A Day at Airport Beach

Airport Beach is the nearest public, swim-able beach, to our house at Freddies Beach. The only way to get to Airport Beach is either by boat or by hiking in.

Last Saturday, we packed a lunch and lots of water and hiked out to spend the day.

There is a “trail” that takes you to the beach.

Sometimes the trail is broad and an easy walk.

Sometimes the trail is barely visible through overgrown, tropical vegetation.

Sometimes the trail completely disappears, sending you to walk across the lava cliffs, with ocean water spraying, to keep you cool.

The trail also disappears alongside the airport fence, leaving you to navigate your way around and over stray bits of rusted barbed wire.

 

There is one spot where the water spray reaches all the way to the fence and it makes the whole area slippery. Don’t walk across the cement. Even if it seems more dangerous, Holden can tell you that walking over the slippery rocks is a better option than the slippery cement.

Its only about a mile, as the crow flies, from Freddies Beach to Airport Beach. Between the rough terrain and distracting blow holes, it took us about an hour to get to the beach. Instead of rushing the kids along and having everyone frustrated and upset, we chose to take our time, and explore along the way.

Once we got to AB, we immediately saw that the hour-long hike was worth it! We lathered everyone up with sunscreen and set out to enjoy the sand and surf.

Nate and Holden went snorkeling while I stayed close shore with Kip and Hadley. Then Hadley and I swam out to the reef to play in the waves while Nate stayed with the boys.

There were shallow, tide pools with warmer water, that were perfect for Kip to sit and play with a little wheel that he found along the way and chase small fish.

Holden loved climbing on the black, lava rock jutting out of the water, with waves crashing on them and finding sea cucumbers.

Hadley spent her time playing on the sand or swimming out to play chicken with the waves.

We all but had the beach to ourselves. Our own private paradise. We saw only one other person, a Samoan guy spear fishing to catch Sunday dinner. He left with over a dozen good-sized fish.

Just before leaving, I spotted what we thought was an eel, to find out later that it was probably a sea snake. It wasn’t aggressive and the kids had a good time watching it. Holden asked if he could hold it but not knowing anything about it, we thought we should leave it be.

 

Late in the afternoon, we packed up our things and headed back home. Nate and the two older kids made it home faster. Kip and I took our time, taking pictures, almost getting lost down unmarked trails and playing at the blow holes.

We got home tired and happy from a long, perfect day at the beach!