Final Day Taken in Island Time

So sad, our final day in Hawaii. Starting out, we knew it would be a bit of a slow day as our check-out from the hotel was at 10 am but our flight in the evening wouldn’t leave until 10 pm. We’d planned a few easy things to do along the way, that were low stress – but in retrospect we may not have planned enough.

To start out, we’d set alarms for the first time all week – the least “Island Time” thing we’d done in a while. For reference, “Island Time” has been a running joke for us all vacation, as it is something, I am chronically bad at. Even our snorkel guides back in Maui made fun of me about it. Simply put, its taking a deep breath and not worrying about everything needed to be done “on time” and more so – time spent not doing anything is also fine. Anyway, we set alarms to make sure we got our room fully packed and were out in appropriate time. Packing was … unexciting ... as you’d expect but considering what kitchen remnants, we wanted to try to keep was a unique task. That said, we did enjoy some Nenes trying to come into our room.

We ate one final time at the hotel, same as yesterday – a buffet and a chorizador. This led to a bit of drama as we’d only done this because our paperwork told us we’d receive the buffet for free, but when we got the bill, they said that was not the case. When I was able to provide the paperwork, we got credit for the meal, so it wasn’t so bad.

After we ate we headed out from the hotel and to our first stop of the day: Kaua’i MiniatureGolf and Botanical Gardens. This stop was a lot of fun! Initially we thought the golf and the gardens would be two separate things (this would have been better for consuming time) but instead the mini-golf was played through the garden. At the beginning of each hole was a sign providing some information or history about the local plants. The information ranged from how they arrived on the island to what cultural impacts were brought with them. Every plant and tree was labeled and we got many answers we’d had all trip. We learned that a kind of apple tree we’d wondered about was a Mountain Apple Tree, and another mystery fruit tree we’d seen while grilling was a kind of mango. We learned that Black Bamboo was a thing and we learned about Canoe-Plants (27 essentials brought in canoes to sustain on the journey and recreate on the land). Throughout all this, I thought the miniature golf was a lot of fun and we had a quite competitive game, ending with scores of 55 and 52.

After golf we headed just a few miles away to the Kilauea Lighthouse. This is a location on the northeastern coast that shows up in many photos and many attraction lists for the island. Unfortunately, I was not feeling great at this point in the day – unsure why – but guessing lack of sleep. We pulled over just outside the entrance which provided a lookout point over the lighthouse. It was a beautiful vantage point and appeared to be a pristine lighthouse in a perfect spot. However, combined with how I felt at the time, we opted to not pay to drive in and explore the very crowded venue more closely. It was still worth the stop though, as it was barely out of the way at all.

This brings us to our second major stop of the day. Further down the eastern coast we visit the Koloa Distillery. This stop was amazing! At first, I took a nap in the car and Archer did some reading, as we still had an abundance of time. Then we headed in. We put our names on the tasting list and explored the shop side of things. Before too long we were invited in and in order, given 5 samples. First came the Dark Rum. I love dark rum and this one was worth having. It is Koloa’s first mass produces spirit and a major award winner. Our second tasting was the Spiced Rum. Also, delicious. The third was their Coconut Rum, which tasted very much like coconuts, more than usual, so if you’re not a fan of that flavor this one may not be for you. The fourth sample was a coffee-rum, which was made together with the local company Kaua’i Coffee’s beans. The rum tasted of coffee, chocolate, and vanilla and would be a dangerous thing to own. Finally we tried the passionfruit-rum blend. This is a much lighter drink, only about 10%, and frankly tasted like juice. Very good juice but not one you should have a full glass of. Anyway, it was all amazing and we are excited to share that they can be purchased in many places in the continental US, and we recommend them if you get the chance.

After the tasting we wandered the complex we were in, which was home to a variety of other stores. The only shop we stopped in though was the ceramics store. They had some gorgeous pieces, including some bowls that were stunningly light-weight. I personally enjoyed this stop because the counter had a super friendly cat on it and we became fast friends. Then, before long we got back on the road. Unfortunately, we still had lots of time and nowhere left to go. We headed to “a park” to eat our lunch. This setting was not the best, as it was not a very nice park, but we ate our leftover nachos in the sun all the same. Then, not wanting to linger, we headed to the airport for lack of a better idea. Through the airport we found another “park” which was really just a parking lot on the coast with a great view. We sat their a bit, ate the fruit from our lunch, and debated what to do with our remaining six hours.

We looked up parks, museums, zoos, aquariums, breweries, distilleries, malls, etc. Unfortunately, we failed to find something that was both open and interesting. Embarrassingly, and for lack of a better local option, we found a movie theater and went to watch the Lion King. The movie ended a bit after 6 so we made our way to the airport again. Here, things were uneventful, and we were truly now on our last legs home.

Finally, the flights home were a disaster. We took of from Kaua'i at 10pm, landed in Phoenix and then took a second flight to Dallas. When we landed in Dallas we'd learned that our next flight was cancelled. We waited for 2 hours in a line to re-book on a flight that we'd apparently already been put on, and yet it still took about 20 minutes to get our tickets. The woman there then made us repeat that we should make our way to Gate D2 (we were currently at A22) and Gates D1-D20 were the literal furthest possible tram stop. So we headed out, and the closer we got to Gate D2 the more we were convinced these were all international flights, and the gates seemed to not ever reach D2... I don't know what to say about this. Anyway, we then checked at a desk and had to return to gate A36, which is what was on the tickets originally, so why were we sent to D2 I wonder. When we got back the gate was moved again to D26, so we were back, basically where we started. To relax we headed to a California Pizza Kitchen for pizza and beer. Finally, this flight took us to Charlotte, and then we had "a quick layover" to get back to Baltimore. We rushed to our gate, only to find this flight delayed. In a nutshell, the flight that was supposed to take off at 11pm didn't leave until close to 2am, so we finally arrived back in Baltimore around 5:30 in the morning. This made it so we few two different red-eye flights in under 24 hours, which is not a common thing. 

