Thursday February 14, 2002
What a great way to do Valentine’s Day: fly from home, land in the Garden Isle of Kauai, and go to a private bluffside house overlooking a lush, pastoral valley.
It’s Friday morning as I write this, sitting on the open patio and outfitted with pen, shorts, T-shirt, and slippers. I’m getting into this lifestyle very quickly. I’ve already decided not to check e-mail regularly, and only to turn on my mobile phone once a day to see if there is a message. The trappings of “regular life” are slipping away quickly…
Getting into the Kauai spirit started even before touching down. As we approached the island flying over the whitecap-dotted Pacific, the light and clouds became noticeably different. The plane bumped and rocked its way through puffy white billowing clouds that are normally seen many miles higher. But, these were only 1,000 feet up off the waves. And the setting sun glistened and sparkled off the texture of the Pacific.
Suddenly, out of the mist, Kauai’s rugged green and brown jagged coastline appeared, with its cliff walls white-foam-rimmed at the ocean’s edge. The stark topography is beautiful and other-worldly. It’s instantly easy to see why so many “exotic locale” movies have been filmed here.
Passing over a steep, sharp-toothed rise, the buildings of Lihu’e appear and our pilot aims for the runway. Coming in low, we skim golf courses and tradewind-blown palm trees filling the flat valley bottom. For 360 degrees around, the jagged ridges envelope the valley, and the central mountain area is hidden by dark rain-swollen clouds. Misty god rays create wide flashlight beams searching the greenery below, sweeping across the land as the clouds move steadily over the island.
We’re here! We drove our rental car up the east coast to Kapa’a and found our Wailua Pali Cliffside vacation home. It’s a terrific place: modern, well appointed, comfortable, and very privately landscaped even though its actually on the edge of a small community.
Once inside and on the grounds, we can’t see or hear any neighboring properties. Only the cattle-grazing farmland in the valley below lies before us, mixed with the medley of many exotic birds. We’re glad we brought ear plugs, though: Hurricane Iniki ten years ago decimated this island and let many of the local chickens escape to the wild. So, you now hear cockle-doodle-doos anywhere and anytime, including at our front porch and even at 3 a.m.
I put together a romantic Valentine’s Day dinner for Karen on the patio, complete with salmon pasta and wine. Plus, the local cats came by to visit, and the gecko lizards on the roof above our heads provided some Welcome Wagon entertainment.
Friday February 15, 2002
Today we started our casual exploring. But, first, we had a relaxing breakfast on the patio with all the native birds and feral chickens.
We headed out of Kapa’a at a leisurely pace with leisurely plans. First stop was an ongoing outdoor market where I sampled my first cold fruit drink concoction of the trip: coconut milk with frozen pineapples and strawberries. A good smoothie. We checked out local crafts made of wood, tree bark, palm fronds, coconuts, and sea shells, before heading northwest around the coast. We later investigated Hardwood Designs, which is a shop beside a man’s house. He makes table tops and counters from milled monkeypod trunks, and forms the legs out of gnarled root systems.
Another interesting contestant in our self-appointed mission to find the island’s best frozen drink: at Banana Joe’s, they make a pureed banana/pineapple “frosty” that has the consistency of soft serve ice cream yet is pure fruit. It comes from a Campion juicer with its screen filter removed. Good stuff, and unusual.
Kilauea Point Lighthouse beckoned next. As soon as we rounded the corner that opened up to the coastline, we saw the first of many great bird sightings. The sheer, dark cliffs were sprinkled with the bright whites of red-footed boobies. Some nesting, some squawking, some riding the cliffside updrafts.
The lighthouse is a birder’s paradise. Pure white birds with long bright red tendrils tails. Seven foot wide frigate birds doing aerial acrobatics above the windy slopes. And nesting birds on the rocks at sea and the ground you walk on. For some extra variety, we even got to watch three humpback whales playing in the surf just off the lighthouse’s head of land.
