Queen’s Bath is a bit of ocean front in Princeville where the waves have carved bowls out of the old lava. During high tide the water fills those bowls and during low tide those bowls of water are pools for swimmers – human and non-human. Because we could walk to the path down to Queen’s Bath, that was the first place we visited on Kauai.
Since we are from Colorado where it is perfectly natural for things not to grow, we still can’t get over the lavish greenery and squandered beauty of blooming flowers everywhere. It was a visual feast and we gorged ourselves!
The path was wet from the most recent rain, and quite slippery. Sometimes Dee had to hold my hand so I wouldn’t be scared. Another thing that kept surprising drylanders like us was the amount of water that was being thrown away; in Colorado, we would sue!
At the base of the path – or may-be the beginning of the shoreline – there is a sobering sign cautioning visitors that we could actually die. We read the sign, thought about it, and went toward the water anyway, because we are responsible adults. We were glad we did.
We saw sea turtles. They were probably doing serious things like trying to eat enough to survive in an area where their natural predators were less concentrated, but from where I stood, they were just cool to watch.
There were some small swimmers and fliers in little pools. There were some adventurous human folks in the biggest bath. A couple canoes with outriggers went by making me think that would be fun, but as I watched, I realized that they had the energy and stamina of much younger people. Shoot! They were much younger people. I decided that watching the various activities was excitement enough.
