Queen's Bath

About a ten minute drive and a short hike from our house is Queen's Bath.

The hike down was relatively easy and scenic. Nice little waterfall.

Queen's Bath is a large pool the size of several swimming pools carved by nature into a lava shelf with an inlet from the ocean for fresh seawater to flow.


Now I'd read if the surf is too high you wouldn't even recognize it because the rough water would just cover it over.


So naturally, with the surf being as high as it was when first arriving I thought this was it.

Looked like an inlet to me and the surf was high enough I thought. So no way was I swimming in that!

We walked down a little further and saw this - well, maybe this is it?

Still not swimming.

Even further down we found this spot. I sat down and watched this for what had to be a half an hour. It was beautiful - huge waves!

Then we noticed those people standing off the the left. What were they all looking at?

Queen's Bath.

It's much bigger than it looks in the pictures. The water was calm - until a huge wave would crash into the pool. This scared me tremendously - I'd read stories of people swimming in the pool and being swept out to sea with a big wave. But we didn't come all this way to wimp out now! So I put on my bravest face and said heck yea I'll jump in that treacherous lava pool. So we did.... and it was freaking freezing!!! I'd say it was about 60 or 65 degrees. Only one or two waves made it into the pool so I didn't have a panic attack and drown or anything.

I've done so many things this trip that have freaked me out and normally would not do - something about this place has made me brave. And I love it.