The lighthouse is located on the northernmost point of land in the Hawaiian chain, and it was put there in 1913 to aid ships coming from the Orient. It had the world’s largest Fresnel lens, which is still there but has since been supplanted by a modern, simpler rotating beacon.
This lighthouse definitely has some incredible real estate. Views up and down the northern coast: east to north to west. And excellent marine wildlife habitat. I don’t think I’d want to clean lenses and wind weight cranks there as a job for years on end, but I’d sure like to try it for a while!
We then wandered further around the island to an off-the-regular-maps destination: Manoa Stream. It’s the stream that flows over the road before the Ha’ena Beach Park that is the home of many long term surfer hippie tent residents with rusted old cars that are likely more for parking lot show than actual reliable transportation.
We only found out about Monoa Stream through a generally excellent book by long time local residents (“The Ultimate Kauai Guidebook” by Andrew Dougherty and Harriett Friedman). There is no official trail and certainly no signs. Well, actually there are lots of signs, but they are all variations on “No Trespassing”, punctuated with barbed wire fences. However, the guidebook writer stated that the stream and +/-10 feet to each side is actually public land. Through this website, we have since been contacted by the owners of the land and found out that the guidebook writers were incorrect, and the No Trespassing signs were correct. The entire area is private and not for public hiking. As such, please respect private property and do not take this hike (which has anyhow become very overgrown in the time since we were there).
Except for one small house at the beginning of the hike, there were no people or homes along the way. Only the centuries-old remains of terraces built for growing taro, plus a more recent dilapidated water cistern with rusted metal pipes, were visible remnants of human occupation at one time.
It was slow going: about 1 ½ hours to go a mile over slippery rocks, wading up the stream, and climbing muddy embankments. It’s jungle-lush solitude was worth the exertion, and the hike ended at a gorgeous several-hundred-foot waterfall that actually started 1100 feet over our heads in a tight green canyon. The walls rose straight into the air on all sides. Clouds moved above from the northeast, but the wind was in our faces from the opposite direction because of the funneling effects of the canyon walls.
After finding our way back along an easier route on private property near the stream, we headed to the very end of the road on the north shore. Along the way were several small towns, houses high in the air on tsunami stilts, and an eclectic mix of locals. At Ke’e Beach, we relaxed in the sand as the sun set over the Pacific and lit up the sky with a muted wash of rainbow. The Na Pali coast became shrouded in mist and darkened with a Pacific rain cloud as we headed home.
Saturday February 16, 2002
Today we honed in on the northeast shore area around our rental house in Kapa’a. We started the day with a list of possibilities, and then let the day flow to see which parts of the list we would do.
We started the day in the traffic congestion of Kapa’a. It’s actually worse than communities around Seattle, mostly because of overburdened one-lane-each-way roads with traffic going in and out of shops. Some organic fruit in a rusting truck by the side of the road beckoned; it was adjacent to a natural foods stand staffed by women with dreadlocks and hairy armpits. Good selection of unusual tropical fruits, some of which became a part of our homemade smoothies the next morning.
After getting recommendations from a kayak shop guy who waxed poetic about how great it is to not have to wear shoes to work, we headed south for nearby Lydgate Park. Lydgate is a good spot for well protected viewing of lots of rainbow-colored fish, and it’s great for beginners since the crashing ocean waves are dissipated by a man-made ring of boulders that protect the cove. The man-made reef and the occasional tourist feeding swarms of frenzied fish with fish food made it all feel artificial and amusement park-like. But, it was a good opportunity to practice snorkeling again and see lots of fish.
The water was rather cool, but I went in with everyone else wearing bathing suits. Karen, on the other hand, wore both my full body Lycra suit and my shorty wetsuit. She was always easy to find: the only person in the entire lagoon with no exposed white skin, but instead head-to-toe in black!
