Lounging on Onetahuti Beach - January 5, 2010

I would mislead if I stated that we “awoke” the morning after the day of six-hour kayaking and three-hour hiking. Rather, we basically just interrupted the cycle of disturbed resting. The sun had risen and slightly warmed the air and we eagerly awaited the goal of relaxing on one of the beaches we frequently passed as we kayaked and hiked.

Breakfast on the beach:


So we departed our beloved campground:


But a little more hiking was in store before we could lounge on a beach. From our campsite, we hiked another two hours to the beach at Onetahuti.



The hike difficulty and vistas were similar to those experienced the day before.

The beach was welcomed and (somewhat) hard earned. We threw our bags on the sand, set our towels, and lounged. The sun was intense and I was sweating from the hike, so I figured I should cool myself off in the beautiful teal water. As I submerged myself I realized that the water temperature had overshot my attempt at cooling off and brought me right to freezing. I’ve been in cold waters before (Lake Champlain, the Atlantic out of season, etc.) and my inexact internal water thermometer would put that water at about 62 degrees. Such temperatures bring the swimming experience away from refreshingly cool to numbingly cold.

All was not lost. We still soaked up some intense sun for a solid three hours before our beach taxi arrived to return us back to the launching station in Marahau.




Once back in our car we packed up and made our way to the next stop in Havelock. The drive was a paltry 2 hours.

The hostel we booked turned out to be one of the nicer establishments we have stayed in so far. The town of Havelock is a small hamlet with not much going on beside the self-proclamation of being the green-shelled mussel capital of the world. I have yet to verify that. The hostel, however, feels like a converted hotel from the turn of the 19th century. It’s only slightly renovated and doesn’t appear to have required much anyway.