March 13, 2017: Queen's Bath

On our first day in Kauai, we hiked over to Queen's Bath, a natural pool of water that is filled by the ocean.  We had heard it was beautiful and that it gave you a shallow place to swim and snorkel.  We didn't anticipate the bath being filled with tumultuous waters though!  The ocean waves were huge this morning, so they were crashing over the top of the bath, filling it with great sloshing waters.  The bath waters would calm in between ocean swells, and then the waves would spill over the top of the bath again, sending the waters crashing into the rocky sides of the bath.  We watched the waves for a while, until it seemed like they had calmed down for a longer period of time.  Two different groups of people also decided the waters were calm enough, and they jumped into the bath.  We followed.  The water was warm and clear!  We had been swimming and exploring for a few minutes when all of a sudden there was a huge crash of water above us.  The ocean waves had swelled again and sent huge waves into the pool.  We were knocked around a little bit by the waves.  We all swam toward the sides of the pool and clung to the rocky sides.  At one point Jesse was almost pulled off the rock, but she grabbed onto my arm and I dragged her back to the side.  The water inside the bath was not deep, and there was no risk of us being swept into the ocean, but the waves were strong enough that I could see us being smashed into the rocks, losing consciousness, and drowning.  (I think 28 people have drown there before).  There was a woman swimming with us who was in her 80s, and she was hit by the waves and did a few somersaults in the water because of them.  After the water calmed down, I used my "oldest person in the group therefore I am kind of the mom card" and made everyone get out of the pool.  Nobody was dying on my watch.  Apparently my dad had texted Jesse right before she left for the trip, and he told her to have fun, and to make sure that she didn't let me boss her around the whole trip.  (thanks, dad).  I don't really think of myself as a bossy person, but I was owning it today!

I really love this picture though.  Joel is being a huge weirdo and Alanna is in her own world just loving the moment.