After showering off the salt water, we drove a half mile to the trailhead for Nounou Mountain, a.k.a. The Sleeping Giant. From the ocean side, this mountain looks like a giant sleeping on his back, complete with torso and facial features. It’s a very pleasant hike that steadily rises to 1,241 feet above the coastline, town, and surrounding farm fields.
The way provides a steady flow of outlooks up and down the coast, all while walking through spongy barked trees, hala trees with multiple branching tripods forming the trunk/roots, and fruits and flowers and many other exotic plants. I enjoyed listening to the birds and occasionally catching glimpses of them within the tangle of branches. The melodies can be beautiful, and the colors are far richer than most mainland birds.
At the summit, Nounou has a sweeping 360 degree view that spans from the coast to the rain-soaked inland mountains. The stretch of towns and farm land could be easily discerned, including the 1400 acre plot that Bette Midler recently bought as a preservation tract.
After showering, we headed into town on a mission: search and devour shave ice. We found a good local source: Beezer’s. The semi-retired guy behind the counter made a cherry flavored shave ice that overflowed its container, complete with vanilla ice cream on the bottom. Mmmmm… we just may need to go back for another mixture of flavors…
Sunday February 17, 2002
Today was one of laid back island life. Reading, snorkeling, hanging. That’s about it.
Every day of this vacation, we go to sleep when our eyes become sleepy and wake up as we feel like it (which is usually after waking up a first time and rolling over back to sleep for little more shut eye). It has been refreshing to not live by an alarm clock, and I’m usually sleeping in the 8 ½ – 9 hour range. That never happens at home unless I’m sick!
We decided on the relaxed pace schedule early on, and headed for the unnamed secluded cove around the promontory north of Donkey Beach. After an easy 15 minute walk to the coast, we found a tree-shaded promontory. It was just above the crashing waves: close enough to feel and see them in detail, yet far enough back to only get an occasional few drops of sea spray. I reclined back in my padded Thermacliner chair and became engrossed in a Stephen King book below the gently swaying leaves of a sun shade tree.
When it felt right, Karen and I moved on around to the secluded cove for snorkeling. The snorkeling was excellent, and I enjoyed it very much more than the famous yet artificial feeling from Lydgate Park that we had snorkeled just the day before. It is a natural cove of colorful coral shapes, surrounded by beautiful fish, sea cucumbers, anemones, urchins, and flower-like “plants”. The water depth ranged from 2-10 feet, and the outer reef formed a barrier to the incoming crashing waves. That is the kind of snorkeling I was looking for, and we found it in this cove.
After snorkeling, we headed northwest to Moloa’a Bay for some more heavy duty beach reading. Moloa’a Beach is somewhat hidden at the end of side streets and behind people’s homes in a quiet residential community. Throughout all of Hawaii, beaches are public and property lines only go to approximately the mean high tide line, so we went around the homes and became sand-land squatters for a while.
We topped off the day with a strawberry flavored shave ice / strawberry cheesecake ice cream concoction at Beezer’s, cooked a home meal, and watched a funny Jim Carrey movie before drifting to sleep in the comfortable breezy island temperatures.
Monday February 18, 2002
Na Pali! Today was our Na Pali hike day, through the most famous and starkly beautiful part of the island. This is the west side of the island where there are no roads, one trail, and vehicle access by only helicopter or boat to a few certain points.
After gearing up, we drove counterclockwise around the island to the road’s end on the northwest side at Ke’e Beach (where we watched the sun set Friday). After checking the maps and filling up on water, we started on our 8 ½ mile hike that took most of the day. The character of the Kalalau Trail quickly became apparent: mucky mud, slippery gnarled roots, and slimy rocks, all punctuated among the dense stretches of exotic trees and plants with glorious views to the ocean below and thin razor teeth spires above.
