Today is Friday, February 24, 2017. I just stepped out our front door and snapped this photo.
Ugh
Southeast Idaho weather forecast calls for, uh, basically, February going out like a lion and March coming in like a lion. We’re not even getting above freezing during the day for at least a week. Never mind night-time temperatures.
No matter. How about we head back to Larsen’s beach in Kauai! My previous blog left off with the magnificent Albatross nesting on a bluff above the shoreline along Larsen’s Beach.
We’ve parked the car at the end of Koolau Road, a dirt road, and have reached the trailhead to the beach:
Deadly unseen currents have killed how many?
Okay, okay we won’t go swimming! Larsen’s beach is a remote and undeveloped north shore beach. So remote, that a section of it is a nude beach. One link I read said “if you are interested in sunbathing nude on Kauai, Larsen’s would be your first choice, followed by Secret Beach.” You know, FYI, if you happen to be a ‘naturist’ and find yourself in Kauai.
I took this photo of the view of the beach from the trailhead.
And here is a panoramic youtube video of Larsen’s beach you might enjoy, as if you were standing near the trailhead right now, taking in the view and sounds of the ocean. (You’re totally there at this moment, right? How could you not be?)
Our destination is to make it about two miles to the arch that sits on an outcrop of lava rock. You hike about 1/3 mile down a steep path through a brushy landscape to get to the beach. A bit further and you run into naturist sunbathing monk seals. To be honest here, at this juncture I had lost my flair for taking photos, on account of Eric now had an iPhone and he was even more maniacal about getting “just the right photo” then I ever was. So, for example, whereas I stood back a bit from the seals, Eric went right up to one, and startled it, and it spit at him just as you would expect from a Llama or angry redneck or something. So here’s my photo:
Monk seal spits at Eric
Eric also beat me to the punch of advertising our Kauai trip by posting his photos on Facebook, the very day he took them. Here is his photo of the monk seal (I jacked it off his FB page), which is outstandingly more fabulous than mine
Hawaiian monk seal, an endangered species
And then, HIS photos of the sea turtles we encountered just a few feet further along the beach:
Eric’s photo of sea turtles
Aha, but, I’m the one who captured the video – a live action video of sea turtles on the beach. Granted they move slightly faster on land than say, snails, so maybe the idea of watching a 54-second ‘action’ video of beached sea turtles is not your idea of how you’d choose to spend precious remaining time in your life that you’ll never get back. But hey, just trust me on this one: (Eat your heart out, Eric)
When we made it to the arch of course Eric and I were both in a frenzy trying to capture the best view of the waves crashing up along the rocks at the best moment. Here’s my photo, a pretty darned good photo in my opinion:
Pretty darned good photo of waves cresting around the arch
But Eric had to one-up me by climbing down on the rocks, dragging David along, to zero in for a closer photo:
No, but even that’s not good enough. Here in this video you see him directing David, “Let’s move over there for a closer, more direct view”
Eric gets the purr-fect photo of the arch
Yeah, well how about taking a video of me right now chewing the cuticle off the circumference of my middle fingernail. Look behind you, Eric! One rogue wave could come crashing up and carry you off to join the sea turtles, which, by the way, contrary to what you might see in a movie, a turtle isn’t going to rescue you from drowning and transport you safely back to shore on its back.
Eric is heading back across the lower rocks now… with the arch in the background
Here’s a couple of photos I took of the north shore coastline as we begin our hike back…
Plus one extra photo of these two macho dudes, David and Eric, whom, I’m grateful to report, survived Eric’s quest to capture the world’s most infinitely awesome photo of the arch along Larsen’s Beach.
However, when all was said and done, it was David who proved himself the most macho.
Tags: Arch on Larsen's beach, Hawaiian monk seals, Kauai, Larsen's Beach, sea turtles
The Decompression of a Boomer 
February 24, 2017 at 5:09 pm |
Great photos. Enjoyed the comments! I see David cut his hair.
I’ll bet you dream of being at the beach with the snow outside your door.
I have ordered nice warm weather for you visit here. Guaranteed No Snow!!