Punalu‘u

It's not a secret, but sure feels like one. This tiny stretch of beach has great views of the mountains, soft sand and picture perfect palm trees. Yet, even on a Sunday, was barely inhabited.

Thanks to my awesome husband, I had a fabulous afternoon by myself! I thoroughly enjoyed the sun, waves and peaceful views. It was lovely to eat a snack and read a magazine, just listening to the sound of gentle surf. Perhaps a little better not having to share my snack or help other little people eat theirs. As an added treat, there were paragliders coasting along in the sky!

Since words can't adequately describe it, I'll let the pictures brag for themselves.

We've been here almost four years, and there are still new places to explore! Where shall I go next?

Punalu‘u Notes:
Located off Kamehameha Hwy, halfway between the North Shore and Kaneohe. There's a public beach access just past Keneke's. Continuing further down the highway is Punalu‘u Beach Park.

One - Sand

Although we live only minutes away from some of the best beaches in the world (according to Dr. Beach), one thing used to keep us from heading out to enjoy those beaches. The one (pronounced oh-nay), or sand. I know it's a ridiculous thing to complain about, but it's hard enough to get sand out of those hard-to-reach places... but then trying to get it off of your kids too? It used to drive me so crazy that I dreaded going to the beach. If this is true for you, read on to see how we're minimizing the one-phobia!

Language tip: One is not really used in day to conversation, so don't try to say "I love the powdery one on that beach!" However, it is very common in place and street names, so it will save a lot of confusion to say it correctly. Say oh-nay, not the number 1.

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you'll know that for the last two years, our kids spent most of their time on the sand. And not just gently scooping it into buckets with shovels. I don't know about your kids, but mine like to dig like crazy, wild dogs. So they end up looking like this:

I'm pretty sure they make cement by mixing sand with sunscreen. Or at least they should because it does not come off!

Even after a thorough shower at the beach, somehow this pile of sand still ended up on the bathroom floor (it looked way more dune-like in real life). I have to remind myself to calm down and just get the vacuum. But, most of the mess is contained when we remember to remove our swim suits in the tub. Many people here have outdoor showers to help with that. We unfortunately do not, and we found that the screams that come from hosing them off in the driveway are not worth it, so they trek upstairs.

In order to avoid the sandy floors and cars, here are some handy tools we keep in our car for beach days. Paper towel, brushes, beach blanket, change of clothes, garbage bag and jugs of water (not pictured). The beach blanket doesn't really keep the kids clean, but is more for the adults and the food. I wish I could give you a simple step-by-step method for sand removal, but it really depends on the type of sand you're dealing with, so you must experiment! Which means trying out different beaches - best homework ever!

Some handy hints: We've found that if you shower at the beach, a jug of water is usually sufficient to get the strays off your feet. However for those beaches without showers, (or if your kids kick and scream through the cold water showers and you'd rather just quickly dash home) you need a brush to help. Fine sand works best after drying out - so brush first, then rinse. More coarse sand does better with a quick rinse then brushing. You'll notice we have two brushes - one is a beauty product and the other is from the automotive aisle. Both work fine, but some people think one is too "scratchy."

Hopefully with these hints you too can finally enjoy the "White Sandy Beach" in Hawaii (or in your neck of the woods) without cringing about cleaning up! What are your favorite beach clean up tools?

Lā - Sun

Sometimes beach time is more important than nap time.

If you know how much I love naps, then you'd realize how badly we needed to get out in the sun!

It's been super cold and rainy in Hawaii. I mean two straight weeks of grey skies and intermittent rain. After coming from Michigan, with its 319 cloudy days a year, I thought I could handle bad weather. Well, apparently not anymore! I'm not complaining, (friends who are shoveling their way through winter) but part of the trade-off for moving thousands of miles from everything is to get some sun. Plus, after being stuck inside our family was showing signs of cabin fever. Not quite to Shining proportions, but everyone was pretty grumpy.

Last week when we saw the sun, we quickly scrapped our plans and headed to the beach. The moment we arrived, I knew we had made the right decision.

The winds from earlier in the week had died down, so it was a perfect opportunity to try out the new boat!

After paddling around, chasing birds, and running up and down sand dunes, we finished the afternoon off with a family walk. Which wouldn't be complete without the kids acting like dogs. And one child in particular actually fetching a stick with her teeth.

Another benefit of skipping naps? Early bedtime!

Pau for now,
Tracie

Kahe Point - Electric Beach

Electric Beach is one of the best snorkeling sites on the island. It's nickname comes from the not-so-scenic electric company next to the beach. However, thanks to the power company, warm water is piped out into the ocean and where the pipes come out there is an abundance of fish. It's a bit of a swim, but worth it! We also saw a few turtles and there is supposedly a pod of dolphins that frequents this spot.

The beach is nice for the kids to play on, although there is little shade. The water is clear, but the break is too strong for little ones to swim in (although someone was boogie boarding). Plus, the restrooms are shuttered, so you're limited to the porta-potty. We found a more family-friendly spot (although not quite as many fish), that I'll share about next time.

North end of the beach

What's behind the fence

Next time we'll bring the underwater camera so we can post pictures of the fish!

Yokohama Bay

The Wai‘anae Coast is on the western side of the island, so we decided to take a trip out as far as we could go. Although you can technically hike another 2.5 miles to Ka‘ena Point, we decided to park where the road ends and enjoy the beach for the day. The waves were a little strong, but it was a beautiful sunny day to play in the sand and the tide pools.

I realized that I'm not posting as often because I write too much and edit too much and it takes too long. So for most of our outings, I'll let the scenery do the talking, which is probably better!

If you missed them, you can see a body boarder catching a wave and Lucas hiding. It's so hard not to label pictures!

Big Island - Day 5 - Kohala Coast Beach

The Big Island has two main cities, Kona and Hilo. The northern part of the Kona side is known for their beaches, so of course we had to take a beach day along the famous Kohala Coast!

After weeks of planning and earmarking activities in our travel guide, I was bummed out that I left it at home. Thankfully, my college friend we visited earlier in the week was gracious enough to lend us her book, Hawaii the Big Island Revealed. It was a great guide for the island and helped us find a nearby beautiful beach where the kids could play and the adults could snorkel a bit. Hapuna Beach State Park was a good fit for all of those things.

The soft white sand beach was perfect to look at

and to dig in!

Kyle and I went for a hike. The guidebook mentioned something about thorns, and it was not joking. Those crazy trees dropped spikes that went through our reef shoes - glad we didn't try it barefoot!

At first it wasn't too exciting, but we were soon rewarded with some fun coves to explore!

Not sure how this car made it out back in the woods, but it is definitely not going back

After a long morning at the beach we had a light lunch at a nearby mall food court and then home to nap and get ready for Thanksgiving Dinner. Steaks and shrimp on the grill!