I was reminded of Nepal and the porters along the trails when we came across a group of local surfers later in the day. These tanned dudes were walking barefoot 4 miles roundtrip to a great surfing beach. A couple key differences with us, though: they were not wearing $200 hiking boots and they were each carrying a full surfboard over this steep and rocky trail. It’s all relative. I talked to several of them, and they said that they didn’t wear shoes because the trail trashed shoes so quickly. (Well, what about trashing their feet?!) The local dark red-brown mud is famous as a permanent clothing stainer (some people turn that into a positive and actually use it as a potent dye).
We wound up and down and around the edges of the cliff faces for a couple miles until arriving at a rock surf beach (Hanakapi’ai Beach), where others rested and ate lunch by the river. The surfers and boogie boarders had some good waves to choose from, but the shallow rocks seemed a concern for them. An “in memory” hand written sign nailed to a tree listed off a number of recent casualties in that cove.
Our next stage of the hike was a couple miles inland, generally following the river to where its valley ends in a sheep amphitheater slicing through the mossy green landscape, highlighted here and there with a flowering tree, melodic tropical bird, bamboo grove, and moss-covered rock walls forming the taro-growing terraces of ancient Hawaiians. The hike has lots of boulder-jump stream crossings and quick rock climbs to keep it interesting, too. And since Karen hikes at a different pace than I do, I was afforded many opportunities to just stand there and soak it all in.
Nearing the end of the trail, the valley’s rock cliff walls closed in until we got our first view of the top of the falls, many hundreds of feet above us. After a quick walk and rock hop, the full cascading height of Hanakapi’ai Falls opened up before us.
The water cascades and bounces off of so many small rock ledges on the way down that it all ends as a diffuse heavy spray of water at a pool of water on the valley floor. The spray’s motion creates its own wind effect within the valley walls, and my glasses quickly became covered in water droplets.
After lingering to soak up the ambiance, we headed back. All the surfers were gone and few people were still around, so the coast beach had a more private feel than earlier. The last leg along the coast was somewhat hot in the exposed, windless sun, but the reflected light views along the Na Pali coast were very worth it. Right off the shoreline, we saw at least 20 humpback whales doing full aerial belly flop breaches as they played in their winter calving seas.
One of the surfers (who we later gave a ride home) told me how to get to the Ka-ulu-Paoa Heiau, which is the foundation remnants of the most revered school of hula in the Hawaiian Islands. The kuma hula (hula master) taught students here for over 1,000 years. It’s now a sacred site to native Hawaiians.
Our timing was perfect for a sunset by ourselves at the Ka-ulu-Paoa Heiau, as we only waited about 5 minutes until the sun touched the ocean, changing shape and color before disappearing for another day.
Tuesday February 19, 2002
Today was a smorgasbord of random vacation things, and it started with the Blue Room.
The Blue Room is a subterranean geological anomaly that is named for the quality of its light. After walking a very short trail near the northwest shore between Ke’e Beach and Ha’ena Beach Park, we came upon a gaping crescent shaped hole at the base of a cliff, hidden behind trees and boulders from the cliff above. The opening is about 100 feet wide and 20 feet tall, and it opens into the lava rock at a 45 degree angle downwards. After scrambling down into it, the still and crystal clear pool at the bottom stops forward progress… unless you go in! We waded into the cold cave waters, our eyes adjusting to the low light as we went. Even though we could easily see our feet, the cave’s bottom quickly dropped off deep into the earth below us.
We swam across the cave to the Blue Room, located through a triangular shaped opening in the far wall. Once inside, the chamber fills with a reflected and wavering pale milky aquamarine color that is filtered through the water from the skylight hole far above.
The rest of the cave beckoned, so we swam throughout the cave, including the farthest point way in the back under an impressively long rock overhang. This was the creepiest, since it got very dark and there was never anything to hold on to. The hard rock was a foot above our heads and the bottom was somewhere unknown. To explore any further would require scuba gear.
We celebrated our cave swimming with a delicious shave ice concoction at the old battered Wishing Well shave ice truck in Hanalei. It has sat there for 19 years and counting. After perusing the extensive selection, we went for the most extreme combo of ingredients: the Hanalei Sweetie. It consists of 5 different ice flavorings layered in bands across the ice, macadamia nut ice cream on the bottom, condensed milk cream on top, and coconut shavings. I think I finally converted Karen into a shave ice zealot with this one.
