Hawaiian Adventures
Thursday, May 28
It was a long travel day. We caught a moderately early flight out of Portland direct to Honolulu. We were in the middle row of the plane but, luckily, the third seat was empty so we were able to stretch out a bit. The guy sitting across the aisle from me was obviously a frequent flier to Hawaii – we could tell by his demeanor, his appearance and the fact that he told anyone who would listen to him. He started drinking vodka as soon as the stewardess would let him. Lovely. The movie was a mediocre, kids’ movie. Ugh – will we ever get there?
Finally, we land in Honolulu but no rest for the weary. Our flight was over 15 minutes late and we had a short lay-over anyway. Run to the connecting flight. We barely make it but it’s clear our luggage won’t. It was a short flight to Kauai. At the baggage area, there are a number of people, presumably from the Portland flight, waiting for their luggage too. In fact, we meet a couple, similar to our age, who were also from Oregon and waiting for their luggage. We’ll see them again. Luckily, our bags made it on the next flight, which was only 15 minutes later. Time for the rental car.
When we get to the counter, the rental car lady recommended we buy the extra warranty coverage. Like we always do, we declined it. Then, she said it was only $12 and would cover loss of use for the vehicle, which normal coverage would not. Fine – $12 isn’t that bad and we were in a hurry to start our vacation. When we saw the estimate, we realized she neglected to tell us it was $12/day. We declined again. When she handed us the next estimate, without coverage, she explained that if the vehicle had to be repaired, they shipped it to another island and it could take up to 12 weeks, which we may have to pay for. Not having our personal policy in our back pocket, and not knowing how long it covered a rental’s loss of use, if at all, and really wanting to get out of there and find our hotel, we reluctantly agreed to buy the coverage. Afterwards, I turned to Mike and told him “We just got hosed $60.”
Then, there were no more compact cars so they gave us a free “upgrade” and gave us a HHR. It was a crappy car. There were dents all over it and stains on the interior. Oh, well – time for the hotel. The scenery driving south out of Lihue was not very impressive. By this time, we were both hungry and Mike was getting a little touchy. Time to find the resort.
Traffic was exceedingly slow and we took the wrong direction once. When we found the resort, we were thrilled. We stayed at the Outrigger Kiahuna Plantation and it was really beautiful. Palm trees, lots of flowers, little ponds by the reception area. The reception people were very friendly. Our condo was nice. It was on the top floor but was a little outdated, probably last remodeled in the late 1980s. Unfortunately, it looked over some garbage cans and abutted the main road. Remembering something a more-experienced traveler told me, I said that we could ask for another place. Mike was the one who really took to the idea, so we returned to the reception desk to ask if there was a better condo available. We were told there was one available the next night and we agreed to move then.
Time to eat before Mike turned cannibal. We crossed the street to a little shopping area and ate at a cute restaurant, designed like a jungle paradise. The food was only okay but we were starving so it tasted fine. Mike tried the local brew and I had the first Mai Tai of the trip. When we received the bill, we were a little surprised. $$$$.
Our pre-trip plan was to make our own meals, or at least as many as we were willing to make, in our condo. We found a little store (Mike called it an oversized 7-11) and bought some snacks, coffee, and cereal for the next morning. $8 for a gallon of milk!?
Finally, it was time to enjoy our vacation. We sat on our lanai (patio) and watched the birds play in the large tree in front of our condo. Some birds were very familiar. There was a smaller dove than at home, a type of Crabby bird that had a beautiful voice and loved to use it, and we saw roosters and chickens everywhere. We also saw a cardinal that we named Fire Head or Fire Bird. Later, we saw a cute little green bird too. We didn’t name him except to call him Little Green Bird.
We were so tired (and it wasn’t even 6:00 p.m. Kauai-time) that Mike couldn’t even drink a beer. We forced ourselves to stay awake until 6:00 and then it was lights out, except that the sun was still up. There were no air conditioners. You simply kept the windows (and slider sometimes) open for the breeze to cool down the condo. It was getting hot too – somewhere around 85-87 degrees that day with humidity. We fell asleep to the birds’ constant chatter, the sun still high in the sky and the condo still a little warm from being shut up all day. We had no problems falling asleep.
