You can’t make this stuff up.
We were on the Island of Kauai in Hawaii in 2004, and wanted to see the sunset on the ocean. Polihale State Park on the western side of the island looked like the best vantage point. Our plan was to go, walk the beach a little and take pictures as the sun dipped below the ocean.
We left in what we thought was plenty of time.
Getting There
Ultimately ending up on SR 50, we drove through Waimea towards the park. The paved road abruptly ended and we were greeted with a closed gate straight ahead. However, there was a gravel road to the left that looked like it might take us there.
Keep in mind, this is before GPS and smartphones provided digital maps showing your location. At this state, we were relying on a paper map that wasn’t that all that clear. At the time, there wasn’t much in the way of signage either.
The jeep we rented was bouncing along. Bouncing along. The road was so bad, the fastest we could go was only 20-25 miles per hour, even in a jeep. And that seemed fast. There was a one lane iron slat bridge without rails that was questionable going over a drainage swale. On either side of the road were fields of sugar cane.
Finding the beach
After about a mile we saw someone coming from the other direction. We hailed them down and asked if we were headed in the right direction to get to the beach. The gentleman driving told us in a very strong accent, “Just turn left at the Monkey Tree”. He must have seen the confused look on my face. He said “You’ll know it when you see it.”
So off we went, trying to go as fast as we could to see the sunset on a very bumpy road. It seemed like an hour (probably only a few minutes) of more bouncing around. As we turned a corner, there it was, the Monkey Tree! (on Google Maps it’s called the Monkeypod Tree)
We drove only a short distance from the Monkey Tree and suddenly the yellow jeep wrangler we were driving was on the beach itself.
We left it right there and walked to the ocean for the sunset. We were barely in time. However, we watched the sun go down from left to right, clouds moved in from right to left. No sun setting against the water for us that day.
It was still a beautiful and peaceful setting. The only other people on the beach were another couple, and they were almost a quarter mile away.
The surprise
When done, we backed off the beach and headed back. On the way back, we were forced to stop behind a truck in the middle of the road and a couple guys get out. We see a couple just standing on the side of the road, and initially we see no car.
Then out of the corner of our eye we see something moving.
It’s a convertible hovering in the ditch, precariously balanced on branches overhanging the ditch. According to the couple, they were in a hurry to see the sun set on the water and were going way too fast for the road. Their car hit one of the bumps in the road and went airborne.
I grabbed my camera to document what happened.
Really glad we rented a jeep and not a convertible like the other couple rented…
Final notes:
- We went back into the archives for these pictures. Way back. They were taken on a “state of the art” 1.6 megapixel camera. When compared to today’s cameras, we felt fortunate that the pictures came out as good as they did.
- The road from SR 50 to Polihale Park has definitely been modified and upgraded.