We have met some interesting folks by picking up hitchhikers. We started with the local barefoot punk surfer trio yesterday, and picked up a chef looking to work on a sailboat bound for New Zealand (he lived on a 16 foot sailboat for a year in Florida; he said all of his worldly possessions were contained within the small backpack that was on his lap) and a young female German artist who was living on the island in a tent for a year. Lots of interesting stories and lifestyle ideas. If time and space is available, we’ll pick up more!
Next stop was ‘Anini Beach, where Karen snorkeled and I wrote under a tree with the birds.
That evening, we did a little maintenance on our rental home’s two rusty mountain bikes and headed for a wonderful trail that hugged the coast from just north of Kapa’a all the way to the secluded cove near Donkey Beach (where we snorkeled earlier). The trail goes even further, but the sun had set and dark was closing in when we turned around.
The trail is a basic gravel road with little offshoots that could be challenging and fun with the proper bike. Given the combo of trail, access, and gorgeous coastline scenery, this ranks as one of my most favorite mountain bike trails yet.
Karen went ahead as I explored some side trails on the return, and I spent the most beautiful 10 minutes of the trip so far on an old, wave battered concrete pier. The pier only consisted of remnants of its former self, and the two main horizontal beams were each only about a foot wide with no railings or any supports, so some sure-footedness was important as I walked out above the rocky coast to a point 20 feet in the air above the pounding surf. The perspective was great: waves building in front of me, swelling, and crashing on the rocks below so that the spray just barely touched my dangling shoes. Each wave would hit with a rumbling thump, shaking the pier, and then the sizzling sound of spray hitting the rocks would fill the air. With the sunset colors on the clouds above and the darkening blues in the ocean world on all sides, it was a special place and time.
Wednesday February 20, 2002
We enjoyed our last morning at the Wailua Pali Inn. I highly recommend this as a place to stay: modern, clean, private, lots of amenities, and a nice hostess.
We decided that today would be our day for the famous helicopter circumnavigation tour of Kauai, so we bopped around in the morning until our early afternoon flight reservation came up. Karen was drawn back to Mother’s organics (the rusted truck and fruit stand) to get a Kiss of Paradise frosty: pureed banana, pureed strawberry, chocolate chips, and macadamia nuts. Good, but it paled in comparison to yesterday’s Hanalei Sweetie taste explosion (though it was healthier; ain’t that always the trade-off…?).
I wanted to drive inland up the Kuamo’o Road along the Wailua River to see more of the island interior. Along the way, we checked out an ancient and sacred heiau religious site as well as lush ‘Opaeka’a Falls before heading south again to the Lihu’e airport area.
We decided to go with Jack Harter Helicopters, which is the granddaddy of all the Kauai helicopter tours and is known for having well informed and enthusiastic pilots. Karen had never been on a helicopter before, so this was a double first for her.
After receiving the safety brief, complete with corny jokes, and after meeting the other four passengers, we donned our life vests and boarded the O-Star. After a backwards float and a swivel, the helicopter whooshed upwards over Lihu’e as though on a vibrating high speed elevator.
Kauai quickly unfolded before us, and the grins started. Our pilot (nicknamed “Smooth Operator”) had a free flowing, laid back narrative that explained what we were seeing in the towns, geology, soils, vegetation, movie location sites, plantations, people, and history as we circumnavigated clockwise around the island.
The helicopters get into remote sheer valleys that are not even accessed by trails, yet alone roads. And the perspective in skimming close over sheer drop-off ridges and entering a new green waterfall-rimmed canyon is quite a spectacle. Hovering near the valley walls beside mountain goats is something not otherwise experienced elsewhere.