I wasn't originally going to write about the airplane travel, but it just felt like a comedy of errors that is maybe worth a smile. 

From Rocky Start to Sandy Beach

Another day – another morning – another breakfast. After some change with schedules and plans over the weekend it seemed time to return to the hotel breakfast for simplicity. I once more had the buffet and Archer the Chorizador (it is simply their best item). After breakfast we made lunches for the day, prepped bags for beaching and snorkeling, and spent some time tidying so that we’d have slightly less packing work to do soon.

If that intro did not give away our plans for the day, we’d hoped to take things mostly easy – visit some sandy beaches, snorkel with the fishes, and lounge around in the sun with our books and sandwiches. There were two beaches we were considering; Wyllie’s Beach, which is walkable from our hotel, and Anini Beach, which required a drive but was one of the recommended locations for snorkeling.

We decided to begin with Wyllie’s Beach as it was local, and it seemed like if it was a good beach it’d be the easiest option. While the walk was short, only a few hundred feet, we did not realize just how large a descent we had to make. The path was incredibly steep, wet, and covered in leaves and mud making it quite slippery. When we finally arrived at the beach, at first glance there was little sand, or even a sunny spot to place our stuff. That issue was easily resolved however, as we simply had to step out from the low hanging tree, but the sand was still not particularly soft. But we were here and thought we’d give it an honest try. We put on our snorkels and headed out into the water. Unfortunately, this was just as disappointing as the sand. The water was a bit murky and the fish were sparse. We felt fortunate to see a few scattered Humuhumunkunkuapua’a and maybe a handful of other fish, but nothing that inspired us to continue swimming here. Frustrated, we headed back to the beach and decided to make our way to Anini Beach instead.

After the climb back up the hill we got in our car and headed east along the coast towards Anini. Like so many drives on this island, appearances on a map can be deceiving. We had to drive significantly past Anini Beach, before turning closer to the coast and doubling back. Then, by the time we’d arrived, the sky opened into some of the hardest rain we’d experienced since our arrival in Hawaii. We felt lucky when after a few minutes of debating our options, the clouds parted and made way for what then remained to be a gorgeous afternoon.

Anini Beach was more of what we’d hoped for. The sand was smooth and warm, with just enough room so we never felt threatened by the lapping waves. We set up a spot for our stuff, snorkel-suited up, and plunged back into the ocean. Compared to Wyllie’s Beach the differences were night and day. The coral here was alive and abundant (relatively) and there were frequent ridges and ravines formed by volcanic rock. We found we could swim VERY far out from the shore and it remained shallow enough to barely stand, and we found the underwater terrain constant regardless of the direction we moved. We spent the next hour or so zigging and zagging around the shallows, sometimes diving, sometimes flailing to get the others attention to share finds. We saw many things we’d previously seen in our snorkeling: Picasso Triggerfish, Humuhumunukunukuapua’a, a variety of small yellow fish and other small black fish. Some medium highlights from this outing included a school of fish that looked black from the front, but their scales reflected white from the back, an Angelfish, a very long Trumpet Fish, some sea cucumbers, and a handful of black or purple urchins. The most exciting finds though were a flounder, shuffling its way along the seabed trying to hide, and a huge puffer fish (I think either a "Longspine" or a "Giant"), tucked away under a rocky ledge. It was way larger than I thought it would be!

At some point our facemasks began to hurt, so we swam to shore, and after simply sitting in the waves for a bit we got out and dried off. We ate our lunch of sandwiches – steak, cheese, chipotle mayo, etc – and re-sunscreened. We each grabbed a book and lay out in the sun for good duration.

Unsurprisingly if you know us, I was ready to head in from the beach before Archer, and I am grateful that she was on board when I was ready. Being mid-afternoon we headed back to the hotel. Still in the mood to relax in the sun, we headed out to the pools. A quick rinse was refreshing to remove the sandy grit and the sticky salt, but then came another stretch of laying in the sun reading. After another dip in the pools I headed inside to do a bit more cleaning and Archer soon joined me. After we’d both showered we decided to head out for dinner to celebrate our time on Kaua’i. We drove into Hanalei, looking for something nice – but easy. After parking, we realized that we were right next to where we’d rented our snorkel gear and it was in the trunk – thus saving us a trip in the morning.

We ate across the street at Kalypso, which was the recommended location from the cashier we’d just met with. The restaurant was a classic tavern-type setting. I had their house Mai-Tai and Archer had a Gin-Passionfruit-Lemonade type thing. For dinner we decided to share an order of their Poke Bowl and Macho Nachos with Kalua Pork. The Poke Bowl was good – nothing too exciting – but exactly what we’d hoped it would be. Meanwhile the nachos too were exactly what we’d expected, and far more than we needed. These nachos were above average, I would say, and I commend them for having a great ratio of “stuff” to chips. So many nachos end with just a pile of plain chips but not these. We had leftovers – which was not a surprise at all, and we boxed it up for lunch on the road tomorrow.

For the first time this trip, we drove home in the true dark and called it a night, one last time.