Friday, May 29
We also had no problems waking up the next morning – at 3:30 a.m. Kauai-time. We drank some coffee and looked at the night sky outside our lanai. Then, we walked along the beach and watched the sunrise. It was beautiful. Of course, we took photos. We wouldn’t be Mike and Vicki on vacation without at least one camera on us.
In fact, we bought a new camera for the trip – a waterproof one that we happened to run across at Costco. Our initial plan was simply to put my Cannon in a ziplock baggie and use it in the water. Then, we saw the Olympus at Costco for a good deal. After quick research, there in the store on Mike’s phone, Mike gave it the seal of approval and we made the impulse buy. It may have been the best purchase of the trip. We used it a lot and the pictures turned out wonderful.
We planned to do an island orientation at the reception area where breakfast was supposed to be provided. Of course, orientation was at 8:30 and we were awake for 5 hours before then. We were hungry, so we ate some cookies and relaxed until orientation. Surprisingly, orientation was very good. Breakfast was a little skimpy but the 45-minute orientation really helped us decide what we wanted to do on the island. We signed up for a luau at the Sheraton next door and a raft/snorkeling trip on the north shore. You can only see the north Na’Pali coast by boat or air.
After the orientation was lunch, where we ordered our first beer around 10:30 a.m. Then, we rented snorkel equipment and went to the Poipu Beach, a short drive down the road. According to one of the vacation guides, there was good snorkeling at that beach and, boy, was the guide ever right. You didn’t have to get too deep and there were bright, tropical fish all around. It was amazing. The fish were really not concerned that there were people swimming with them. There were quite a few snorkelers in the area.
When we both first went into the water with our snorkels, we both independently freaked a little. Mike described it as almost hyperventilating. I described it as the Dark Vader syndrome. We quickly got used to it and had a good time snorkeling. I left the water before Mike and simply enjoyed the hot sun on the beach. While I enjoyed the sun, watching people and reading a little, Mike took photos with the waterproof camera and avoided the rude, annoying guy who decided to fish in the snorkeling area.
We learned a couple lessons in Kauai: 1) I like the hot weather much more than Mike; 2) Mike likes spending time in the water much more than me; and 3) Mike doesn’t like flippers – he prefers to snorkel in his sandals (another successful pre-vacation purchase – sandals for both of us that could go in the water).
We then returned to the resort where we got keys to the new condo. What an upgrade!! The new condo was so much better. It was more recently updated, faced the interior gardens and had a great view. The birds were a little less frequent but we still saw them. In fact, we saw Hawaiian Crabby had a nest in the palm tree directly in front of our lanai. We got used to our new place by relaxing on the lanai, where I continued to read the pleasure book I’d brought. That was one of my favorite parts – reading on the lanai just for the fun of it.
We then went to a bigger market, a Pic ‘n Save, where we bought more groceries. I also convinced Mike to walk along the boardwalk to look at the shops with me. I found one shop that I particularly liked and bought matching necklace and earrings. They’re very island-y and I love them. Mike helped me decide which set to buy.
We went to the luau that night and had a great time. The dancers were fun and very beautiful. We sat next to a young couple from Texas (Mike remembered their names were Ryan and Lisa) and Ryan was into the software business. Mike, of course, brought his big camera and got more than just some envious looks from other luau attendees; he got some great photos too. We drank Mai Tai’s, ate some good food but didn’t try the poi, and were able to watch the sunset over the ocean during the luau. It was very pretty and fun.
Saturday, May 30
Mike woke early again but this time I think he made it into the 4:00 hour. He woke me up and asked if we wanted to take photographs of the sunrise in a better location. Of course, I was game so we quietly packed our gear and headed off in search of a good sunrise location. We thought perhaps the Hyatt down the street would have a nice view of the sunrise. After getting lost on the golf course, we missed the sunrise but had a nice walk around the Hyatt. We returned to our condo and ate cereal and coffee.