The trip culminates in the rugged and beautiful Na Pali coast, where we entered sharp V-shaped valleys and flew out over the ocean to look back at the island views. Just before returning to the helipad, we entered a semicircular valley of 2,000 foot vertical walls spilling with waterfalls; it made both Karen and I talk later about what it takes to become a helicopter pilot in Kauai…
We certainly do not always agree with the usual list of “must sees”, but this experience definitely should be on anyone’s list if they go to Kauai since it is such an easy and accessible way to get a great perspective on the geology and intricacies of the island.
Once back to earth, we began the second half of our vacation by moving around to the south shore. Driving along the main coast-hugging road, we went straight to our new accommodations at Aloha-Kauai Vacation Rental. The neighborhood and view is very nice from its spot on a hill in the town of Kalaheo , but the amenities and construction is much simpler than the Wailua Pali Inn. Wailua Pali can get one spoiled, but these new accommodations are better located for the south/west areas and are also $45/day cheaper, so we’ll put up with the dirty pots and noises from the neighbors in the attached house. Regarding the owners: they both seemed very nice, although one was somewhat spacey when Karen tried to get info from her via e-mail. But, that all worked out and the change of location and community is welcome.
This evening, we watched the sun set through the wave-induced blowhole of Spouting Horn in Po’ipu, where waves rush up a horizontal tunnel and then spurt through a vertical lava rock hole 25-30 feet into the air. Even more interesting is a nearby air blowhole that wails and moans with the coming and going of each wave. By Hawaiian legend, the sound is from a giant female mo’o lizard that was injured by the spear of an ancient fisherman. I even found a tidal pool that bubbled as each wave came in, pushing air into the underground lava tubes and up through small invisible cracks in the shore’s rock shelf. It was a fun place to explore as the daylight faded and the mournful wailing sounds continued into the night.
Thursday February 21, 2002
We started the day at JoJo’s shave ice shop in Waimea. JoJo’s is famous for possibly having the best shave ice on the entire island, so it was of course a required destination. Since Karen was not hungry, we only got flavors without ice cream or extras (for another time…).
Looking at the 60 flavors (the owner mixes 55 of the 60 flavors himself), we went for the bizarre: 3 separated flavors of lilikoi, lychee, and seeded li hing mui (imported from China). Upon asking the owner what li hing mui tasted like, he crinkled his nose and said with a straight face “it’s what you feed your dog when you don’t want it to come back home to you.” It’s apparently an “acquired taste” that some of the locals enjoy. So, with that glowing recommendation, we of course had to try it. Lilikoi was somewhat tangerinish; the li hing mui was an unexpected taste sensation mixing strong zesty fruit with spicy overtones.
I will give JoJo’s the nod for best ice: finest powder and practically no melting. Also, the flavors are varied and interesting. We need to go back for some fancier concoctions.
The remote and unpopulated west side of the island was our main destination for the day. We had seen Waimea Canyon (“the Grand Canyon of Kauai”) from the air and the Na Pali coast from a hike, so now we intended to drive inland from the south side up to the overlooks and trails of Koke’e State Park.
A wonderful road winds left and right all along an upper spine of the mountains along Waimea Canyon, ending on the inland outskirts of the Na Pali coast. The views are consistently great: high up looking into valleys and waterfalls that cascade over the sheer mineral-hued rock cliffs and twisted green vegetation. In some cases, we were actually looking down on helicopters flying through as we had the previous day. The road ends at Pu’u o Kila Lookout, yielding a 360 degree view out over the Pacific, up the Na Pali coast, within Waimea Canyon, and into the wet island interior.
Wanting to get off the road and into the canyon, we hiked along local hunting trails to Waipo’o Falls. We had actually seen these falls from the air, and now we hiked through the forests and razorback ridges to the top of its two huge plunges. Karen luxuriated in a cool rock-lined natural pool as I sat at the edge of the falls watching the water fall hundreds of feet below my own feet.
