We drove until the road ran out. Highway 930 goes towards the most western point on the island and becomes a dirt track at the start of the Ka’ena Point Trail. We decided not to walk the trail as the temperature was at least 90 degrees Fahrenheit and we had decided upon an easier, lazy day.
It felt remote here and we lingered for a while, staring at the rocky outcrop down to the sea, but it was about a minute’s drive back along the road that we found paradise. There have, of course, been many a paradise on this trip, but it was here that we had the distinct impression of being marooned on a desert island.
The sand was deep, powdery and white and we walked to where there were no other people, sat down and just stared at the ocean. For long minutes, the ocean was all we could hear but then a small aircraft from the nearby airfield would appear, low in the sky, dragging a glider up into the air. When the aircraft had released its glider,it would return to the airfield, coming in low over the beach – quite a sight.
Our lazy day needed a lazy, late lunch and we wandered around Haleiwa town for the first time – another timber-built wild west kinda town.
We ate garlic shrimp, bought at another road-side truck. The shrimp was enormous, served in a carton with little compartments for other things like sweetcorn and rice. There was so much garlic in the dish, sliced quite thickly within the rice but cooked in such a way as not to be overpowering. So tasty!
Dessert had to be ‘shave ice’ and, if I haven’t mentioned shave ice before, it’s an unforgivable omission, as it’s served everywhere.
It’s basically ice shavings, compacted together by hand as if making a snowball and then drizzled with all sorts of flavoured syrups like mango, pineapple, kiwi fruit and guava.The surprising thing about a good shave ice is that it doesn’t seem to melt and turn to slush. It stays frosty and the flavours remain in the ice – you shouldn’t need a straw, just a small spoon.
Lunch lasted about two hours and it was time to seek out a good bar and the Beach House was the best we could find here. The Beach House was friendly with views out to beautiful sun sets beyond the beach. We had planned to eat dinner in, but couldn’t resist something from the menu in the late afternoon. We ended up staying until the sun went down.
Long and lazy days on Oahu are days we will never forget.
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