Monk Seal, Waterfalls, and a Glass Beach

We had a busy day yesterday, from sun up to sun down {and then even after}!

We started off the morning by going to Tunnels Beach which is a little north of where we are staying. There are very few parking spots for Tunnels Beach so Ryan and I used the time zone difference to our advantage (well, that and apparently people on this island are not early risers either). We were the first ones to the parking spots (woo hoo) at about 9am! The surf yesterday was HUGE! The waves were 20-30 feet and there was no swimming advised (ha - like you'd find me getting pummeled by those big things!). Since there was no swimming and we were the first ones on the beach, we decided to take a walk down the beach to see the other end where their appeared to be even larger waves. We met one of the locals walking on the beach and she told us they don't get many days with giant waves like these and she considered these "Hawaiian Snow Days."  Huh? I didn't even know Hawaiians knew what snow days were.  We eventually found a spot to put down our towels and I was able to just sit and enjoy the sound of these monster waves crashing into shore.

One side of Tunnels Beach.

Half of the other side of Tunnels Beach.

Ryan got caught off guard from one of the large waves.

This is zoomed in as far as our camera will go.

No swimming today!

These waves were really pretty but scary knowing they could cause a lot of damage.

Gotta love SPF 50 {and the shade of palm trees}!

Just as we were about to leave, we noticed some people looking at something in the water. They happened to be looking at a Hawaiian Monk Seal. These seals are considered a critically endangered species and I was hoping that we'd be able to see one while we were here. I sent Ryan with the camera to take pictures of the seal just in case it didn't come out of the water. I stayed back and collected all of our stuff up. Well, we didn't have to go very far because the seal ended up coming ashore not far from where we were laying out.

Just coming up out of the water.

It looked like a lot of work just to get this far.

Just relaxing....

...until a wave comes.

Trying out a new spot.

Another wave, so she moved to another spot.

Ryan was talking to some locals before I got there with all of our stuff and apparently, all the Monk Seals are tagged so that they can keep track of them since they are endangered. Well, the locals had Ryan take a picture with our camera and then zoom in so they could see the numbers. This little Monk Seal was a girl and she was born in April 2011 {I think they should name her Hillary if they haven't named her yet :)}. I guess her mother lives on Oahu and comes over to Kauai once a year to give birth. Even though these Monk Seals are a little ugly at first glance, after looking at her for a while, she is actually really cute. I'm glad that we were able to get a little history from the locals, that's always nice. She didn't stay up on the beach long, the waves were so big that when she'd reach a dry piece of beach, a wave would come up and disturb her. So she went back out to sea.

One of the best pictures from the day!

Is it just me, or does she resemble Zoey in this picture?!? {hehehe}

Goodbye!

After finishing up at Tunnels, we planned to head to the south part of the island to see the Waimea Canyon, but after we started driving, we realized that it is a REALLY long drive to the canyon and we probably wouldn't have enough daylight. So change of plans {good thing I had my trusty Kauai Revealed book with so I could look up something else to do}.

One of the many one-lane bridges on the island.

Taro field.

We stopped and had shaved ice which is sort of like a snow cone but WAY better. They even put ice cream in the middle!

Rumor has it that Kalapaki Shave Ice is the best shaved ice on the island.

After the shaved ice, we stopped at a couple waterfalls...

'Opaeka'a Falls

Showing our Minnesota Pride!

Wailua Falls

We stopped at Glass Beach which was really interesting. It isn't the prettiest beach I've ever seen, but the most unique by far. This beach is located near a garbage dump and apparently a bunch of the glass from an old recycling plant made it's way to this area. There was really very little actual sand at this beach, it was all little pieces of polished glass beads. Don't worry, I didn't walk bare foot. Ryan and I kept our shoes on!

It looks like sand here but its not...

You can sorta see the glass sand here.

Here is a close up of the glass sand.

And the not-so-pretty aspect of the beach....the waste facilities.

Here's a picture of our current ride :)

After the glass sand beach, Ryan and I drove to a little town by the name of Hanapepe and walked on the swinging foot bridge. I only made it a few steps before Ryan started jumping up and down and freaking me out so I had to turn around. Ryan on the other hand made it all the way across and back.

Sl...ow....ly....taking a few steps out onto the bridge.

Ryan has no fear sometimes!

After the bridge, it was time to make the long trip back home. We were both tired {me more so than Ryan of course} and daylight was fading fast. We had plans to grill some steak when we got home, but after driving for over two hours, we decided to stop at Bubba Burgers for dinner. It was delicious! We sat outside, overlooking the ocean and ate our hamburgers.

By the time we got home, I was practically sleeping so I went straight to bed :)

Ashley