’16 Apr: Kauai

…and another.

It was threatening rain all day but at one point we decided let’s make a run for it, so we headed down to Lydgate. I brought my little waterproof camera so I wouldn’t have to fuss over the bug guy and I think it did a fine job, and it never rained.

There were tons of folks out for a clean-up project including a massive crowd here painting the play structure.

What a cutie.

April 17

You can see down in the lower left the notation for the Maha’ulepu Historic Trail. I walked on most of it last year but I never found the Makauwaki Cave nor did I find the Kawailoa beach where King Kamehameha first attempted his attack on Kauai.

So Camas took me!

It was a TON of fun. It’s no wonder I didn’t find the cave because I was looking toward the coast and it is a bit inland on private land owned by the Grove people who own, according to people who live here, more than half the island.

Those are taro fields and sheep.

They also have a huge collection of free-range tortoises but it was rainy and windy like crazy, I was using my new underwater camera and I messed up the pictures of the tortoises.

Better to mess them up on Kauai than mess them up in Ecuador!

The egrets were far closer together than usual and hunkered down against the wind.

The Cave!

These are all from Camas’s phone.

Lower right: me emerging from the cave entrance. It was a photo-op because the gate was locked and we couldn’t get in!

Lower left: me in front of a new design put up in honor of a guy’s wife.

Upper left: Camas, lookin’ cool.

Upper right: me and the sea

We all had dinner together and since I didn’t take a picture I snagged this off their facebook. Camas and Curtis young and in love.

April 18

This was fun! I made then all cheer me because I finished Proust.

Pat, Kathy, Kenny, Sharon, Sharon, Bob, John, Ruby

They were mighty tasty, not as good as Mom’s, but whose are?

April 19

Here we have the Westminster Dog Show Champion Plover, his black so rich and shiny, his white swoosh so crisp and delicate, his mahogany color all aglow.

What a beauty.

We ate at a newly opened restaurant, Lava Lava, right on the beach at a hotel complex behind Coconut Marketplace. It was tasty and fun and worth a return visit.

Opaekaa Falls just up the road from the house…

…and across the street the Wailua River with a boat from Smith’s, kayakers, and a speedboat. It was busy on the river at this point.

Usually the babies look like momma but she’s down to only three left and they all look different.

April 20

Another very good morning!

We went for a walk and then I had a little snorkel. Look! Fish!!

I’ve never had a brand new mask before and wow, what a difference. It’s works! No water in my eyes!

That’s another snorkeler in the background.

Yes, Fish!

We drove around the back-country to find these gorgeous gentlemen farms…

Nice, yes!

Happy Hour! although isn’t every hour happy hour here in Kauai.

April 21

It’s always entertaining to find a mower and watch the egrets in slow pursuit.

We went for a new walk today in the Kilauea area to what was a water control system for a guava farm. It’s called Stone Dam and…

…it’s FAB!

Look at all this green.

I don’t know what I was expecting, just a dam I think, not this beautiful place.

More.

Swimmers can jump off the platform and enjoy the rope swing.

A nice resting spot with a panoramic view.

Then we went to Anini Beach. The chickens and roosters and chicks were out in full force.

The water was warm and clear and great for swimming but the drift was so strong without fins I couldn’t make it out to the reef. I might have not been able to get far even with fins strong as the drift was. But it was beautiful and fun!

April 22

Welcome to Smith’s Tropical Paradise and Family Luau.

Everyone gathered between 5 and 6pm for a tour around the gardens – you can take the tram and stroll as you like.

At 6pm they began with a welcoming ceremony…

…and the uncovering of the pig.

Then dinner. Dinner was good, I liked it! If you’ve ever been to a tourist luau, it’s exactly like that but the buffet dishes were well prepared, fresh, tasty, a good variety but not so many options that they couldn’t pay attention – it was surprisingly good.

Also they had a full open bar and you never had to wait in line. That’s pretty amazing.

Moving from the dining hall to a small amphitheater down the way, the show began with Pele emerging from the volcano.

There were group dances and bits from the immigrant nations as well as the contributing Pacific Islanders.

Some pictures of the participants…

Oh please with the coconut bras. But there you have it, a tourist luau from back in the day.

…more.

The grand finale, fire twirling man. He was a comedian too. It was a rather modest family show, not so splendid as others perhaps, but all in good fun and I am happy we went.

April 23

Since I’ve finished Proust I can read other things without thinking, as I have been for the last three years all those times I entertained myself with something else, oh, I could be reading Proust.

So I read this, The Voyage of the Beagle, Darwin’s abridged journal from his trip around the world during 1831-1836. Not the whole thing though, yikes, just the section on the Galapagos and it really was worth getting through all the long list of names of things to see how he was thinking before he ever thought of The Origin of the Species.

April 24 morning

I walked out to the Birthing Stone Heiau at the end of the road this morning and up the hill to the old Japanese Cemetery.

Some years I miss coming up here because as soon as the afternoon approaches the mosquitoes become the dominant life form.

Sharon bought our picture from the luau, cute as we are, but we forgot to bring our coconut bras. Oh well, next time.

This is funny. I turned around to notice I had everything I brought plugged in – computer, phone, big camera, underwater camera, watch/fitness tracker. I had to laugh.

April 24 evening

Camas and Curt came by for dinner…the dinner they Brought which was yumeeee. Thanks guys!

Camas usually takes the paddle boards out for us (too heavy/awkward for me to get in the river by myself) but it was Sunday and the speed boaters just wouldn’t quit. When they’re roaring up and down they make little tsunamis that are not so fun to paddle board through so next year we’re going to have to find an evening during the week.

April 25

It’s out last day and we’re going to enjoy a tour of the Allerton, a part of the National Tropical Botanical Garden. Of course, chickens.

There’s a long Kauai story with this place – the movie The Descendants will tell you all about it.

I’ve taken a lot of these statues from the back lately. It’s a phase.

This fountain makes the water gurgle at the end, into what the guide called The Neptune Effect which slows your heart and makes you relax. It’s very awesome and I want one.

Nestled in this system we find the home of the dinosaur eggs in the original Jurassic Park.

Our guide showed us many eatables out of the garden and we got to taste some too.

Breadfruit. A little hard and you fry it up with butter, and when ripe it’s soft and gooey and super sweet and you eat it with a spoon for dessert.

Ah Kauai, so Aloha!