We planned to drive west that day and explore the western coast. Unfortunately, we had to wait for the beach hut to open in order to return our snorkeling gear. We watched people play and walk on our beach and, at 8:30, we returned the gear and hit the road. We stopped of at a fairly popular cafe for breakfast because we were hungry again. It was really good. We continued west and took a random visit to a Russian fort. There was no fort – only a crappy looking car with a couple of people sitting in it on a deserted, bumpy road, by a beach in the hot sun. I don’t think either of us was very comfortable, so we left.
Our eventual goal was the beach at the furthest western point on the island. You couldn’t drive any further around the island than this beach, except for a short jaunt that ended at a military missile base. To get to the beach, we had to drive on a dirt, bumpy road for over 5 miles. The road was fun to drive on and we weren’t very careful with the rental car. We were cautious parking in the sand because we had little faith that the rental could get out of much sand. Interestingly, later it would turn out that our verbal discussion about where to park in the sand would hint at foreshadowing our future.
It was hot, hot, hot…and I loved it. The sand burned our feet where it seeped into the holes in our sandals. After a short walk to the beach, we got to the ocean. The surf was too rough to swim. There were locals fishing nearby. It was a beautiful beach with the Na’Pali mountains framing the scene and dark clouds over the mountains. I sat on the sand and soaked up the heat. Mike took photos and started melting. We weren’t there too long before we risked Mike turning into a pool of goo. He described it at “blazing hot” and he was “cooking like a fried egg.” As we returned to the car, we saw some people pushing a Jeep Wrangler out of the sand directly in front of us. They claim the rental Jeep didn’t go into 4 wheel drive like it was supposed to. After seeing how the driver turned to the wheel in an attempt to get out of the sand, I think the more likely scenario was that he was hot-dogging and didn’t know how to drive in the sand. In any event, Mike and I moved our car (because he really was driving a little erratically) and helped them to push the Jeep out of the sand. Some local Hawaiians pulled up in a truck and just watched us. I think they would have offered to help if there weren’t 6 people already trying to get the Jeep out of the sand. We were successful and Mike and I drove away to the driver throwing a shaka at us (a hand wave similar to “Hang loose”). My first shaka – I was thrilled.
Mike drove out of the beach and we decided to check out Waimea Canyon. I had a slight headache, probably from sitting in the blazing sun without drinking enough water, and the road up to the Canyon was slow and curvy. I started to feel ill though I couldn’t start driving, which would have helped my nausea, because the road was scary with large drop-offs and I wasn’t in the mood to buck up and drive. As we drove to the Canyon, we were worried about there being cloud cover because we were visiting the canyon square within the time that the lady at orientation told us there would be low clouds. When we made it to the first lookout, we had mixed feelings – we were glad there was limited cloud cover but I was pissed because we were only half way up the windy mountain. Everyone that we talked to said the canyon was worth seeing. We decided that we weren’t going any further because I wasn’t feeling great. We went to the lookout and thought it was very pretty. However, it was no Glacier National Park. We decided that the top would probably be pretty too but we had recently been to Glacier that had real mountain views. This mountain view, while very lovely, was just not the same to us and it wasn’t worth the misery of taking me further up, especially since we just had to travel back down. Perhaps we were justifying…
In any event, back down the mountain we go. But, before we left, I bought freshly cut mango from a guy with a cooler at the lookout. The mango was really tasty. I stayed awake until we go to the bottom of the mountain and then it was nap time for me until we returned to the condo. Actually, nap time continued for the next hour for me. Mike enjoyed happy hour a little early. When I finally woke, we went to dinner at the burger place in the shopping area across the street. The burgers were very good. We bought beer and ice-cream from the local market and a souvenier for Ryan that we simply couldn’t pass up – a chubby Hawaiian lady bottle opener.
