Hawai - Kauai, the Perfect Isle

Gina and I had a great trip to Kauai. We left the kids at home with a summer sausage hanging on their bedposts and the TV remote (not really) for 9 days while we relaxed in Kauai. It was my second time and Gina's first. Our first day, we stayed at a hotel not far from the airport in Kapaa - the Hale Plantation. It was nice and we really did not have much time to do much as we arrived in the afternoon. (Fortunately I remembered my driver's license this time so no last minute rush - thanks Jake.)

The next day we spent the time kayaking and hiking on the Wailua River. We rented kayaks at the Hawaiian Village and paddled up stream in a downpour to the trail head of Secret Falls. It was like hiking in the Amazon - muddy, thick vegetation, Tarzan vines and even a cute frog. I must warn you though, the secret is no longer a secret. When we arrived at noon, there were about 50 people (and twice as many of the ever present chickens) at this photogenic site.

After a short lunch of papaya, pineapple and other fruit, we swam out to the fall to get under its head beating current. After taking a few pictures, we turned around and everyone was gone. I guess it's only a secret after noon. When we got back to the kayaks, we paddled a little further up the river to "the swimming hole" near Fern Grotto. The soaring of the tropicbirds reminded me of little angels flying overhead.

For the rest of our trip, we stayed at a timeshare in Princeville. On our first day there I won one of the door prizes: a free luau at the Grand Hyatt. I was asked to go on stage with three other amateurs to learn several of the dances. Needless to say, they asked me if I would consider staying on Kauai and becoming a regular dancer there but I explained that if I did that I would endanger my amateur status.

One day, Gina and I found the "lost" beach near the end of the road at Kee Beach. We had the entire beach to ourselves. He payed homage to Hurley and Said, after which we flew my kite surfing trainer kite. It was a blast as the wind was raging. Gina's first try resulted in her getting slammed into the beach. After removing the embedded sand, she insisted on getting back on the horse and she did an awesome job of flying a tricky kite in tough conditions. We were just lucky we didn't get hauled out to sea. We would spend another day at this nice secluded beach. On one of those days, we walked around the corner to Kee Beach and had a great time snorkeling. Gina was a little unnerved though when she would swim over cave-like holes in the reef but the brave wahini hung in there and and enjoyed seeing all of the fish - especially the many humuhumunukunukuapuaa (a type of cute trigger fish).

On another day, we went to Anini Beach (near Kilauea Lighthouse) where I met my windsurfing instructor. When I first began, I felt like a clutz, but after an hour (the lesson was 3 hours long) I was comfortable enough to sail away and I cruised within inches of a large basking sea turtle. (I think I caused him to leave some skidmarks in his underwear.)

We also spent a day driving up Waimea Canyon - great vistas with deep canyons and tall, thin waterfalls. The shaved ice in Kekaha was a great treat near the end of the day. We even had time to see Spouting Horn where the waves rush into a small opening in the lava and cause sea spray to shoot high into the air with a loud Whuuuump!

One of our favorite days was taking an all day catamaran cruise to the Na Pali Coast and its sheer cliffs. For lunch, we boated off shore of Niihau - the Forbidden Island. Just offshore from Niihau is a small island called Nhua. It is an old volcano and looks like the back of a giant turtle. There are no plants on this small island. We ate a lunch of sandwiches and fruit and then I geared up for one of the best SCUBA dives ever. The divemaster took us under a huge undersea arch that must have been about 20 feet tall and was about 40 feet down. We saw lots of fish and a very small (about 1 inch long) colorful nudibranch (sea slug). On this day trip we saw monk seals, several species of dolphins and many turtles. The trip back was not very pleasant for over half of those on board as the seas became a little rough. (Lots of chumming.)

We also spent a few days on the north shore, near Princeville, to visit Kilauea Lighthouse and see all of the many birds: shearwaters, tropicbirds, red-footed boobies and the huge Great Frigate Birds with their bright red throat bags. Gina wanted me to get a t-shirt that said "I love to look at boobies" with a drawing of a red-footed boobie on the front, but of course I thought it would be in poor taste for someone of my sophistication.

All in all, the trip was great. I got back just in time to sleep a few hours and then head off to the Bahamas to do some IVF cases.