Wowee, Kauai

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June 29th 2009

Published: June 29th 2009

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Penscott

Ke'e Beach

Our first day on Kauai and we headed to Ke'e beach. Deaner is getting naked, or just trying on some fabrics on the beach, where some of us swam with the turtles of destiny

We headed to the airport with Jay and caught our flights with no problems. Then we waited a bit for Dean and Catherine, and after getting a bit worried Jay went looking for them, and rolled up in a massive Jeep Wrangler! They had been upgraded! We all jumped in, went to Safeway and met Ally at our hostel. Dean had already warned me that the hostel was a bit rough…we didn’t really know what that meant until we got in. It was mostly ok, a bit shabby in bits, but it was right across from the ocean, and there was a small beach 5 mins away. However Catherine and Dean were here a few days before us and stayed in the room Pen and I booked, but Catherine got bit by something, and they weren’t too impressed with the room for $70 a night. So they moved into cottages across the road for $85 a night. Pen and I took a look at the room and figured it would do for now. We all went to a restaurant for some grub, where the portions were massive and I used chopsticks for the first time since Southeast Asia….and Dean and

Turtles of Destiny

I was fortunate enough to snorkel out and see around 5 green sea turtles, at one point no more than 5 feet away. Jay, Ally, Penny, and Catherine all saw them...however Dean did not. Don't worry Dean, the Turtles of Destiny will be waiting for you when you find your inner Zen zone...unless we wipe them off the face of the planet.

Catherine dropped a bomb…..they are now engaged!! Whoo hoo!! Congratulations Deaner and Cath!! After hearing all about it, we finished our food and beer, and went back to the hostel and sat outside on the wee porch outside me and Pen’s room, and had a few more beer before the 9:30 curfew rolled around. One of the funny bits was George one of the handy men that stayed at the hostel, he tried to tune my Ukelele and it took him pretty much an hour, and he was still going when we all had to head to our beds!

The next day we all went to Ke’e beach which was awesome! Except for one small problem….but I’ll get to that. We bought/rented our snorkels/masks and were pretty excited by the various fish in the water. Some of us were planted in the sun on towels (Ally) while others were off in the water exploring the underwater life….(Jay, me, Pen). There were loads of different fish, but the best part was further out, towards the edge of the reef….there were sea turtles! This was only the second time I’d ever swum with sea turtles (Hanama Bay being the first). They

Ke'e Beach from the air

This is where we swam with the turtles, and watched the sunset, the Napali coast is the jungly section to the top right.

must have been about 5 feet away from me at some points. It was Ally and I that found them first, we counted 5, then I took Penny over to see them and she thought she saw six. Then Jay wanted to see them…so we went back again and this time just saw one, but this one wasn’t too shy and got just a few feet away from me to eat some of the algae off the reef/rocks. They were around 3-5 feet long and were apparently green sea turtles. I was pretty excited about them! There were so many, and they were so much more relaxed than the Hanama Bay ones! We spent the whole day just lounging on the beach and snorkelling….sadly Pen and I only have a few photo’s from the snorkelling because our underwater camera that we got for the trip leaked and is now officially gubbed. Doh! We were pretty disappointed. After the beach we headed back to Kapa’a where we were staying and went for pizza….well actually no one had pizza, some had pasta, and the rest had Calzone’s. Catherine and Jay’s Calzone’s were massive, Catherine really struggled to finish hers! Mixed reviews on

Rule of the roost..

or beach. There were wild chickens and roosters all around Kauai. On the beaches, in the trails, in the parks...and unfortunately outside me and Pen's room a few mornings.

the food, some thought it was great, others thought it was a bit disappointing. However, afterwards it was back to the hostel for more beer and snacks.

The next day we went to see a blow hole, and there was a wee market where some of us bought a few bits and pieces. After the blowhole and the market we went to a wee beach and I spent most of my time in the water playing with me and Dean’s magic mini footballs, boogie boarding, and just mucking around. At one point when no-one was in the water Pen saw a shadowy shape around 8 feet long that looked an awful lot like a shark. She was pretty adamant that it was a shark, and there are only 3 that are really common in Hawaii the reef shark (which I think it was), the hammerhead, and the tiger (which an old fella reckoned it was). However it didn’t stop us going out to play so we went back in and played a bit more before it got close to time for Dean and Cath to go as they had to catch a flight back to Vancouver. So we packed

Blow me over

The blow hole, when the waves crashed in through a small hole in the cliff, they pushed water up about 20 feet in the air

up headed back to the hostel where we had a quick round of drinks at Scotty’s bar next door to our hostel and then Jay and I went with Dean and Catherine to the airport so we could hire a car for a few days. We found out it was $70 a day for a car, which was a bit more than we were hoping to pay, so we said we’d speak to Pen and get back to them. This is where the wheels fell of the wagon again…a little. We got the shuttle from the car place to the airport with Dean and Catherine, and then we said our goodbyes to them and went to go get the bus back to Kapa’a. Except the bus doesn’t run on the weekends. Doh. So Jay and I waited for an hour trying to hitch hike up to Kapa’a…except no one was biting. So we ended up having to fork out $30 for a taxi back. That sucked, that was half a day’s car rental! As we were telling Pen about the car one of the guys staying here said he had a card for a cheap car, and so we agreed

Everybody Blows

Everyone in front of the blowhole

to call them in the morning.