We returned to our condo and were both very tired but it was only 6:00 p.m., again. Mike convinced me to go swimming. It was nearing dusk and there were a handful of people swimming. We had fun. Again, Mike stayed in the water much longer than me. He took photos of the waves and played in the waves. I saw the ocean push Mike onto his butt on the beach and I also saw Mike’s hand above a wave holding the camera in such an odd angle that I’m sure he either took a picture of the beach or the sky. It was fun to watch. At one point, after sunset, he came out of the water and bargained for another 10 minutes. I thought it was cute. I’m a little freaked by the ocean at night but he had absolute no qualms. We both slept well that night.
Sunday, May 31 – Our 6th Anniversary
Mike woke up with happy anniversary wishes and a kiss. What a nice start to the morning. We then made eggs and ate them with cereal and coffee while watching the birds from our patio. Mike made an interesting observation that the birds seemed hornier in Kauai than at home. That cracked me up, but I think he’s right.
That morning was our raft trip. What a great trip! There were 14 guests on the raft. and our guides were Kurt and Justin. Shortly after leaving the bay, they put the pedal to the metal and we were flying across the ocean. I loved it! Mike was anxious at first because we were really cruising. We saw some turtles not too long into the trip. It’s too bad the photos didn’t come out but they were huge. The guides gave us a historical tour of the NaPali coastline and showed us some of the interesting caves and inlets, waterfalls and the inaccessible part of the island. The only way to see that coastline is by sea or air. I enjoyed the myths of how the valley got its shapes – particularly the story about the pillars that are in some of our pictures. Apparently, a god’s children stayed out too late and were caught by the sun and turned to stone. The god then went down to the earth and was also intentionally turned to stone with his arms encircling his children. Nice, huh?
We saw spinner dolphins, which were really cool. They really jumped out of the water and spun around. I thought it was hilarious that they liked to play with the rafts. They would get immediately in front of a raft and let the raft push them through the water. I couldn’t see them doing it very well but Mike did.
The guides took us further than they normally take tours because the weather and wave condition was so ideal. In fact, we made it all the way to the other point of the island, to Ke’e Beach, which is the farthest point west that you can drive. Then, we stopped at a historical site where Hawaiians used to live by the coast. We had lunch (sandwiches and cookies) and then went snorkeling. So much for not swimming 45 minutes after eating. Snorkeling was cool though we learned there were white-tip reef sharks in the area. I really didn’t want to see them but I couldn’t help but look for them. I was feeling pretty good about not seeing any sharks, even though other snorkelers said they saw two. The water was fairly deep and we saw a bunch of fish and coral and sponges. Near the end of the snorkeling session is when it happened – I saw the dang shark. Another guest said it was about 4’ long. I didn’t notice because I immediately turned away from it. I saw the head, which was enough because it was scary-looking. Mike tried to find it but couldn’t. When I saw the shark, it was swimming to probably another, more quiet place to sleep along the bottom of the ocean. We were running late, so our guides really flew back to the bay. The water was quite a bit bumpier and all our fannies were a little sore. Both of us had injuries on our hands from holding onto the rope and being constantly bounced against the raft.
We returned to the condo, happy and tired. We relaxed for a couple hours. I napped (again) and Mike drank (again). Then we hung out on the patio until dinner time. I thought Kauai smelled good – rather sweet and clean.
We had dinner at the burger place across the street again. This time, we split appetizers because it was pretty early. The food was okay. We went swimming at dusk again. Mike took photos of me trying to body surf the waves. Actually, I was just playing Superman and swimming into the waves with my arms outstretched. I’m sure we looked silly but we really had fun. Mike stayed in the water quite a while. After my swim, I sat on the beach watching him and reading a Runner’s World magazine. It was a great anniversary day.
