Another Day in Kauai

This time around, in Nawiliwili, a group of us rented a car to explore farther reaches of the island. Rental cars, unlike rental scooters, do not have distance limitations. With the ship’s naturalist in our number, we bee-lined for the bird refuge at Kilauea Lighthouse.

There were albatross, frigate birds, tropic birds and boobies. And the Hawaiian goose, the ne-ne.

After the lighthouse, we continued along the north shore to the town of Hanalei. We stopped for burgers at the famous Bubba’s Burgers, a fond memory from my childhood visits to the island. We continued down the road (the one and only on the island; directions are easy) to Tunnels Beach.

Tunnels is one of the most isolated, roughest and best snorkeling beaches on the island. A few years ago, the now-famous, now-professional young surfer was on an early morning surfing jaunt at Tunnels when she had her arm bitten off by a shark. She’s surfing strong, and the beach is a little less visited.

The surf was quite rough, but we trekked to where the reef met the beach. The waves calmed down significantly, and it was easy to walk right in. The water was rather cloudy, and the clouds kept covering the sun. Despite the poor visibility, there were plenty of fish, with some nice sized schools, making for some good snorkeling. There were a few sea turtles, but they completely paled in comparison to the giant seal lounging on the surface. Wait, what?

There was a 7-foot-long, 400-plus-pound Hawaiian Monk Seal coming up for air. It was staring some snorkelers in the face, watching them as they watched it. It took a few breaths and dove. We waited. Nine minutes later, it came back up. No one saw it come up. As we were hovering over the 20-foot-deep crevice it disappeared into, we look around and there it was, chilling out on the surface, getting some air. A minute or two later, it went back down into the crevice. Wow. It came up one more time before we had to head back to the ship. We were close enough to touch it. It yawned, looked around, took a few breaths, blinked its huge black eyes, and dove. It seemed so gentle.

Hawaiian monk seals are endemic to the Hawaiian Islands; they’re found nowhere else in the world. They’re an endangered species, travel alone and are rarely seen. Again, wow.

Then it was back to the ship in a nerve-wracking race against the clock. We were late back to the ship by 5 minutes, and luckily found it still at the dock. Everyone who works on a cruise ship hears the horror stories of crew left in port. If you miss the boat, you’re responsible for the cost of rejoining the ship. The ship waits for no one. In addition to a stressful day of (potentially expensive) travel, there are disciplinary consequences for missing the boat. All we could think of was how to get ourselves to Maui. We made it on the ship, on the last gangway (the others had already been stowed), as everything was being packed up and shoved onboard. Lesson learned.

But even the frantic scramble back to the ship didn’t turn my opinion of the day. A Hawaiian Monk Seal…