A Great Hike and Stunning Views

Today was our final day with grand adventures planned. But, as any big day (or little day for that matter) should, we began with breakfast. Here at the hotel, Sunday breakfast is a much larger brunch ordeal, that we were not particularly interested in spending the time at to make it worthwhile. So, instead we used the breakfast credit we had at the local “market.” We got a breakfast wrap, a cinnamon roll, and a coffee to share, and supplemented with some bananas we’d earlier purchased. We were pleasantly surprised with how perfect that amount of food seemed to be and we were excited to get on the road. We packed our bags, made sandwiches, and hit the road.

The road traveled is hardly worth describing again. We once more traveled west, through the town of Hanalei, along the narrow winding coastal road until we once more reached Haena Beach. But, unlike our previous ventures to this location, we continued the road another few miles passed until we reached the official entrance to the Haena State Park. For the record for future visitors, you do need a permit to enter and park. We had read online that it was only necessary if you were planning to do anything overnight. That apparently was not the official website. But, we were fortunate in that the attendant kindly let us in anyway but made sure we knew the truth of the situation. Grateful, we parked the car, grabbed our boots and backpack and headed out.

The beginning of the trail was simple. It was a boardwalk through a Taro field and 

then passed the edge of Ke’e Beach. None of this was officially the trail, but rather got us to the head of the Kalalau Trail. The trail was awesome, and in truth I’m not sure the best way to organize my reflections of the hike without being redundant yet still being descriptive. I will attempt to discuss the weather, the terrain, the views, and the wildlife in different paragraphs. This is because each of these things changed so often and so unexpectedly that describing the hike chronologically seems impossible. Here are some overview facts though. The Kalalau Trail is a 2-mile hike to Hanakapi’ai Beach along the coast. From there one has three options. Return to the car, hike another 2 miles inland along a stream to the Hanakapi’ai Falls, or continue another 9 miles to the Kalalau Beach and camp overnight. Our goal was to do the 8-mile round trip to the Hanakapi’ai Falls.

The weather on this hike was a combination of gorgeous, unpredictable, varied, and more. Since we woke up, we could see blue skies overhead, but as we looked towards the mountains, we hoped to hike along we could see as low, ominous clouds of impending rain. In fact, we even drove in and out of rain twice on our way to the hike. But when we set out from the car it was sunny and warm. The path was dry and the views out to sea and along the coast were crystal clear. But then, in a foolish attempt to appreciate our good fortune I expressed gratitude for the clear weather – a cardinal sin of any hiker… Within a minute the clouds came, and 

the sky opened, and Archer did not hesitate to remind me of my fault (which I do not deny). Fortunately, the storm was short and seemed to dissipate in another 10-20 minutes. This exchange of clear skies and rain clouds cycled through our hike all day, though was more common on our hike in, as opposed to our way out. The rain was never so hard as to feel oppressive, and it was sometimes even a refreshing mist. Meanwhile the sun was hot, but dried us off when we needed, and when we were dry there was a nice cooling breeze. After the fact, the weather was wonderful to us, and we greatly enjoyed the experience of feeling like we were constantly hiking around the border of a storm.

Next the terrain. It is rare that I’ve done a hike with so much variance. For the entirety of our hike we were going up, and down. The coastal trail was never flat and brought us down nearly towards the beaches and carried us high up onto cliffs and ridges. At times we were hiking along paths of smooth, beaten stones, while at other times we were on soft dirt and pine needles. Some ridge trails were limited to hard clay with log terraces. The largest path challenges were the 3 stream crossings. On none of them was there a clear way to cross and stay dry, so on the largest we were forced to wade through while carrying our boots.

While the terrain of the trail changed often, so did the views and the scenery. Our hike passed through different groves of trees. The beginning was a thin but full evergreen forest while later we were passing through bamboo clusters. The palm trees and plants were plentiful always, sometimes the only trees around, and other times interspersed among the more numerous trees. Sometimes we could look out along the coast and see the crashing waves below us and the steep mountains rising quickly to their jagged tops. The water directly below us was the most stunning teal green and we could often see the coral reefs, resting just below the surface by the beaches. The sights and the sounds of the wind and the crashing ocean were constantly refreshing.

Wildlife makes for a short paragraph (though now when rereading I realize it is longer than many) because we didn’t see that many animals, but still some fun ones. We could hear birds all along the hike but didn’t see many and were not keen enough to identify them. Interestingly, while chickens were plentiful in the parking lot – as they are everywhere on this island – there were none to be seen along the hike. Other than that, we saw only one animal worth discussing on the way in. We encountered one Scolopendra Subspinipes (a species of giant centipede). It was super creepy! The thing wound its way through the grass on the edge of the trail and I estimated it to be about 8 inches long. I was a bit slow to get my camera out, so sadly lack a personal picture, but I’m glad to have encountered it in the day with good visibility. On the return hike, we spotted 2 small lizards. While tiny local lizards 

have been a part of our trip everywhere we’ve gone, we think the rain may have put them in hiding earlier. What was notable about these two lizards was that they were a bit larger and significantly greener than the majority that we’ve seen on these islands. And finally, at lunch we were eating on a rocky ridge overlooking the beach the Hanakapi’ai Beach and we saw our third Hawaiian Monk Seal of the trip! We got to see it do the classic “land wiggle” and roll around basking in the sun. Unfortunately, it was too far away to get a good photo, but seeing it was still clear. (It is the small grey bump in this picture, and we were able to get a better view in person, but not with our cameras/phones.)

Overall the hike was a great success, though not in every way. We had 3 two-hour intervals. The first was the hike in to Hanakapi’ai Beach, the second was upriver 

towards the falls and then out, and the third was a return to the car. We were impressed at the consistency in our timing, as when I say two-hour intervals, that is accurate to within a minute! Unfortunately, we never made it to the actual falls. As we’d set out inland from the beach we were already worried about time, and at the second river crossing we decided that continuing would put us in the position of risking hiking out in the dark. In addition, we were not prepared with the gear to handle any serious injuries. It was a bummer to turn around, but we believe it was the correct choice and still view the hike as a success. If you set out to do this hike, leave early, bring appropriate footwear (a change of socks at a minimum), lots of water, and probably a first aid kit. We hope to one day be back and try again.