The hike only takes about three hours at a very relaxed pace, and is well worth it. Besides the final fantasy-like destination, it offers surprises along the way such as wild ginger and a long river tube flowing through the inside of the mountain.
After heading back part of the way on the other of the area’s two roads, we took in a little local history from the early 1800’s by investigating the lava rock ramparts of an old Russian fort. It was built to help protect Russian-American trade routes, well before Hawaii became a state. There we watched the sun set behind a low bank of Pacific clouds from the fort’s very own beach.
Friday February 22, 2002
Nooks and crannies were the emphasis of the day, exploring a selection of interesting sites along the south shore.
The sharp, gnarled lithified cliffs rimming the coastline east of Kawailoa Bay outside of Po’ipu beckoned first. The cliffs are formed from solidified ancient sand dunes that are etched and gnarled into spiky, pockmarked shapes by salt water and wind action over the centuries. The cliffs form pier-like overhangs, blowholes, and living tidal pools throughout.
After climbing along the cliffs to Ha’ula Beach just northeast, we circled back on an inland trail. Kawailoa Bay’s beach enticed both of us to stay longer: I wrote and read there while Karen did yoga and meditation. Quite relaxing in a pretty location.
Shave ice at the Hawaiian Hut in Hanapepe called to us. We tried three flavors with “secret sauce” on top: cinnamon, blackberry, and honey dew melon. All were good, and the cinnamon was a particularly pleasant surprise.
Our next spot, Glass Beach in Hanapepe, is unusual. Located behind a loud and smelly industrial area, Glass Beach is true to its name. The surrounding shoreline is slowly eroding straight into an old garbage dump, and glass shards are liberated and tumbled to smoothness by the waves. One small cove collects the tumbled glass pieces, and hence the name “Glass Beach”! This is one of the few places where we would actually go just to visit trash.
We hopped on the rocks of the coastline and took a very interesting, nice-surprises scramble up the coast. Metal, plastic, and glass protrudes from the dirt bluffs like fossils or an archaeological dig. Metal pieces have somehow twisted and “melted” around the rocks, forming what looks just like molten junk that has flowed and cooled over the underlying lava rock. Natural discoveries abound, too: rock bridges, sea caves, peepholes, blowholes, and tidal pools moving with life.
After driving a short distance west along the coast, we came to the salt ponds that have been used for centuries by native Hawaiian families. The ponds are filled with sea water, and this also fills small rectangular handmade shallow pools (about 6 feet by 3 feet) that line the bottom of the pond. The water remains trapped in these short-walled pools, evaporates, and leaves behind dried sea salt on the red clay bottom for later harvesting.
From this area, we saw a powered glider trike taking off and landing from a local strip airport. It looks like fun, and we talked about lots of possibilities for the future. This warrants further investigation…
Every Friday night, the local Hanapepe artists’ community has an open house art walk through the local galleries, complete with live Hawaiian music on the sidewalks and many artists in attendance. I especially liked the abstract Salvador Dali-like work of Lew Shortridge. If only for a fatter wallet…
Saturday February 23, 2002
Saturday was started with another trip to JoJo’s shave ice, this time for the funky sounding Filipino desert Halo Halo. The Halo Halo consists of shave ice with vanilla-like flavoring, topped with haupia coconut cream, and filled at the bottom with azuki beans, pineapple gel, coconut sport, jack fruit, sweet palm fruit, and purple yam jam. It was certainly… interesting, but the funky textures, chewy ingredients, and big divergence from the usual shave ice to-be-savored taste made it a one-timer.
We then traveled into the heart of the undeveloped part of the island, back to the Pu’u o Kila Lookout at the very end of the west shore road. The Pihea Trail and Alaka’i Swamp Trail form an 8 mile hike into the backcountry that became my favorite hike of this vacation.
