Tuesday, February 12th; Last Day on Kauai

I sneaked out this morning while Sue was still asleep and drove a short way to a nearby coffeehouse (the Roll Nazi's competitor). The NICE lady at this place sold me 2 decafs and a cinnamon roll. Sue was awake by the time I returned and, yes, I shared the roll with her (I should have bought two, but they were pricey). We emailed and read. I had a great quiet time and did a short study on the 'ocean' in the Bible. Great stuff...you can read about it here.
Before lunch we headed to Hanalei Beach where we overheard a local rave about Pat's Taqueria. I had fantastic pork taco and Sue had a carne ansada taco. You can see her in the picture enjoying the hot guy...I mean the hot taco...I mean the food. The tacos were good but very small and we were still hungry.
We walked the pier and watched the surfers. The learners were near the beach. The experts were riding the big waves nearly a half mile out. Like the taco lady said, "It's big out there" (meaning, the waves are big). People just drive onto the beach and park at Hanalei. Kauai has grown on us. It's not overrun with resorts and development. The roads are crummy and narrow. Some of it is upscale and snappy but most of it is country and rural Oklahoma-ish. We're out in the sticks on the N. Shore. But the raw beauty is impressive.
We headed into Hanalei town a few blocks away. Most of the businesses are shacks and it's just a podunk town. One of the "shacks" is proudly run as a Bubba's Burgers outlet. The overworked staff of three sold us a Super Bubba Burger that we split, and an order of "Frings" (half fries and half onion rings). Sue ate the rings and I had the fries.
We set out for Kapa'a to return our wet suits at the dive shop. But on the way we stopped for a Pineapple Frosty at another shack by the highway, Banana Joe's. It was just okay.
We stopped at the Kilauea Lighthouse to enjoy the view from the point. Sue spotted a huge seal lying on the beach. It got drenched with a wave and decided to wrestle and bump its way through the reef and waves back to the sea. There is a bird sanctuary there with Frigatebirds, Red-footed Boobies, and Albatrosses. Some had 7 ft. wing spans! We could see for miles up and down the coast and back into the mountain range.
The Lighthouse park closed at 4pm so we continued down the coast to the Coconut Marketplace. The traffic was backed up so we thought we'd kill time at the shopping center. We bought some stuff as gifts and I finally got some flip flops. My old ones REEKED and we had to throw them away.
Next we moved on to Opaeka Falls. and enjoyed the view.
We're back at the Sundeck to do some final laundry, email, read, study up on Oahu, hang out and pack for our trip to Oahu in the morning. The flight leaves at 10:30am and I hope the traffic isn't bad earlier in the morning. It has been very congested the last two times we traveled from Kapa'a to Lihue.
As Sue said today, Kauai has grown on us. Like a piece of carpet covering the whole wide world (only my family appreciates bad metaphors).