The rest of the day was quick. We had to stop by the grocery store on the way home 

to buy just a bit more food to round out our remaining meals. On the way we stopped at the Hanalei Valley Lookout and finally took in the view we’d driven passed a dozen timed. The view looked out towards the mountains, across vast Taro fields, and along the river that we had kayaked just the other day.

We finished the drive home and sought a brief rest in the hot tub to rest our muscles. We enjoyed a conversation with a native Kaua’i-ian and then returned to our room to 

prep dinner. Shocking! It was taco night again. This time was a little different though as we were prioritizing finishing the food we had. I grilled a small steak we’d picked up to supplement tomorrow’s lunches as well as match the “breakfast” tacos we were cooking. Scrambled eggs with onions, grilled peppers and onions, refried beans, grilled steak and pineapple, green onions, local avocados, and chipotle mayo. They were outstanding! We enjoyed thinking that our two best taco nights were our first and our last – really bookending out cooked dinners. It was a great end to a great day, and we were excited to collapse in bed and watch some TV.

Finally... here's a silly thing that was really just for fun...

Creatures by Kayak

Today was our first day not eating at the hotel breakfast, in large part because we thought it would be nice to have our room cleaned at least once during our week-long stay. Instead, we continued our frequent tacos meal plan. This time we had breakfast tacos – black beans, scrambled eggs, onions, avocado, cheese, tomato, cilantro, chipotle mayo, etc. As has been the theme for our tacos this week, they were delicious.

After breakfast we got ourselves ready to head out for the day. Fortunately, today included little driving, as both of our activities took place in the nearby town of Hanalei. Our first stop was at the Hanalei Neighborhood Center where the local Farmer’s Market went from 9:30 to noon. It was quite the bustling place! Parking was a bit difficult, so we found a side street and walked a few blocks to arrive. Vendors ranged from vegetable and fruit stands, to clothing and jewelry, to flavored waters and kombucha. While we walked around the entire venue, enjoying some live music being played, we focused primarily on the fruit stands. Most vendors offered samples of their pineapples, and we enjoyed those samples greatly. We’d hoped to find a soursop sample but weren’t successful and we were more excited by other fruits than to try this one again. We purchased another pineapple, a mango, and two beautiful avocados. Content with this to supplement the food we still had, we bid farewell to the market and headed back into the center of town.

Our main objective for the day was to do some kayaking. We headed to Kayak Hanalei for a rental. Here we were able to rent a tandem boat, along with life jackets and paddles, for the day. The river entry was immediately on their property and they had two main routes for paddling (wait for it…); up and down stream! Up stream headed to a wildlife reserve and downstream would bring us to the ocean. With hopes of doing both, with a break back at the shop for lunch, we headed out.

Our first route was upstream. The wind wasn’t that strong, but the current was noticeable. I’ll get this out of the way now, we struggled keeping the boat straight, but did better and moved faster than many other people we saw. Heading upriver was a lovely venture. The riverbanks were sometimes steep drop-offs from the road, we suspect a result of the recent flooding. Otherwise, they were lush with plant-life and constantly draping limbs into the water. The most common plants were dense thickets of Yellow Nasturtiums, Hawaii’s state flower. They were in full bloom, a lush green with bright yellow flowers protruding from the leaves. Countless flowers had fallen into the water, which were fun to see as they floated by and resulted in the occasional buildup of yellow flowers as the got caught in nooks fallen logs.

As we made it further upstream, we passed under the bridge that connected Princeville to Hanalei and into the wildlife preserve. This we were able to take for another mile or so before it got too shallow to continue. Continuing with general themes, as opposed to specific highlights, it was interesting to see various “unofficial” buoys in the water periodically as we paddled. For a while we’d speculated about what these were, but near the end of our first leg we saw a trap beneath the water, we suspect collecting crayfish of some sort. The route upstream continued to get narrower and more lush, the nasturtiums continued but also bamboo groves and trees that seemed like mangroves filled the bank. It was beautiful.

Along the way, and later as we went downstream, we had the expected joy of experiencing some Hawaiian rain. We hit brief patches of significant rain. This was super interesting as we could clearly see specific clouds that were raining, and we could see blue sky surrounding them. The rain came and went, many times, but overall was light. By contrast, as we continued to look towards the mountains, the clouds were dense and heavy, and we suspect the rain much more intense.

After the turnaround we returned to the Kayak Hanalei docks. The paddle down was easier, going with the current, but the scenery was much the same. Along the way (both upstream and down) we had a few animal highlights. Along with numerous fishes, we saw many Nene both flying and walking around. In one Nasturtium grove we saw perhaps a dozen Cattle Egrets, pure white against the lush green of the plants. The best though, were two turtles! Unlike our sightings in the past, these two were freshwater turtles and were small. Upon later research, I believe these were Red-Eared Sliders. One we saw was basking on a log in the center of the river while the other was more secluded on the side. Unfortunately, while they were wonderful to see, they are one of many invasive species on Hawaii.

