Kauai's Tunnels Beach

A day after the tsunami scare we drove off to the end of Rt 56 on the northern side of Kauai to hike part of the Kalalau trail. Everyone has gone back to celebrating vacation and enjoying the Hawaiian beauty after the nervous moments on Saturday. Following our hike we had lunch at Bubba's Burgers in Hanalei and have now parked ourselves on Tunnels Beach to watch the huge waves and relax a bit.

Bubba Burger, Hanalei, Kauai

After a nice hike on Napali Coast we stopped here for lunch, a fun local joint with affordable and tasty food.

Water, Beer Sold Out At Hawaii Supermarkets

Walking into the Safeway in Kapaa, Kauai, this evening we noticed two nearly empty aisles: water and beer. It turns out that people in the tsunami scare had gone to the store to buy up both types beverages. We had gone to the same Safeway on Friday night to buy a case of water after we found out that ther was a tsunami advisory. In the evening, there was no crowd whatsoever.

Offshore View From Sleeping Giant Kauai

While we were watching for a tsunami to hit the coast of Kauai, Hawaii, I also snapped a quick shot land inward from the top of the Sleeping Giant. A nice view indeed!

Dodging A Tsunami Bullet

According to the headline on CNN.com Hawaii "dodged a bullet" today after a quake-triggered tsunami hit the islands with smaller-than-expected waves. A quake off Chile caused the tsunami. An anticlimax, if you ask me.

This is my first trip to Hawaii and it turned out to be more adventurous that I had expected. We were awakened at 05.00 AM by the owner of the beach front rental property in Kapaa who alerted us that sirens would start to sound at 0600 AM. We immediately started packing and prepped a picnic while picking out a place on higher ground to travel to.

Once leaving the house at about 0600 AM we saw bigger than usual crowds, according to the locals, at Safeway and McDonalds (but they were both open.) There were long lines at gas stations with people who apparently wanted to fill up before a potential disaster struck. Traffic was relatively light as we drove up to Opaekaa Falls and a state park where we parked our cars, set out the picnic chairs and waited while listening to local radio.

Turned out the spot we picked was near a trail that headed up to the Sleeping Giant, a rocky peak overlooking the Kauai shore and the town of Kapaa. A friend and I decided to hike up to see whatever might be hitting the shore from there. Turned out that a ton of other people had the same idea and we ended up having a very pleasant morning on the ridge of the Sleeping Giant with friendly and funny locals, tourists, kids and pets.

As we waited for the wave(s) to come crashing in on the coast the anticipation mounted and people started calling friends in other islands, listening to the radio and exchanging opinions on whether we'd have a disaster or not. Some locals commented on the state of the reef as an indication that something was up.

In the end, there was no significant event and we just returned to the beach house with gorgeous view over the ocean. We're planning a trip to the beach now, to swim and enjoy the water.