Mike in the Wild

I was more excited about snorkeling at Ke'e Beach than anywhere else on my recent visit to Kauai.  Of the renowned sites on the Hawaiian island's north shore, it was the only one I'd not managed to visit on my two previous trips starting in 2020.  I might have only ever snorkeled there once before, thirty years ago on my very first trip to anywhere in Hawaii, and I remembered almost nothing about it.    Luckily two weeks before my latest arrival, I secured a mandatory reservation for entrance to the site, part of Ha'ena State Park, along with a remote parking spot and a shuttle between the sites, all for forty dollars.  However I was surprised to learn that the other travelers on my shuttle weren't going to the park's famous beach, Ke'e, but instead were setting out for a completely different adventure: a hike along the Kalalau Trail.   The trail hugs Kauai's remote and spectacular Napali coastline, a remote palisade of volcanic cliffs that tower over ...

Nothing excited me more while planning my latest visit to Kauai than a return to Tunnels Beach for snorkeling.  On an island chock-full of attractions, the beach was my very first outing on my first day on Hawaii's Garden Island.  Swimming with schools of surgeonfish on fish highways, green sea turtles ascending for breaths of air, and colorful parrotfish chomping on bites of coral were just some of the memories that I wanted to revisit from my very last snorkel there two-and-a-half years ago.  While my expectations were eventually exceeded, it would take three separate visits to Tunnels to finally happen.  Tunnels Beach is close to the end of the road on Kauai, where Route 560 or the Kuhio Highway terminates near the Na Pali Coast on the mountainous and scenic north shore of the island.   The beach is actually reached from Ha'ena State Park, where there is very limited parking but facilities like a freshwater shower, restrooms, and more importantly, a life...

Swimming for hours with your face sealed in a snorkel mask and your feet paddling rubber fins may seem like one third of an arduous triathlon for most people.  But for me, with my inexpensive underwater digital camera attached at the wrist and snapping non-stop shots of a cornucopia of underwater life, it's a dream vacation.  And Tunnels Beach in Kauai might be the closest it comes to heaven for that kind of snorkeling on the Garden Island, if not in the whole state. Tunnels Beach is close to the end of the road on Kauai, where Route 560 or the Kuhio Highway, ends near the Na Pali Coast on the mountainous and scenic north shore of the island.   The beach is actually reached from Ha'ena State Park, where there is very limited parking but adequate facilities like a shower and restrooms, and more important, a lifeguard station.   However, they're all situated at an end of the beach where some lateral currents might be dangerous in certain conditions, ...