Our stop for lunch was quick, eating sandwiches and then we got back in a boat and headed downstream towards the ocean. We found that we were either much faster on this route than expected or the maps we were shown were misleading. It felt like it was just a few bends and we’d arrived at the ocean, specifically Hanalei Bay. We beached the kayak and headed out into the waves. This location was super interesting and fun! The waves from the ocean came crashing in while the waves from the river were flowing out. The two moved against each other and made for a wonderfully dynamic set of constantly breaking waves in a variety of directions. The beach was uniformly shallow, just a few feet, for at least 100 yards, and the sand at the bottom was rippled, while most beaches (in my experience) have smooth bottoms. We lounged and bounced in the wave, watching surf lessons being taught for quite a while. But, after maybe 30-40 minutes we got back in our boat and returned to Kayak Hanalei one final time.

With our arms a bit sore, we headed back to the hotel. We put away our gear from the day and the food we’d purchased earlier, got changed, and headed to the pools. We tried out some of a new “reef-safe” sunscreen, and unfortunately, we did not like it one bit. It was a bit like trying to apply glue to your skin… That is not to say all reef-safe sunscreen is bad, but this brand was not our favorite. We each picked up a happy-hour cocktail and headed to the infinity pool and hot tub. On the way there, the skies opened again, and we got to enjoy being submerged in the water, while the sky lightly rained on us. This was how the remainder of our afternoon was spent, moving between the different pools and relaxing as the gentle rains came and went.

Dinner was another round of tacos, and for the first time on this island, we ate inside, deciding we’d had enough of the rain for one day.

Snorkels and Sea-Life

Breakfast has become pretty much routine at this point. I continued to enjoy the breakfast buffet – courtesy of passing up on room cleanings – while Archer explored the menu further. Today she had a Kalua Pork Eggs Benedict. At first, this seemed like the best dish so far. It tasted great and the serving size seemed perfect. Unfortunately, the longer she ate the more the flavors seemed to disappear into each other. By the end of the meal, the verdict was that yesterday’s Chorizador was still the best.

Immediately following breakfast was an interlude of disappointment. We swung passed the concierge desk and grabbed some pamphlets for local kayaking excursions. The brochures didn’t offer quite what we’d been looking for, but we knew there was a group locally in Hanalei that looked promising. They offered exactly what we wanted – mostly river kayaking but with some time in more open water. This group additionally offered some snorkeling time and lunch. Unfortunately, we’d missed the timing to do this today, and when we called to make a reservation, they were booked through the rest of our trip. This led to a bit of feeling defeated, but soon we decided it would be a good day to head out and do some of the snorkeling we’d been excited about.

When we rented our snorkel gear, we were also given recommendations for which local beaches offered the best options. As it turns out, two of the four were parts of the beach we’d randomly driven to a few days back which I called Haena Beach. The particular part we were looking for was called Tunnels Beach. Already familiar with the drive, we headed out along the coast to have our swim. Along the way, we drove through Hanalei and were excited to see some additional kayak rental options. A tandem kayak for the day was entirely reasonable, so that outing might still be in our future. We then continued down the road, as we’d done previously – across narrow one-lane bridges, along steep but short rock cliffs, all watching the tides crash against the shore. Still a lovely drive, about 30 minutes.

We looked for a little while for earlier parking options than the tiny lot at the entrance to Haena Beaches. Unfortunately, we could not find any, but a few fully packed side streets. So, we looped into the tiny parking lot and frankly waited until another car left. Despite the lot being small and very popular, the car turnover seems to move quickly, so our wait was not too frustratingly long. We grabbed a spot, grabbed our gear and headed out onto the beach. The entrance to the beach was in a cove, and we set out along the eastern side towards the point (we initially thought Tunnels was on the other side of it). After a bit of walking along the beach we decided we’d take a break and see what there was to see in the water.

The underwater area here was mostly shallow sand and volcanic rock. Swimming out was easy, as the waves were gentle, and the tide wasn’t strong. While I wouldn’t say the fish were “abundant,” they were certainly not rare. Many that we saw I do not hope to identify, but after looking them up later, here are some that I am certain that we saw: Humuhumunukunukapua’a, RaccoonButterflyfish, Saddleback Wrasse, Trumpetfish, Picasso Trigerfish, Unicornfish, and others I’m certain. For fish on this swim, the Humuhumunukunukuapua’a was for me the most exciting. Knowing it is the state fish, and the name of a restaurant where we ate, it was exciting to see them. But, most excitingly for this swim was on our return to the beach as we swam upon another Hawaiian GreenSea Turtle! This one was alone, diving for food among the volcanic rock. There was one spot is especially liked, which led to it being frequently vertical, with its head in the rocks and tail just breaking the surface. The pose was a bit silly and reminiscent of foxes hunting in the snow. We enjoyed watching the turtle for quite some time before heading back to the beach.

On the beach, we collected our things and continued up the coast. It wasn’t long before an unexpected highlight came into view. Just ahead was (as with our first sea turtle sighting) a rock on the beach… or was it. We didn’t consider it could be anything else until we were nearly upon it and realized that it was a Hawaiian Monk Seal, another local yet endangered animal. It was quite large, we assume full grown, just lounging on the sand. Every so often it would roll over to bake a different part of its body in the sand and 

sun. We once watched it spin around so its face would be clipped by the encroaching waves, but enjoyed seeing the apparent pleasure on its face and the twitch of its whiskers. “This sight” continued to improve as we walked along the beach and caught a glimpse of another seal just off shore and in the shallows. This one was finding its own place to beach and sun-bask. Before long it slid up onto shore and did the “land-wiggle” to get out of the waves. This one looked younger and seemed more energetic – but that could just have been that it was getting into sleepy-time position. Interestingly, this one had some form of transition device between its shoulders and we were worried would have a more difficult time rolling over. I assure you, that was not an issue. The two seals were a complete surprise and an absolute wildlife highlight of the trip!

