Day 14: Ouch.

In yesterday’s post I talked about how my mom told me Waimea Canyon was “the thing” to see in Kauai.  I’m going to go ahead and just throw it out there, that the trip to Nualolo Kai topped the canyon and most anything else you can think of.  We woke up at 4:45am to catch the Zodiac Tour to and arrived to the park at 7:30am.  Nualolo Kai is an isolated beach, accessible only by a 20 mile boat ride since it is surrounded by towering cliffs.

The boat ride was a knee-slappin’ good time.  The Zodiac ride was basically an hour long roller coaster with no seat-belts.  My hands were extremely stiff and sore (wound 1) from clutching the ropes because we had to sit directly on the edge of the boat, but flying through through the sea-misted air full speed ahead was so much fun.  After the captain toured us around some neat caves, the boats were tethered just beyond the shore line.  We had to wade through the water to shore and establish an assembly line to bring in all the gear.  As soon as we set-up a base camp on the beach, a few of us began using some archaeological techniques on a grassy patch of the beach.  GPR (Ground Penetrating Radar) measures the composition of the ground up to 3 meters below the soil, and I’m sure this technique is directly applicable to the archaeology team research.  I did get a few battle wounds on my legs from walking through the thick brush while using the GPR (wound 2).

After a morning of science, I took advantage of this perfect beach, un-invaded by tourists and technology.  I kept my snorkel gear from yesterday’s outing, a wise choice since the snorkeling here is fantastic.  A few of us swam out past the coral reef and snorkeled for about 45 minutes until we found ourselves on the other end of the beach.  There weren’t as many fish at this beach compared to Poipu Beach, but the vibrant coral and humongous sea turtles were amazing to swim by.  I’m so glad I rented the snorkeling gear for today’s adventures, but I came out with a big red sunburn on my back (wound 3) and some cuts and bruises on my hands and legs from the slippery and sharp rocks along the shore (wound 4).  Once we got out of the cold ocean, we encountered a warpath of boulders that were much too hot to walk on.  So we settled for a nice warm pool near shore that was very hot-tub-esque.

I also participated in some beach yoga led by Ali and Ryan.  Doing yoga on the beach made it feel like I was in a commercial for one of those perfect picturesque resorts you see on TV all the time.  I’ve never really done yoga before, so I definitely came home with a few aches in my body (wound 5).   The scenery at Nualolo Kai was epic.  There were some awesome natural features carved into the cliff wall, an ancient heiau, and turquoise water to take a swim in.

My roommates (Kate and Ali) decided that we will return to Nualolo Kai when we’re 80, wearing those tacky “60-Year-REU-Reunion” shirts.  Our boats arrived to pick us up around 6pm and I rode that roller coaster one last time.  At the end of the day, all the battle wounds were completely worth it, and I wouldn’t change a thing.