The trails flow up and down the ridges above the Na Pali coastline, starting with a slick red clay path that has formed foot-holes in its sometimes steep surfaces over the years. These trails were originally used by native Hawaiians traveling to visit family members between the north and west shores. About halfway in, the world’s highest elevation swamp (Alaka’i) starts, and the way was significantly eased just a few years ago when rustic boardwalks were placed over the goopy bogs. We really appreciated the convenience this brought to our hike, since the original trail travelers could sometimes get thigh deep in swamp mud.
This was my favorite hike on the island since it exposed nature in a true, un-clear-cut form as far as we could see to the forest’s horizon in all directions. Stunted growth trees, exotic flowers, and ferns lined the hills all around, with only sounds of overlapping melodic bird songs and distant crashing waves on the shore thousands of feet below us.
After returning and cleaning ourselves up a bit, we wound down the windy roads back into Waimea for this weekend’s 25th annual Waimea Town Celebration. It was a big party for the locals, and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves in a laid back Kauaian way. We sampled poi balls, malasadas (which are like fried homemade donut holes), a local soup concoction, shrimp, potatoes, corn on the cob, and an inferior shave ice (more like a typical chunky snow ball / snow cone) with vanilla, strawberry, and banana flavorings. All good stuff after a great hike. We sat and listened to live reggae music under the stars, checked out the local crafts, and won a sugar plantation tour in a silent auction before heading back to our place for the evening.
Sunday February 24, 2002
As we’ve usually done during this trip, we followed a hiking day (yesterday) with a goof-around relaxation day. Po’ipu Beach was our chosen goof-around spot: I read and wrote while Karen snorkeled. This beach was the most crowded of all we have visited on this trip, but the pleasant amenities and monk seals lying on the beach made it a good pick for today, plus Karen saw some new interesting fish she had not previously come across.
We had our only disappointment of the trip when Birds In Paradise, a company that was supposed to take us up for a flight in a powered trike microglider, literally completely blew us off and did not even show up at the airport, did not let us know they were not going to honor our reservations, and never even followed up later with an apology after I left several messages on their unattended answering machine. Considering their lack of professionalism and courtesy at every step (even the reservation lady on the initial phone conversation had a rude attitude), Birds In Paradise is very UNrecommended. Sounds like they need some good ol’ competition from a competent glider company.
After readjusting our plans, we headed back to JoJo’s in Waimea for a shave ice consolation pig-out. First concoction: chocolate, mint, and coconut flavors with vanilla ice cream and haupia coconut sauce. Second concoction: lemon, butterscotch, and cantaloupe flavors, with haupia coconut sauce and coconut shreds.
The remote western shore beach of Polihale beckoned, and we drove the heavily potholed dirt road to its wide expanses of dunes below the southern edge of the high Na Pali coastline. The beach walking was excellent as the sun set over Ni’ihau Island and lit up the multi-shaped clouds with orange. We sat on the beach, mesmerized by the multi-layered wave forms that occur off the beach where waves curl at multiple spots. Backwash and rip currents literally crash straight upwards into incoming waves, and wave fronts will splash upwards in a moving line down the coastline that looks like a huge lit fuse cord burning fast down the coast or a swift subsurface monster pushing up water from below. We watched until we clearly saw our moon shadows in the sand.
Monday February 25, 2002
Well, wrap-up day has finally come. It has been a fun, interesting, and relaxing vacation. We can see why people move to this island!
After packing up, we went to the ex-sugar mill area of Old Koloa Town for lunch, and then went to one of the two remaining sugar plantations in the Hawaiian Islands (out of an original 24) for an informative tour. Gay & Robinson is the highest yielding sugar plantation per acre in the world, and its mix of time-tested farming techniques with modern industrial processing showed the convergence of experience, business, and mass production efficiencies.
The rest of the afternoon was spent fulfilling some “unfulfilled missions”: shopping, eating very good and cheap local food at Mark’s Place, and finding lilikoi pie to satiate Karen’s taste bud curiosity.
Kauai is a wonderful place to vacation, and we were able to explore many of its highlights by experiencing the qualities of its island offerings. Highly recommended for a relaxing island get-away!