After the seals we finished trekking around the point of the beach and the wind picked up so strongly here! We went a bit further and tried two different spots to enter the water. It looked like there was shallow coral all around, but the current, waves, and wind were crazy strong. As soon as we got into the water it was pushing us back down the coast and when we tried to swim against the wind – just to see – we could barely make progress. After our second try we gave up and headed back to the more sheltered beaches of the cove. Fortunately, in retrospect with some maps, we believe that “Tunnels” was in fact within this cove and where we were about to swim.

So, back in the relative calm of the cove we re-equipped and submerged into the water. This snorkeling was terrific! Most of the fish we saw were the same as before,

but more, and more densely swimming. We’d barely been in the water when a pair of Picasso Triggerfish came and perhaps even played with us. They swam right up to our faces and around our legs. At one point they even contacted my flippers. It was perhaps the cutest behavior I’ve ever seen from fish. We continued swimming and this section had live coral, which was refreshing to see. And then we hit the ridge, a bit of an underwater cliff that we swam along for a while. The variety of fish and sizes exceeded anything we’d seen yet and the sheer diversity was awesome. After some time, we looped around to head back and found ourselves literally surrounded by a school of Needlefish. These little silver fish, long and slender, hovered just below the surface of the water and at first, we weren’t even certain they were there. They blended into the ripples and light from the surface, but once we knew what to look for, they were everywhere! It was cool and overall - we ranked the day’s snorkeling as an 8-9 out of 10… on our arbitrary scaling system.

Now hot and tired, we made the long walk back to the car. The seals were still hanging out on the beach (and were still cool to see) and we headed back to Hanalei. In town,

we stopped at a little strip-mall-like-market to look around and have a snack. We went to JoJo’s Shave Ice, shave ice being one of the Hawaiian local treats. It sounds at first like a snow cone, but it is a way better texture and certainly more refreshing. Here, they piled the shaved ice (yes, it is literally a giant ice cube that is mechanically shaved) onto macadamia nut ice cream, and then poured in the liquid flavors. Personally, I still feel ice cream is superior, but this wasn’t bad, and Archer enjoyed it. Splitting one was perfect. We then walked around the shops in the market and then headed back to the hotel.

Late in the afternoon, we thought it was a great time for a snack. Earlier in the week we’d purchased a Soursop fruit and were excited to give it a try. Unfortunately, after cutting into it, we are nearly certain that it was not ripe and had basically no taste. It was disappointing.

But we wouldn’t let that sour (hehehe) our day so we headed out to the pools. We’d not yet been to the infinity pool so there we headed, and it was lovely. We greatly enjoyed relaxing in the cool water while looking out over the ocean. At this point, weather on the island was seeming like it was going to turn. Clouds were looking ominous over the mountains and we could see spits of rain clouds out at sea. Yet, we were unscathed in the pool and at the hotel. Finally, it was time to head back to the room for dinner.

Once more we assembled tacos. I headed out to a grill to prepare the tortillas, some fresh pineapple slices, and green onions as Archer set things up inside. We regrouped for another night of tasty tacos as we sat on our back “porch” and watched the weather. The sun was setting, though we did not actually have a view of the horizon, but we continued to admire the rolling clouds, seemingly consuming the mountains and hills in the distance. The sun played orange and purple off the backs of them as it fell behind the hidden horizon. It was all cool and lovely, and was another great end to another successful day.

A Grand Day for a Grand Canyon

I'll keep the intro quick as it starts to get redundant. Breakfast ... I had the buffet ... Archer had the "Chorizador" (a ficoccia bread sandwich with eggs, goat cheese, 

chorizo and stuff) ... it was quite delicious. After breakfast we prepped for a surprisingly lengthy road trip. Apparently this island's driving routes are ridiculous. 16 miles to destination, 66 miles and 1 hr 15 minutes to drive; we were required to circumnavigate the island! Fortunately, the drive was long but uneventful, and became much more interesting in the final 10 miles once we entered the Na Pali coast State Wilderness Park. The route changed from a mostly flat-coastal route to a steep incline with switchbacks that climbed the ridges into the park.

We arrived in the park just after noon. Our route would take us through the Waimea Canyon State Park and into the Koke’e State Park, both subdivisions of the Na Pali Coast State Wilderness Park. After a while of driving up this incline, we began to catch glimpses of beautiful views on our right hand side. The terrain began to change from grass hills and plains to red dirt and clay and varied forest areas. Before long we stopped for our first overlook. It was 

immediately clear why the Waimea overlook. It was immediately clear why the Waimea Canyon is called the “Grand Canyon of the Pacific”. From our overlook the massive ravine seemed to stretch endlessly in both directions. As you looked down you could identify the main river, responsible for cutting the gouge through the mountains. Looking into the distance you could see numerous waterfalls falling from the many walls along the canyon. Every hill was a jagged drop from the tall ridge with spires, cliff faces, and intermediate ravines. Regardless of the direction you look, the vibrant colors of green forest, red dirt, gray rocks and white waterfalls made for impressive views.

We continued our drive to our first official overlook, the Waimea Canyon Lookout, 

between mile markers 10 and 11. Here we climbed to an elevated platform view of the canyon, and had views of the gorge for about 250 degrees of rotation. Again, if the sheer drop-off wasn’t breathtaking enough, the way the colors blurred into each other and the uniquely untouched terrain was truly staggering. As we viewed to our left, we lost sight of the canyon as it wound behind further cliff faces. Meanwhile our views to the right spanned over the massive canyon, over a coastal town, and out into the great blue of the ocean. Fun fact, even here – seemingly on top of the world – the roosters were quite abundant.

