We left Poipu on a sunny morning, wishing goodbye to the Airbnb resident kitty with one last caress on the top of the head and behind the ear. We drove north past Lihu’e and to our favorite place – Cafe Hemingway, finally open – for a wafer-thin omlette, fresh squeezed orange juice inside the Breton-blue building with view of over the little creek and shallows of Kapa’a reef.
A leisurely perusing of some timeless light reading material and a similarly light breakfast full of appreciation of the sunlight which helped grow the 1/2 tomato on the side and the land which provided for the hen whose eggs were so graciously donated for our enjoyment. For our vegetarian readers, I’ll spare the details of the source and creation of the ham.
We finish our lunch to prepare for the upcoming Kapa’a farmers marker which we presume is likely the largest on the island (turns out Lihu’e’s is). We soon find out that instead of noon, the market’s at 3. Gotta go for a bodysurf session over Kealia’s powerful, but not ginormous rollers. Well shaped, cylindrical waves, like steam rollers on cruise control with or without a driver, depending on your religious views…(
Hey, writer, we’re here to have some lighthearted reading, quit being so philosophical…) No matter how much one thinks that they have ‘conquered’ or ‘owned’ these waves, it’s like thinking that we can stop a steam roller with a pellet gun, in the end we just managed to work with the momentum.
OK, ok, so the farmer’s market greets with over 40 stands with a rainbows of fruit pouring out of each. We break into an immediate salivation. At 2:48, the 12 minutes till the bell to start the market seems like an eternity. Dragonfruit, Breadfruit, Durian, Apple Bananas, Pineapple, Watermelon and Papaya galore! So much flavor contained in each one, still 10 minutes to wait!!! We make some small talk to pass the time “These came from the north shore,” water bursting the watermelon at the seems. This doesn’t help Camelia as her heaven is filled with watermelon and dachshunds. Still 8 minutes till the bell, and this is not speeding up the clock. 6 minutes! Seems like an eternity…Then the stand owner tells us about the uses, and origins of the importation of the papaya…bam! Ding, ding, ding! I guess when you’re interested in something the time flies! Quick: get a dragon fruit (we’ll figure out how to eat them later), some papaya, bananas, and a watermelon 🙂 Dachschund for sale? Nope, that’s probably for the best.
We take a backroad from the market, past homes, hillsides, greens, browns, reds, cute bridges, views of all the jutting peaks, and to pick up the Nomad (Homes), and head out west to an expansive, almost deserted beach, Polihale.
Driving past fields of red dirt, green hills and round, heavy clouds on Kauai’s West shore
The 20 miles (with one stop to get Poke) take over an hour, since even though the posted speed limit is 35, the average speed is 30. And no one wants to go faster, because as you increase velocity, the interest decreases. Hearing stories from the Nomad about the origins of the tree species, the medecinal uses of the plants, the rarity of the abundance of bird life on Kauai and the tribal history of the islands, which would have never been addressed at 65 or even 35 MPH 🙂
The last 2 miles are offroading on red dirt. Yes! Time for powerslides!!! That one was 3 car lengths, that next power slide was longer than a 2 handed frontside power slide on my skateboard on Lombard street in San Francisco! Yay rental cars!
We arrive an hour before dusk to where we won’t take the rental car any further on the sand. Sorry Chevy Cruze, your journey ends here, with dreams of powerslides on the way back.
We get the sunset and sunrise in Polihale, and, boy, it’s all worth it:
The sunset at Polihale regales us with a thousand different shades of pink.
- The sunrise is a different, gloomier vista, and the clouds seem pregnant with water.
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