Monday, June 1
Mike woke up at 4:00 a.m. and woke me up so we could take sunrise pictures. We ate a breakfast of champions – eggs and cereal – and were off. One of our guide books told us a good place for sunrises was Lindgate Park, which seemed about 20 minutes drive north. Noticing the windshield was really dirty, Mike tried to wash it but learned we had no wiper fluid. It was really hard for him to see out of and drive, especially with on-coming traffic. Also, we took a wrong turn on the drive and added perhaps 10 minutes to our trip. The sun was starting to rise, Mike was trying to drive fast but could barely see out of the windshield and the vehicle traveling directly in front of us was a large truck that didn’t have any lights – it looked like a big dark mass.
Eventually, we got to the park and had a little time to spare. Mike took photos of the sunrise and I played with the sand crabs and tried to photograph them. Mike got some pictures of the crabs, but they really were ugly and the pictures don’t make them any prettier. Then, we played with the chickens and I chased them so Mike could get some funny pictures. Vicki a.k.a. the Chicken Chaser.
There appeared to be a man-made swimming hole with rocks separating the swimming place from the rest of the ocean. There were also some early morning swimmers doing laps in the swimming hole. It looked wonderful. Waves would crash against the rocks, sending water over the rocks and into the swimming hole, but the swimming water was relatively calm. I wasn’t quite energetic enough yet to take a swim. I needed more coffee first.
Breakfast at Ono Restaurant was good and we finally found a place that was reasonably priced. Of course, it was out of the tourist areas and seemed like a local diner. The people were really nice too. The restaurant wasn’t yet opened when we arrived but they invited us in early while the cook warmed up the equipment and, most importantly, they gave us coffee.
We continued heading north and planned to explore the north coast as much as we could. Our next stop was Donkey Beach. We found it and had a short hike into the beach. The beach was deserted and there was a single surfer in the water. It was still pretty early in the morning but it was getting hot again. We didn’t stay long.
Next on our tour was the lighthouse. We like to call this trip Lighthouse Part I because it was not open until 10:00 a.m. and we arrived around 9:00 a.m. We watched a baby Red-Footed Boobie in a nest for a while but his mother didn’t return soon enough and we got hot and bored. So, we went to our next destination.
We drove through Princeton – it seemed like a tourist resort – and through Hanalei too – but agreed we stop on the way back. We drove to the farthest point west, Ke’e Beach. It was packed and still filling up. We had to park a ways from the beach, which made Mike a little nervous because he was leaving his camera equipment in the car. Luckily, we were in a big field with a bunch of other vehicles. After walking to the beach, we were pleasantly surprised by it. It was another enclosed swimming area but this was enclosed by a natural reef under the water. So the ocean waves crashed against the reef and water would calmly enter the swimming area. The water was so clear that we could see the bottom so it surprised me just how deep it really was. Mike tried to touch the bottom but wasn’t able to. There were quite a few fish too. I really liked the swimming area because we could swim, and not just jump with waves, and there were no sharks because it was enclosed. Perfect.
We didn’t bring any towels so we drip-dried on the way back to the car. Lunch in Hanalei was good. I couldn’t help but sing the Puff the Magic Dragon song in my head.
Lighthouse, Part II: Back to the lighthouse. I was still in my swimming suit though I had put a tank top over the top. The bottom of the swimming suit had a little skirt, and I emphasize the word little. Let’s just say I was showing everyone a whole lotta leg and wasn’t all that comfortable doing it at first. We paid the entry fee for the lighthouse ($10) and then wasn’t able to actually climb the lighthouse steps because it was closed off. There really wasn’t much to see other than a pretty view. We decided the $10 was not worth the experience, but at least it was only $10.
We had a sleepy drive back to the condo. When we got back there, it was 3:00 p.m. Now what? We were tired, had no energy but had a lot of day left and it was our last day on the island. I encouraged Mike to do a Sammy photo shoot. We took pictures of Sammy in the condo and then in the flower garden and the cacti garden. It was hot and we were both getting a little grumpy. Though, we did get my favorite flower picture of the trip during the photo shoot. Time for a cocktail.
