Beach Day

Sunday, April 17, Jean had to go to classes in the morning.  I did a little research for our vacation while she was working.  When Jean was finished with her classes, Jean and I drove along the southern part of Kauai.

I wanted to see Glass Beach, plus we were on an errand for finding natural sea salt for one of my co-workers.  Our first stop was at Glass Beach.  It's located in a more industrialized part of the island.  The reason it's known as a glass beach is because decades ago, used glass was dumped into the ocean in this location.  Over the years the ocean tides wore the glass down so that it is smooth.  While I was there, I saw a little crab coming out of a hole in the sand.  I'm told I saw a pallid ghost crab.  On the island of Oahu these little guys are pale in color, but this one matched the glass on the beach.

Glass Beach

Waves crash at Glass Beach

A pallid ghost crab at Glass Beach

After enjoying some of the afternoon there, Jean and I tried to find some sea salt.  The funny part about the sea salt was that I didn't realize how common it was, and that I could buy Hawaiian sea salt in grocery stores--even Walmart!  I ended up going to several touristy kinds of places and not finding it.  I did eventually go to a grocery store where I found it in plain sight.

On researching sea salt from Hawaii I found out some interesting facts.  There is still one place in Hawaii where sea salt is harvested annually in the traditional manner: Salt Pond Beach Park.  Here's the kicker--it's illegal to sell the sea salt that comes from there because the Hawaiians consider the salt to be sacred.  It can be given away, but you have to come in July in order to get it.  Of course we were there at the wrong time of year.  I found this guy's blog to be really informative on Hawaii's sea salt.  Anyway, here's a photo of what the salt ponds look like in April:

Honestly, it looks pretty marshy, except it's more of a salt water marsh at this time of year.  Salt Pond Beach Park is a local favorite location among the Kauaians.  I didn't see any tourists there--just locals.

We went to bed early that night since we had big plans for early the next morning!