Day 2 - Around the Island (West Shore)
Check out the map if you want to see the location of the towns I'm talking about.
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After taking a break at our condo, we headed to the west shore. Scott realized
that he'd forgotten his camera, and since we were running out of time (and
getting tired of being in our Subaru Forrester (nice car!)) we headed straight
to the end of the road with no stops. The end of the highway takes you on
to a dirt road which goes on for about 3 miles before taking you to Polihale.
Polihale is the start of over 12 miles of uninterrupted sand beaches and also
the south end of the Na Pali coast. The ocean is quite fierce so swimming
is definitely not recommended but MAN it's pretty! This is the short trail
leading to the beach.
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When we got to Polihale, the sun was already beginning to set. Since it was
winter, the sun was setting a bit to the south. The Na Pali coast was a bit
to the north, which meant they were completely bathed in warm sunset light.
It was breathtaking.
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As the sun was setting we could start to see the island of Ni'ihau which is
privately owned and you are not allowed on if you are not Hawaiian. Granted
it's owned by the Robinson family which is definitely not Hawaiian, but I'm
sure they found a loophole for themselves. There were a lot of clouds in the
sky which blocked a large portion of the sunset.
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The beach was edged by a long wall of sand dunes. Here they are being lit
by the setting sun.
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Another view of the sun as it was setting behind a large bank of clouds.
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A lighter picture of the sun setting. It was really neat watching the sun
sink directly into the water and reflecting across the ocean.
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Even after the sun had set, there was still a lot of light to watch the waves
by. My tripod was pretty close to the water edge so I was constantly on the
lookout for rogue waves.
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After the sun had set, the Na Pali coast got kind of misty. Those are Scott's
shoes in the foreground, he was off racing Mischa (Scott won) while they waited for
me to finish taking pictures. If you look closely, you'll see a few people
in the background. The beach wasn't totally deserted, but there sure weren't
a lot of people there. It was quite peaceful.
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One last shot of Polihale after the sun had set before heading for food and
home. It was definitely a full day!
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All photos copyright Anne Sullivan