The restaurant and bar didn’t open until 5:00 p.m. It wasn’t yet 4:00 so we thought that the Hyatt may have a bar overlooking the ocean. We explored the Hyatt. It was beautiful and the phrase “how the other half lives” came instantly to mind. But no bar was open. Come on – it wasn’t that early.
We returned to the condo and asked the reservation clerk where to get a drink overlooking the ocean. She made several recommendations, one of which was Brennecke’s. Brennecke’s was at Poipu Beach, just a short drive away. Brennecke’s was open and overlooked the ocean. Perfect. we had drinks and nachos.
On our way back to the condo, I decided that I wanted to buy Tina a necklace similar to the one that I bought. I ended up buying her the same one. On the way back to the condo, a truck drove past us and something flew off of the truck. It was large and heavy and we both saw it spin directly toward us. We both independently ducked inside the car but there was no where to go. It hit the windshield, causing the windshield to crack with spiderwebs all over. We could feel the cracked glass on the inside of the windshield where it hit us. We were both a little freaked after thinking of the possibilities. Back at the condo, we called Alamo and filed a report. Wow – to think that we weren’t going to get that extra loss damage protection in the first place. I still wouldn’t buy it again but it as fortuitous that we bought it on that trip.
We finished the night off with a couple of beers and another dusk-to-evening swim in the ocean. I left the ocean a little early because I couldn’t quit thinking about the shark. Also, I saw a weird bubble in the waves and my imagination went into overdrive. Really, I wondered if I had imagined the bubble. When I was on shore, I thought I saw something bobbing in the water and heading in Mike’s direction, which meant it was traveling parallel to the beach, however, I couldn’t be sure because it was dark and the waves kept hiding it. Just as I was about to say something to Mike, I didn’t see it again. Maybe I was making it up. That night was the first time that people commented on Mike taking pictures in the ocean. A guy asked me if Mike was using a Olympia camera, which I confirmed. He then told me there were two large turtles in the area really close to Mike. Ah ha! I wasn’t paranoid and imagining things. Mike came to the beach and I told him about the turtles. We both then saw a turtle head bobbing among the waves. It was a ways out. Too bad Mike couldn’t have gotten an up-close-and-personal shot of the turtle.
Tuesday, June 2
We woke early and had time to kill before we had to be at the airport. We went for a walk along the beach, enjoying our last morning in Kauai. Someone saw us taking self-portraits and offered to take a picture of us. It turned out nice. We returned to the condo and slowly packed, sad we were leaving. After checking out of the condo, we started to head towards the airport, while looking for some place to eat breakfast.
We found an odd kiosk-type restaurant and ordered breakfast. I was jealous of the spanish rice that Mike received at the last breakfast we ordered in a restaurant so I ordered rice. The entire meal was mediocre, and the rice was just plain white. We did watch the chickens roam around and listen to a religious radio station that was playing at the kiosk-restaurant.
We then went to the airport. Checking in the rental car was not a problem and they didn’t say anything about the cracked windshield except to ask for the damage report number that we received the previous evening. The airport was small. After spending a total of three minutes checking out the various shops, we then wandered around the rest of the airport, which took another two minutes. We ended up buying orange juice, to counter the germs on the plane, in orange juice. We sat in comfy chairs in the corner of Starbucks, drinking juice, listening to the worse music I’ve ever heard, and playing with our phones for about an hour.
Finally, we boarded the plane and flew to Honolulu. There, we ate lunch at the airport. Mike pointed out that the couple from Portland who were also waiting for their luggage when we flew into Kauai were at the airport. Apparently, they were going home too. We spent 5 1/2 hours flying from Honolulu to Portland. It was an uneventful trip, though we learned that the Disney movie remake Return to Witch Mountain was terrible. Coincidentally, the same couple was in the airport shuttle with us. We spoke to them briefly and heard that they had similar experiences in Kauai.
It was a unique, relaxing, fun vacation and we want to go back…now. It was the first time we weren’t ready to go home from a vacation.
