We woke to glorious sunshine and a lovely warm day, so after an early breakfast I went for a walk to ‘explore’ the local area. When the others were up, we walked to the second Beach, along from our cottage, a five minute walk took us to Shark Cove. Not famous for sharks but a great snorkelling area. It was like one large rock pool segregated from the Ocean. Within this large lagoon area were hundreds of small rock pools teeming with sea life. Fish of all sizes and colours, it was like swimming in an aquarium. Stripy fish, yellow fish, red fish as well as plain sand coloured fish, it was lovely to see. The water was so warm and clear it was gorgeous. Every so often giant waves would crash against the rocks surrounding this lagoon area and provide a picturesque waterfall bringing with it more fish into the ‘lagoon’. It was tiring walking/snorkelling in this area because you needed a combination of swimming, scrambling over rocks and walking, beach shoes were a must, the rocks were sharp and it would not have been easy to enjoy this experience without a good pair of water shoes.
After my hour’s scrambling and snorkelling in this giant rock pool, I enjoyed watching the locals and holiday makers venturing out.
I ventured over the road to where there were a number of shacks selling various local delicacies and iced drinks. I decided to have the Blue Hawaii shaver ice with ice cream – it was a bit like a slush puppy that we have in the UK with ice cream. It was lovely but I felt it would be even better with rum! None of the stalls sold alcohol, just fresh fruit juices or traditional soft drinks.
After my mammoth ice drink we moved back to the beach next to our cottage. It was getting hot and I needed a swim to cool down! After playing in the surf a local warned me that 3 people had died on the rocks when the surf was high so we needed to be careful. As usual when swimming in the sea I like to keep an eye on where our towels are and ensure I do not drift too far. So we were all ok, but I can imagine it with high waves and people could be pushed to the rocks.
A relaxing lunch back at the cottage followed our swim and then back to relax by this glorious coastline. We knew storms were due in two days time so we thought we better make the most of this good weather. And after all the traveling it was nice not to sit in a car, just breathe fresh air and watch the world go by!
Being known for my organisation I brought some beers in a cool bag and some rum – I just had to try an alcoholic version of the Blue Hawaii!!
After a few drinks and sunset on the beach we made our way out to Haleiwa for dinner. We could not believe how empty the ‘market place’ was. We had dinner at a traditional pupu grill and experienced some local Hawaiian food which was lovely which included Kuala Pig, pork fried rice, fish and shrimp tacos – not a tomato in sight!
After dinner we thought we would have a drink. There was a very busy bar where everyone was celebrating Halloween and they all looked like student freshers (or younger!) so we passed that bar by. All the other bars were empty and it was only 9:30pm! We chose a tapas bar which offered marguerites on happy hour with local Hawaiian fruit juices, so that had to be tried out. An hour and an Uber later we were back at our cottage. I think the sea air and humidity here just tires everyone out so seemingly like all the other tourists we retired early.
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