This was Ally’s last day, so we decided to go see a waterfall before she had to go to the airport, and to do that we needed a car. We called up Island Cars, who rented out cheap cars, similar to rent-a-wreck in Canada. Jay and I went out to catch the bus and the bus kept going, so we had to wait an hour for the bus to show up again…this time all of us went out. I was pretty grumpy at this point…sorry Ally, Jay and Pen. The morning before I spent half an hour wandering around the town trying to get change for laundry before coming back empty handed…well not quite. I bought a coffee for Pen (a $4 cappuccino) because they said they’d give me quarters in change…then they said they couldn’t after I bought the coffee….grrr. So the last two mornings weren’t my idea of a great way to spend your mornings. Anyways we got into the walmart, and the fellow picked me and Jay up to take us to hire our wreck. He had told Jay we could walk it in a few minutes to the rental

View from above

Dean and Catherine got us a flight over Kauai as a wedding gift, the views were awesome, it was really cool to see some of the places we had been to from the sky. Thanks guys!

place from the Walmart. It’s possible we could have walked it in a few minutes….if we were able to walk through walls in a straight line. The guy that picked us up said a few words in reply to a couple of Jay’s questions, and may as well have grunted his replies…there wasn’t a whole lot of chat on the way there, but there were a whole lot of lefts, rights, and lefts. We got there, and they wanted cash on the spot….we hadn’t even seen the car yet! Ironically Penny wanted to give me a few hundred dollars in case they needed money, and in my infinite wisdom I said to her “no one ever asks for money up front for these things.”. No one it turns out except Island Cars in Kauai. Doh. So between Jay and I we could only cover half the cost of the rental. So we had to drive up to a bank machine, and also put petrol in the car as it was on empty. I took out the money to cover the rest of the rental and met Jay at the gas station. I paid cash for the gas/petrol as I had

Moose is Loose in the plane

Moose scrambled for a window seat and was amazed at the diversity of Kauai, rugged canyons, rainforests (reportedly Kauai has one of the rainiest forests in the world), beaches, and dry desert like sections.

the money anyway…then halfway to the car rental place I realised I’d used the money for the car rental for the petrol….Jay wasn’t happy. So we had to drive back to get more money. I also realised I’d not taken enough out the first time….Penny and I are going to have stupid children. We finally cleared everything up and now Ally and Penny had been sitting in the Walmart car park for about an hour….on Ally’s last day. Fun, fun, fun. So Jay and I finally left, and realised pretty quickly that the way we thought we were supposed to go, wasn’t the way we were supposed to go. We were a bit lost. We got there in the end after a bit of driving, a slurpee and some directions from a 7-11. We got back to Walmart, watched the girls amazed faces when they saw our car (see the photo’s) and headed off to the waterfall off of Kipi road. What a waterfall! I could have spent all day there! There was a great rope swing, plenty of cliffs to jump off of and the water was fresh and green, and a great change from the sea water. We

Beastor

He ain't pretty, but he got us around Kauai, so we've nothing but respect for the beast...especially as he only cost us $40 a day including insurance!

all played a bit, although Penny was a bit nervous about jumping off the cliff into the water…but she did it!

We all mucked about until it was time to go and drop Ally off at the airport, we said our goodbyes and wished Ally a safe flight….and then there were 3. We decided to go hike to Wailea Waterfall, which was awesome! It was pretty high up, and a good hike in, and the story goes it was as tall as Niagara falls. We went for a swim and then headed back up to head back to the hostel for some food. Jay made an interesting dish…peanut butter, soy sauce, some veg and 2 min noodles….it worked though, pretty good dish Jay! We were mucking around with the Uke when a couple of fellows showed up, one of whom (Adams) had a banjo. Well, that was that. We all jammed a bit with Banjo’s, Ukelele’s, and vocals….and after my obligatory query, he replied I only know 1 Pearl Jam song, Elderly Woman Behind a Small Town Counter. To which I replied, I only sing one Pearl Jam song….Elderly Woman Behind a Small Town Counter. I’ll tell you this…the