Our second official stop was at the Pu’u Ka Pele Lookout, just before mile marker 13. Note – we enjoyed observing that the mountain crest/ridge was incredibly uniform in height. At this point we were looking for some hiking trails. Unfortunately, we’d 

forgotten our map – WHICH YOU SHOULD NOT DO! There is no cell phone service at this point, and we could not find a map anywhere here (eventually you can get some further on but it was a long time before we discovered this). The views at this lookout were similarly beautiful. We had some better views of waterfalls, but a little less range. We did not find any trail suggestions here, so we continued on the road. About a mile later, we came to the Pu’uHinahina Lookout, and this offered us what we wanted (even if it wasn’t what we originally set out for). As we looked into the canyon from this perspective, we could see a trail down to the left that walked along an open spine, high above the gorge, before disappearing back into the trees. Around the corner from the lookout was the entrance to the Cliff Trail, a 1.8 mile (1 way) hike downhill into the canyon a bit.

The hike was a step decline (in this direction). The path was clear, and the 

surroundings were a lush forest. There were frequent patches of Eucalyptus Trees, thick shrubberies, colorful flowers, and so much more. The soil was a packed clay-like dirt, often with the bright red color present on many of the hills. Along our descent, we reached a short trail offshoot to one of the hike’s primary lookouts. From here we were tucked into more of a corner of the canyon, offering more of a 1-way view out in to the gorge. After a short break, we returned to the main trail and resumed the descent. At some point we reached a break-off for the Black-Pipe Trail, which we did not do, and soon we reached the ridge we’d set out to find.

The path took a small uphill climb. The trees on our right side suddenly fell away and 

the view opened up into a massive, unobstructed panorama of the valley. The path lost all sense of mud and dirt and became a rough, dry path of golden dust, red clay, and gray rocks. From the spine we could look almost straight down into the gorge, and back up to the clifftop lookouts we’d come from. Helicopter tours passed frequently, and we enjoyed sticking out tongues out at them as we felt we were taking the superior route. From our new vantage point we saw some crazy rock formations jutting out from cliff walls and being just a bit lower, we could see just how many numerous side-streams there were cutting their own paths through the mountains.

As we continued to complete the Cliff Trail, the path took a steep decline as it plunged back into the forest. With just a little bit further to go, we arrived at the Waipo’o Falls,

 one of the two waterfalls that ended the Cliff Trail. Unfortunately, warnings suggest that this Park is not a good place to go swimming, so we stopped here only for our packed lunch. There was some refreshing shade and many great rocks for sitting on, all with the wonderfully relaxing sound of the falls. We regret not re-applying sunscreen while we were here, but after a short rest and lunch, we turned around to hike out. Suggestions: look for walking-sticks on the way into the trail, because they are hard to find along the way, but certainly helpful. The hike out was tough, mostly a steep ascent and lacking the best footings everywhere. However, we were impressed with the time we made and felt accomplished with the completion of the excursion.

As we got back into the car I want to specially acknowledge Archer, who urged us to 

continue down the road. We left the Waimea Canyon Park and officially entered the Koke’e State Park. A few miles down the road (mile marker 12-ish) we reached the Koke’e Museum and Lodge. This is the “base camp” we’d initially set out looking for, and is where you would be able to pick up a map had you forgotten yours. Here we took a brief excursion to view the Nature Trail, a 700 meter walk that explained much of the vegetation living in the area. We read about some of the local history in the Lodge, and learned that the summit of the ridge/final Lookout point is one of the most rainy locations in the world.

After a brief stop we continued to the final two viewpoints. The first was Kalalau Lookout as we approached mile marker 15. We were expecting to get more views of the Canyon, but this was completely different! The view from this outlook faced the north-side of the island, the opposite side of the mountain ridge through which the canyon cut. We looked out across the Kalalau Valley, a massive green ravine that cut down to the ocean, just one mountain ridge 

apart from the beach view we’d obtained the other day! As you stood here and looked at the small white egrets swooping around, and the waterfalls pouring out of the green mountains, you couldn’t help but feel as if you were in any number of overhead movie scenes. It is hard to image a place better. Another mile up the road was a different but similar view of the Kalakau Valley from the Pu’u o Kila Lookout. This is the final official stop on the road and is absolutely worth the extra minutes of driving. Centered on the valley, you’re flanked by tall cliffs and feel like you can look anywhere, down into the valley and ocean, or up into the blue sky and clouds. Interestingly, the weather was just right so it was impossible for us to see the horizon. The blue ocean simply faded into the hazy clouds and blue sky. It was truly stunning.

And this ended our sightseeing for the day and we began the long drive home. Once again, it felt ridiculous, as the Pu’u o Kila Lookout, in a straight line would only be about 8 miles from our hotel. But, instead we drove the 2 and a half hours, and 72 miles around the island’s border to get back home. We took a quick, relaxing interlude in the hot tub to sooth our muscles and minds, before heading back to our room for dinner with the sunset outside our room with an ocean view. We recreated our tacos from the previous night and ate as the sun fell down below the horizon.

Kaua'i – Exploring and Getting Settled

Today was a bit of a strange day, jumbled with site seeing and chores, big successes and mediocre events. Things started out with breakfast. Our hotel offers a few potential “rewards” if we opt out of the daily room cleaning service. One of those options is a free hotel breakfast buffet. So, it seemed like an easy choice to at least experience it and have the other order off the menu. I did the buffet, getting an omelet from the station, some cooked potatoes, a bit of fruit, bacon, and a small pastry. Archer ordered off the menu – a Beef Short Rib Loco Moco – similar (but not as good) to the one we had at the Kihei Caffe. If you don’t recall, this is a pile of rice, loaded with a meat and eggs, topped with a brown gravy. Overall, breakfast was good, but we agreed that neither of us would normally want to spend $26 for either. But, since one of us was free it was much more respectable, and we wouldn’t mind eating here again.

