and many places closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, we didn’t have other choice. However, Chicken in a Barrel had some fantastic BBQ dishes! Especially the BBQ chicken, seasoned perfectly, and cooked in a way that maintained the juiciness of the meat. Yum!

We decided to head back to our little piece of heaven by the ocean for a bit, before heading out again towards south. But instead going out again, we took a very long nap. By the time we woke up, it was already 4 pm! LOL! Well, I blame the delicious lunch in our stomachs and the gentle waves outside. We were simply too relaxed and comfortable.

There were signs all over our parking lot warning nonresidents not to park here to go to Turtle Cave. So I checked for Turtle Cave on Google map, didn’t find such a location. But on our way to our car, we noticed a small path going down towards the ocean. Well, let’s see where it goes. So we started on this trail, very narrow and steep, many inclines were almost vertical. One spot even had a rope, seemed to expect people to rappel down. Fortunately for us, the weather god has granted us a couple days of beautiful sunny weather, the path was dry, so we were able to walk down without the rope. Once we finally reached the sea, sure enough, there were turtles in the water, and there was a cave on the side. I guess we have found the Turtle Cave, a place so local that even Google map doesn’t know about it. Climbing back up the trail was easier than going down.

Felt like we didn’t do as much today than planned, but no one said we have to do too much when vacationing. An easy day is a good day too! Although out little trip to Turtle Cave certainly wasn’t easy!Read more