Penny the Fish goes for a swim

It took a bit of courage, and a bit of time, but eventually Penny jumped too!

tempo on a Banjo is pretty different from a guitar, still we managed it and it wasn’t too bad! Jay also got a shot on the Banjo and impressed just about everyone, that boys’ got some Banjo in him that needs to come out!! The evening was a good laugh, but the 9:30pm curfew came around and even with a bit of an extension we had to call an end to the night, some of us went to bed, while others headed over to the ocean front to play a bit more Banjo and chat. Adams played a few more tunes, we chatted a bit and Jay went to bed, and I shortly followed as a couple of the guys were dozing on the grass with the ocean in front of them, and Hawaii’s warm ocean breezes washing over them. Man I love Hawaii.

The next morning was a day I’d been looking forward to. We were heading up to the North of the Island to hike the Napali Coast. The Kalalau trail is around 11 miles long and covers the north coast. However to hike all of it you need a permit and need to camp out one

Super Ally

Ally and her cape, although most superheroe's probably don't plug their nose!

night. As a result most people (like Dean and Catherine) only do the first half or so. That however, is more than enough to impress. They strongly recommended it, and so it was that me, Jay and Pen decided to tackle it. It was awesome! The views were fantastic, the hidden beach had a sea cave and some limestone like rock formations that Jay and I did a bit of bouldering on, and the water was indeed “treacherous” as described in the guide book. It was a cool beach, even if swimming on it could cost you your life. Then we headed up to the Hanakapiai falls which were beautiful, and the swim out to them was well rewarding after the long hike in. After a swim and lunch at the falls, we headed back and I have to admit, I wish I had a bit more water it was thirsty work heading back up the trail, even at 5pm when the sun was cooling down. We got back and went for a swim at Ke’e beach to refresh ourselves, and it felt awesome to just float in the seawater after a good 8 miles and 6 hours of hiking,

Scott flips out

I managed a flip without the horrible stinging slap of a bad landing

especially the pounding our knees got on the way down! The next plan was to watch the sunset over the water, and it was pretty peaceful and relaxing to watch the seals, and turtles poking up out of the water every once in a while as the sun set over them. Eventually, after the sun melted into the horizon we walked back to the car, tired and satisfied after another fantastic day in Kuaui. We only had one issue left to address, one that both William Maxwell Myles the III and Catherine … Deans’new fiancée could appreciate. Food. We were all starving! So we headed into Kapa’a to see if we could get a table at what was storied to be one of the best pizza’s around, “The Brick Oven”. It was bloody expensive, but wow. What a pizza. You could choose wheat or white pizza, and it was all homemade. Jay did agree that it could possibly have been the best pizza he ever had…we won’t tell you how much it was though, just be prepared to pay through the nose for it if you go! We headed back to the hostel for a good nights sleep, and I

Jay Bomb

Jay drops in feet first to enjoy the refreshing pool below

think we all slept like the proverbial logs that night.

Jays last day and we decided to have a lazy one. We slept in, lazed about….went into town where Penny bought a new pair of Sandals for as much as our pizza dinner the night before…ouch, and Jay bought a Ukelele…which was pretty sweet. Then we came back, ate some leftover Pizza and headed off to the beach for half an hour before dropping Jay off at the Airport. After almost two weeks of constantly being surrounded by people Pen and I said goodbye to Jay and drove back to the hostel. It was a bit sad, and I can say Jay was reluctant to go as well, not because of Pen and I, but because there was so much more for him to explore on Kauai that he hadn’t got a chance to get to.

Pen and I went to the little beach down from the hostel, shared a 6 pack of Moosehead beer, took some photo’s of crabs, played the Ukulele and came back to make dinner and head to bed.. The next day we had a flight over the island planned courtesy of Dean and

Wailea Falls

One of the most photographed falls, because it's easily accessible by road the lighting was just right...I promise I haven't touched this up in any way.

Catherine, it was definitely one of the most unique wedding gifts we received, and it was pretty cool too. It was a little prop Cessna (GA8 AirVan) and it was awesome to see the places we had hiked and swam, but from a birds eye view. It really gave you an overview of how pretty the island is, and it also made Penny a little queasy. So courtesy of the flight you should be able to see some of the area’s we visited from a slightly different angle. We never would have paid for that for ourselves, so thanks guys…much appreciated! After the flight we headed back to the hostel and grabbed some shaved ice (not like a slushee, they break fingers here for saying that) which is crushed ice flavoured with a variety of flavours. I got lime and grape on each half, and Pen got coconut and banana (who’s from the tropics?). They were pretty good. We spent the rest of the night packing to get ready to leave in the morning, and also catching up on emails.

Additional photos below

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