Kauai, July 2020

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We spent a lovely week on Kauai in July 2020, during the pandemic. There are few COVID-19 cases on our island of Hawaii, and no active cases on Kauai. It was a good time to go. We'll never see Kauai like this again, with few tourists. As on our island, businesses are shuttered and beaches are empty, with local people and a few tourists from Oahu, and even fewer like ourselves visiting from islands other than Oahu. 

It's hard on businesses and unemployment is high. Local people are taking advantage of the time to enjoy these islands, spending time outdoors surfing, fishing and hiking.  Few restaurants are open, mostly takeout. The beaches and shorelines are healing, taking a rest from overuse.

As I write this, Hurricane Douglas has passed us by on the Big Island, also sparing Maui and Oahu. It's on a direct path to Kauai, so we certainly hope Douglas keeps moving north and that everyone on Kauai will be safe. 

Click on any photo to enlarge it.

Here we are the night before leaving, after having dinner just down the street at Keoki's Fish & Chips. Keoki's has this great mural of Hanalei Bay, our next day's destination on the north shore of Kauai.

Here's Hanalei Bay for real:

We flew over Pearl Harbor into Honolulu. There we found an outdoor garden to pass the time safely between flights.

Stopped at Safeway in Lihue and then on past Hanalei to Ha'ena on the north shore of Kauai. We drove over 7 one-lane bridges to get there. Ha'ena has an end-of-the earth quality to it, especially now with so few tourists.

The first morning we were serenaded by a guitarist singing and chanting in Hawaiian. Pretty sure it was a professional photoshoot.

We explored a few miles west, to the end of the road.

Ha'ena Beach

White-Tailed Tropicbird, or Koa'e'kea

Very lucky to spot the rare double-belled beachsider, quite rare and even extinct in most places. Known for its distinctive calls.

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No, Mark, you have to put a quarter in it.

Ke'e beach

Nobody here but us chickens

There is only one restaurant west of Hanalei, and it was next door, and open! If you go to the Opakapaka Grill, definitely have the fish or shrimp. Not the pizza 😯

Day 3, to the Kilauea Lighthouse and National Wildlife Refuge, and Hanalei

On Saturday, we returned to Ke'e Beach where I took my favorite photo of the trip. Normally, a congested tourist spot, there were just a few locals fishing and picnicking under umbrellas. 

We hiked a little way up the trail to look down over the Napali Coast.

 

A walk through Limahuli National Tropical Botanical Garden

Outdoor dining at Ama in Hanalei - Ramen with a view, and a double rainbow

Sunday - we drove 2 hours to the west side of the island to catch a spectacular boat ride along the Napali Coast. Captain A'a and his daughter Hi'ilei gave a wonderful tour. It was a small boat with just 9 passengers, mostly nurses from Honolulu. Plenty of space on board, and masks are not necessary while riding outdoors in a moving boat. 

We did see Comet Neowise one night. Too faint for a photo, but we could see it very clearly through binoculars. It will be back in about 7,000 years.

There was a cool octopus sculpture outside our room

More views of Hanalei Bay

Next time, I want to paddle up one of Kauai's flat, lazy rivers.

Flying back through Honolulu to Kona, picked up a tired pup who spent a week playing with his buddies at Paws University, and some laundry Hawaiian Style.