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Published: December 13th 2010
Tuesday 12-7
We spent today exploring the South and West Shores of Kauai. The western side of the island is much different from any other. It’s VERY dry and several degrees hotter – quite a different looking landscape. No lush forests or much green at all. In fact there are a lot of flat fields, perfect for dry crops like corn and sugar cane – which we saw a lot of. Everything – from the roads to the tops of telephone poles – are covered in red dust from the dark red volcanic mud on the island. It’s hard to believe that both the north and west side of Kauai are part of the same island – they’re so different and only about 30 miles apart!
We drive up to Waimea Canyon, which has been described as Hawaii’s “mini grand canyon.” At the top (4000ft), you can see all the way to the ocean from the northern and southern parts of the island. At the northern most lookout (Pu’u o Kila), we were able to see down into the Kalalau Valley – the place where we had hiked the Na Pali Coast just a few days earlier. It was cool
to see the other side of the trek. We looked for tiny little hikers but couldn’t see any. Also at the top of Kauai is Mt. Wai’ale’ale, which is the wettest spot on earth, receiving 432” a year! Fortunately, it was a dry day for us. We drove down the winding path back to sea level (ugh, talk about car sick) and headed to the western most part of the island, Polihale Beach. This side of the island is fairly uninhabited except for some corn and sugar farms. Polihale is so dry it’s part of a 17 mile stretch of beach that is all sand dunes. Completely different from the lush rainforest we were in just a few days ago and right on the other side of the Na Pali!
As we drove back, we passed through some nice small towns on the South Shore: Kekaha and Hanapepe – old sugar cane plantations and whaling communities. At sunset, we stopped near the town of Po’ipu to see the Spouting Horn – a blow hole on the edge o f an old lava shelf that spews water and air (which makes a loud, deep moaning sound) thru holes in the
rock as the waves rush in and out. We even saw a fluke way off in the distance and lots of spouting, which may or not have been from humpbacks (it’s just the start of whale season here, but it was so far off shore we couldn’t get a very good look).
On our way home, we got the most expensive pizza ever: $40 for a large pie! It was good, I’ll give you that, but people aren’t kidding when they say Hawaii is a very expensive place to live (milk is $4.50/gallon). Good thing the pizza is lasting us thru two meals!
Our last stop was a town called Koloa, formerly both a whaling port and sugar plantation. They had an old town center, which was turned into a historical museum with really nice exhibits about the Polynesian and East Asian immigrants that formed the back bone of the 19th century labor force on this part of the island.
Wednesday 12-8
Today is our beach bum day! We woke up late (9am!) and headed to the beautiful North Shore for some snorkeling and being lazy on the beach. We had to drive around for a bit
to find a good beach, since it’s winter time, the North Shore waves can be really strong and dangerous to all but surfers. So, as a side note, it was really cool watching all the surfers along the coast. One guy surfed with his dog! Clearly, the surfing culture is huge here. On almost every street corner, there are tributes to the late Andy Irons.
We finally stopped at ‘Anini Beach, where our stuff was nearly washed away at high tide! But it had nice snorkeling. Sadly, the reef didn’t look too good. Very shallow and covered in silt. But was saw a few school of fishes, including needlefish, damselfishes, wrasses and the Picasso Triggerfish (former HI state fish) – or as it is much for fun to say: Humuhumunukunukuapua'a! We also caught sight of a small mantis shrimp and dragon eel.
The BEST part was that we snorkeled with a young green turtle! (I like turtles.) She was so beautiful and she let us coast around with her for about 15 minutes – it was awesome! After the beach, we went into Kapa’a to see a free hula show; it was two young girls who danced mostly
Tahitian hula and they did a good job. Man hula looks hard – how do they move their hips so fast and fluidly without moving their feet?! They even did a few Christmas songs in Hawaiian, which was weird (at least to me). I have to say, my least favorite thing about Hawaii has been the non-stop Hawaiian Christmas music on the radio. Sorry to anyone who loves it, but man, a whole radio station, 24/7?! Now back to the house for a dinner of rice & beans (Nick’s looking forward to it!) and a night of figuring out NZ details.
Thursday 12-9
What to do in Kauai on a rainy day with a tropical storm coming in from the SW with 60mph winds (we could feel the car move when in park) and flash flood warnings?
• Watch a soccer game
• Put together a 500 piece puzzle of a beach
• Spend a few hours learning about the history of Kauai at the local museum
• Pass some time reading in a café
• Watch some more tv
The rest of the day was spent getting ready to go abroad tomorrow. Maybe once we’ve crossed the international
Kauai Chickens
They're like pigeons around here.dateline this will finally feel like a world trip and not just an extended vacation ;o)
Friday 12-10
Today is our last day in Kauai. Since it was still over cast and a little rainy, we couldn’t hike anywhere, so we did a couple driving tours before getting on the plane. We went to see ’Opaeka’a Falls and Wailua Falls on the Wailua River. The Wailua River valley is very flat compared to the surrounding hills, I assume mostly due to flood planes. It was previously used by the native Hawaiians as terraced fields, but now it’s used for cow pastures. You can still see the indentations and outlines of the terraces under the overgrown fields.
We drive thru the main town of Lihue to see Ninini Point lighthouse (surrounded by at least 3 gold courses with more being built). Honestly, I know I’m not a golfer, let alone a sports fan, but why must so many beautiful places be flattened and over fertilized so that people can go on vacation and do the same boring thing that they already do at home? Stupid golf courses. We roamed around Nawiliwili Harbor and Hanama’ulu Bay before catching a flight
to Oahu (our layover before New Zealand).
We flew into Honolulu, Oahu and passed over Pearl Harbor. It’s clear to see even from the air that there’s a large military presence in Oahu. There are two large bases, one on either side of the island. Miranda was kind enough to meet up with us again and give us a island tour via car during our 4 hour layover. We went over to the NE side of the island, thru the Na Pali (cliffs) for a spectacular view of the beaches and the city of Kailua below. By the way Woods Hole & Ecuador alums, if you’re ever in Hawaii, you should totally come visit Miranda! She lives only an 8 minute walk from a beautiful white sand beach and her house is gorgeous! It sits on top of a hill overlooking Kailua’s beach with windows all around it! Miranda makes living in Hawaii look sooo nice! Before we left, Miranda treated us to a YUMMY local sandwich shop for dinner to spare us form the Burger King & McDonalds at the airport. The Hawaiians definitely know how to make pork! MMM good!
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emily
non-member comment
i miss you, i miss hawaii!
how come people aren't commenting up in this joint? i miss you guys, i love hearing about your trip! and i miss hawaii! whered you go for sandwiches? please say Andy's in manoa... but that's not really close to the airport. and my favorite caption: "kauai chickens. they're like pigeons around here." travel safe!