Our fourth day on Kauai we decided to take a trip to the north shore of Kauai to explore around since we hadn't gotten very far when we started to do so before. We had read in our little Kauai guidebook about a place called Queen's bath on the northshore that is basically a little inlet of the ocean, kind of an ocean "bathtub." So, we decided to stop there first. The first thing we noticed was that it was HUMID. And on the hike down, we were wearing flip flops but it was definitely NOT a flip flop kind of a journey. There was mud, there were rocks, there were tree branches. Not to mention a dozen signs warning us about the dangers of the ocean... Messy.
We get down there and have to hike about a mile on lava rocks to the actual Queen's bath. There were gorgeous views, however, along the way.
We saw a couple walking back from the Queen's Bath who warned us not to go in due to how violent the ocean was that day. Apparently a local kid had just jumped in and got out approximately 10 seconds later. They were right. We were totally mesmerized by the ocean because it was so erratic and violent. To be honest, I have never seen anything like it. It was surreal, and kinda scary, actually. A couple of days later, we were telling the concierges at our hotel about it. They were two local girls who we just clicked with so even if we didn't have any questions for them, we would just chat with them. We found out THEN that just a week prior to our visit, FIVE tourists had been killed at this spot. YIIIIIKES. And they weren't even in the water apparently. They were standing right where I was in the above picture and a wave swept up and dragged them into the ocean. I guess that in the winter months (October-April) all of the locals know to just absolutely avoid the north shore ocean at all costs because it does get so violent in the winter. We were very lucky but now we most definitely know...
Tim running away from the water after the ocean appeared a little bit too violent for comfort...
Watching the fury of the water...
During a break from a set of waves... I imagine that this is what Queen's bath looks like when it is calm out. It probably would be a nice spot if that were the case.
And here comes another set of waves... Seriously, the pictures don't even do it justice. I have never seen anything like it.
And here is Queen's Bath a few seconds later... can't even tell where it was. Insane. And the suction that pulled the water out of here just a few seconds after this explains why this place is such a dangerous place to go during the winter months (of course, we didn't know at the time... we DID most definitely know not to get into the water!) And once the waves started coming a little too close for comfort, we definitely got the hell out of there!
Trying to photograph the suction as the ocean receded.
Here is the ocean before a wave breaks (just down the coast from Queen's Bath).
And, I didn't get a shot of the wave, but this was just after a series of three...
Walking away from the mad ocean... I don't think that that raft or beach towels would have done us much good that day!
Looking down at the ocean from the hike on the way back up.
Pretty waterfall on the hike.
And a distant shot of the waterfall. It was so green because it was so freaking humid!
After the Queen's Bath madness, we drove down the road a bit to Princeville. The big Princeville resort was closed... we had wanted to walk around there and check it out but we couldn't. So, we kept going down the road and got to Hanalei town. What a cute little town! We ate at a little hole in the wall restaurant called Hanalei Gourmet. It was really great! Of course, while we were sitting there, it absolutely starting POURING down rain. Then the sun came out about 30 minutes later. Good time to stop and eat, I guess. Of course, the rain made it that much more humid. I guess that's why the northshore is so amazingly lush. We continued down the road. It ends at the very northern most point of the Napali coast. The hike we wanted to do starts here but it was about 3pm and we were looking at a 5-6 mile, challenging hike so we decided to come back another day for that. Instead we stopped at a couple of caves on the way. Not such a big fan. Caves kinda creep me out. 
All of the little sticks hanging off of the cave. I'm sure there is a technical name but I'm not a cave fanatic so I don't know it.
Me standing outside of the cave... a little bit leery about venturing into the dark...
Tim very FAR into the cave. Yikes!
And a view from the inside looking out.
Just outside of the caves was a beautiful beach. It's funny but the most vivid memory I have of this beach is debating with Tim whether some girls' boobs were fake or not. It was a beautiful beach but of course, we were still on the northshore so couldn't go into the water.
Beautiful hillside view just above the beach.
And there are chickens here too... imagine that!After our beach stop, we decided we had enough sight seeing for the day and were ready to make the couple hour drive back to the more sunny south shore where we could go into the ocean if we wanted. We grabbed some dinner that night and then hung out at the resort. Kauai was definitely the island for ultimate relaxation.
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