After breakfast we returned to our room to prep our ideas and items for an outing. Before leaving, we headed to the concierge desk, where we were told we had some things waiting for us. We were helped by a woman named Roxanne (sound familiar…?) and she game us some coupons to the nearby grocery store as well as some advice and fliers related to other excursions we might take.

Our first stop was to head east to the Anahola Farmers Market. Unfortunately, despite both our concierge and Google thinking that the market was open, we arrived and it was not. This remains a disappointing mystery. So instead, we drove back the way we came, passed the turn for our hotel, and towards the coast town or Hanalei. Here we visit the Hanalei Surf Shop to rent snorkel equipment – mask, snorkel, and fins – for the week. We were excited to have the ability to pop into the water and snorkel any time we wanted. Unfortunately, our hotel does not have direct beach access, so we may get to do slightly less than we’d originally hoped, but we are still looking forward to the flexibility and options.

While in Hanalei, Archer began to feel as though she recognized the setting, and some of the mountainous and coastal features. She suggested that we continue to drive along the northern coast and look for “the shot” of Kaua’i. The drive had some similarities to the Road to Hana. It was constantly winding and the road was narrow, but not as bad. We often had cliff walls on one side and scenic beach outlooks on the other. We had to navigate 1-lane bridges and oncoming traffic, but that all worked out. We drove for nearly an hour and, while the views were stunning, we were beginning to give up on the venture. However, we then came upon Haena Beach – and this is what we were looking for.

We immediately regretted that this trek had been impromptu, as the beach was super smooth and the water was warm and welcoming. However, we were dressed far from what we’d want to wear into the ocean. Instead, we made our way to the edge of the 

waves and started to walk back “up” the shore (west). We knew we were at the beach we wanted – with the view we wanted – but we had to make our way to the right place. Walking was slow, because of wet sand, but after 20-30 minutes we’d made it around the crescent shaped beach and had the view we wanted. The golden sand curled around the water and stretched back out into the ocean as the mountainous hills quickly dropped down to meet it. The jagged ridge continued to have breaks, leading to an isolated peak, seemingly just broken off from the coast. We’re pretty sure we were looking at the same photo as many of the pamphlets we’d obtained that morning.

Calling this a success – we headed back to the car. This included one trial as the sand was TOO HOT. We thought we’d make it but had to run to a shaded spot for shelter, and then wear our non-beach-sandals (trust me… but I don’t want to explain) the rest of the way while uncomfortably full of sand. Before getting in our car we crossed the street to take a peak at the massive cave. It was … a massive cave mouth. We could not see the back and it was incredibly wide. We chose not to enter or explore, but it was indeed tempting.

Next we had a major chore to accomplish – grocery shopping for the week. We drove back towards Princeville, and our hotel, but stopped in Foodland – the local grocery store. This venture went well. We’d written up a list of needs that would span most dinners and lunches, with just a few breakfasts. We found everything we wanted/thought we needed but I will avoid the details as that will ruin some future descriptions. We got back in the car then and returned to the hotel, getting back a little after 2:30.

Feeling ready for the water, but temporarily done with explorations, we decided to just enjoy the provided pools. The pools are separated into several places. There is a children’s section with a small water slide, an “activity” section, which remains shallow 

but has two levels with a waterfall between them, an infinity pool (though it lacked the true cliff-side overlook that they should have), and an adult (quiet) pool. We spent most of our time at the activity pool, alternating lounging in the water with drying off while reading. We each enjoyed one Happy Hour cocktail during one of our reading intervals. Near the end of our aquatic stay we decided to try out one of the hot tubs and found the one next to the adult pool. It was so calm, peaceful, and quiet, that we are confident we’d return to this hot-tub and pool in the coming days.

Suddenly it was dinner time! The errands and the chores really did fill the day in a surprising manner. Tonight was the big food-prep night as much of what we planned to cook would be for leftovers with minimal prep in the coming days. We were making tacos! Back in the room we had to prep all the ingredients. I sliced up two large onions into grill-able disks, while Archer prepared a marinade for the chicken. She plucked a bundle of cilantro leaves, and put the stems in the blender while we saved the leaves for toppings. I crushed a handful of garlic cloves to toss in, as well as some of the onion remnants. Archer topped off the marinate with vegetable oil, salt and pepper, blended, and soaked the chicken. I moved on to chopping up some bell-peppers into flat-ish segments, and then we bundled up to head to the grill. It took a few loads, so Archer took some extra trips while I got the grill running (the hotel provides gas grills for use).

The chicken went on first, as it was closer to frozen than we’d have liked. I had to turn it more often than I usually do, so I kept adding some remnant marinate, which 

effectively smoked the veggies I had on at the time. Before long I put on a set of peppers and onions that we’d eat that night, while those for the rest of the week could be saved for later. Archer, inside, prepped a chipotle mayonnaise, and brought out the rest of the food/ingredients, including cheese, re-fried beans, lime, tomato, salt and pepper, etc. As the chicken got closer to ready, I made room on the grill for some of the smaller items we’d need nightly. The tortillas went on the elevated shelf while some fresh pineapple slices and green onions got grilled more directly. Before long, everything was ready! We sat down with some local beers, assembled out plates and tacos, and went to town. The food was amazing – and we’re tempted to rank it as one of our most successful dinners ever! As we ate, the remaining veggies grilled, and we collected everything to bring inside for later in the week.

It was surprisingly late at this point, so with that we watched some TV and called it a a night.