Kauai, Hawaii December 2004/January 2005

Thursday Jan 6: Ah, what a lovely birthday day! (No, I don't want to talk about how old I am.) We started out at Lawa'i Beach, a popular snorkel spot, next to the Beach House Restaurant (where I chose to go for birthday dinner tonight). Finally we hit a good snorkel spot - the water had cleared up enough to see and it was just FULL of fish. At left you see Mr. Penguin relaxing in his beach chair while John (sitting in the water) is getting on his fins.

I'm not a snorkeler but even I went in twice and used up most of a roll of underwater film! It was quite incredible and not very cold. If you look carefully below you should be able to find a Moorish idol on the top left, along with some striped Sergeant fish and something colorful that is probably a wrasse; on the right is a blue parrotfish. Below them, on the left is a Raccoon Butterflyfish who just wouldn't pose well and what I believe is an Ornate Wrasse to the right, and I think his friend in the shadows on the left is a Convict Tang (that pic taken by Katie to finish up my roll). Anyway, you get the idea of what fun can be had out swimming with the fishes!

       

           

One of the drawbacks of many of the swimming beaches is that there is no shade. So when you get real hot, you go into the water to cool off. But eventually you get "sunned out" and need a break. At that point we went back to the cottage for lunch and a short rest and then set off for a hike along the Makewehi Lithified Cliffs east of Shipwreck Beach. I was curious about the term "lithified" - the internet tells me "These unusual cliff formations were formed from sand dunes that have been weathered by wind and surf over the centuries." There were some pretty awesome sights. This was another one of those experiences where I just kept taking pictures and it just kept getting better! (Picture credit: Dave took the one of all of us at the right.) The small blue speck walking along the top of the cliff (below, left) is Gail!

     

      

I loved this picture John took of the ironwood (below left) and on the right is one of the many views I took looking east along the coast. Then there are the two dragonflies below that. Interestingly, John found the blue one and I found the pink one - do you suppose. . . .?

      

            

Okay, these are the last two I will subject you to on this hike. I think I used up two whole rolls of film plus probably about 100 digital pictures - each view was just a little different and seemed more stunning than the last. The bright greens of some of the plantlife, the red of the eastern cliff, the neat sand stone formations in the sides of the cliffs, interesting rocks, and always the blue, blue water and waves.

The Beach House Restaurant is well known in the area for excellent food and stupendous ocean views. It is popular enough that you need reservations well in advance. However, you can show up between 5 and 5:30 for a table in the "lounge" which is a terrace right by the ocean and poised precisely for taking advantage of sunsets - no reservations, first come, first served. And it was less than a mile from our cottage. So we cleaned up from our hike and got there about 5:15, in time to get a good table and ready for sunet about an hour later. Okay, it wasn't one of the very best sunsets we've seen, but it certainly beat the others we'd had so far in Hawaii! We shared some appetizers and had some drinks while watching the sun go down. Dave took a "birthday picture" of John and I. And, after a delightful meal, I broke all the diet rules and shared a "Hawaiian pyramid" (below right) with Katie: brownie crust, white chocolate mousse, chocolate fudge topping. Doesn't it look decadent? It was! Great day, lovely evening.

      

Friday January 7: Another perfect vacation weather day! We started out at Lawa'i Beach again and the snorkelers also went over to the rocky beach on the east side of the Beach House while I just enjoyed the sun and sand. I did go swim with the fish again for a little while - I didn't take a camera but in a fairly short time I saw a rainbow colored wrasse (which I think is the ornate wrasse), goatfish, unicorn fish, lots of orangeband surgeonfish, achilles tang and Hawaiian sergeants. At the right, Katie and Dave are taking a break from the water.

We followed the same pattern as yesterday. After our morning dose of sun, we had lunch at the cottage and then went off to hike - this time in Waimea Canyon. On the way up to the trailhead, we drove through many old sugarcane fields (left), stopped at the Waimea Canyon Lookout (one view at right), then, further up the road parked and hiked the Canyon Trail to the Upper and Lower Waipoo Falls and a short spur off to the Cliff Trail Viewpoint - about 3.5 miles altogether.

There's not a whole lot to say about the trail or the hike, but lots to see. The first part was down a jeep road but then we came to a place where the trails split off (you see Dave and Mr. Penguin considering the trail signs) and it became just a walking trail. Parts of it were through heavy vegetation, other parts along the edge of a cliff (see Katie and Gail below). I will just share various aspects of the afternoon through some of the pictures below! It was interesting that each time we were in the canyon, we saw a different perspective and different types of formations and vegetation.

     

         

Above are just some samples of the many kinds of flowers we saw along the way. Couldn't tell that from the overview of the canyon, could you? Those are some of the things that folks miss if they just stop at lookouts and don't get up close and personal with the area!

At the Upper Waipoo Falls (right) Katie and I decided it was snack time before we backtracked and went down to the Lower Falls. To the right below is the stream as it is heading over the Lower Falls.

      

To the left is the Waipoo Lower Falls where we climbed about for a while, and to the right another view of the canyon area. Awesome. After that hike, we decided we were close enough to go on up to the very end of Kokee Road to the Pu'u O Kila Lookout for the sunset. We had gorgeous views of the Na Pali Coast and Kalalau Valley (below left - the picture doesn't do it justice because it was dusk and so the vibrant colors of the greens and blues don't come through) and were treated to a gorgeous sunset (below right) for our last night on Kauai. But the part we hadn't considered was that, at 4280 feet elevation, when the sun goes down, it's COLD! We all had sweatshirts and jackets. . . back at the cottage! None of us had thought about bringing them on a warm afternoon so we were shivering and ready for the car's heater after the photo session. Lesson for life's little book. Next time. . . . We stopped at a pizza place on the highway in Waimea for a quick and casual supper and called it a good day!

      

Saturday January 8: Last day. Sigh. Katie and I started out shopping. We went up to the flea market at Spouting Horn to get some tiles I had seen before and not bought; then we went over to Poipu Shopping Center (which we had not visited but I think everyone else had). I got my souvenir t-shirt: a Kona coffee-dyed "Chicken Adoption Program" t-shirt: "Take home a dozen, we've got plenty moa!" (moa = red jungle fowl, the descendents of which woke us each morning.) Then I decided I wanted a little more beach time so I went off to Shipwreck Beach while the others went to snorkel at the rocky beach on Lawa'i Road again. Well, I had this idea in the back of my mind that I would try boogie boarding. The kids make it look so easy! Well, if I am ever going to master that, I need a "baby beach" to start at, not one with real waves. I did do some body surfing, however, and it was rather fun. After lunch we packed up and headed into Lihue; stopped at Border's one more time for a couple more Hawaiian CD's, then returned the rental car and started the lengthy airport process. Since the flight for our final leg home was cancelled, we ended up in Des Moines at around 3 PM Sunday in ice and fog, but Bekah and Gary (bless them again) came to get us and our luggage caught up with us the following night. You know, I didn't really need those shorts and swimsuits right away!

Katie, Dave and Gail stayed 4 more days after we left. The night we left, they had a bad storm, which the botanical garden a couple miles down the road reported as a tornado (they were closed several days following to clean up) - so they got to experience some of the stormy side of Hawaii, too! In their last few days Dave got in some golf, they hiked the Kalalau Trail as previously reported (picture left), they visited the lighthouse and Limahuli Gardens and did some hiking around Gillin's Beach.

My last two pictures below are what vacation is supposed to be like (left) and us wistfully looking forward to the next one (right, taken by Dave).