We split up

Well we split up for the morning.

Marjan visited the local beach, read, chatted to Dani and some other stuff I am sure. But basically a laid back morning.

Well sort of laid back as she got me to my boat at 6:30 am. She is a gem!

Before I start, a word about our accommodation: I have been known to, on rare occasions, to split an infinitive, exaggerate ever so slightly. Dani's shack is more than a lean-to though less than a house. It is perfectly described and we chose it knowing what we were getting. There are dozens of lovely resorts and hotels here. We chose this place because that is how we chose to travel. So do not feel concerned about lack of comfort, there is none. We are where we chose to be.

The Napali Riders run a zodiac up the Napali Coast. I joined them. I ended up at the pointy end, which in a zodiac means you bounce up and down lots. So a low score for comfort. However this was one of the few boats out because of the hurricane, so top marks for getting the weather absolutely right. A glorious day with calm seas.

The Na Pali Coast is one of the highlights here and seeing it by air and now boat has been terrific. Of course being as this was a smallish boat, we not only got to see the coast but actually get into it. Several times our captain took the boat into caves. Caves with waterfalls across the entrence, caves with no roof and an island in the middle( the old roof anyone?), caves with waterfalls inside, caves with birds and bats, and in one stunning move a cave where we came out of a different door.

All good. We even stopped for a snorkle which was fun with Anna's camera.

When Marjan and I met up again we lunched, shopped and decided to make the most of the calm before the storm. Another visit up the Waimea Canyon. We did the Canyon trail a four mile (or 3.6 according to some, but we think 4 is more realistic) hike through jungle, along incredible cliffs to see........a waterfall. Of course this is the waterfall from our firts day in the canyon, so you can get a feel for it. See photos six and seven in that entry. With the bare ridge to the left of the falls a quite hairy late part of the walk, and the location of the photographer in 6 and 7 the beginning of the walk.

On the way up we found some running water.

The walk was mostly downhill, so the legs got a good workout. We both hated the last bit, which was a steep downhill along the side of the canyon with loose sandy gravel and very little grip. Ughhh!!!!.

At any rate the little watefall was cool and inviting.

The big waterfall was hard to see without falling down several hundred metres, but the views we stunning. And the rock formations either odd or created by a daredevil.

On the way back, going slow due to the constant uphill, we ran into four spanish women who had not even got a hotel they came right over to the park because they had heard that it was closing tomorrow due to the hurricane. We also bumped into an elderly couple who put us to shame...still we have no shame.

The trip back up did not seem as daunting as we had feared, so we made the time to visit a couple of   Outlooks ( not lookouts they are outlooks....and the light switches are on on the up position)

Finally when we got back Dani tried to make us feel useful by tying down some stuff and putting other stuff in the shed. They had been getting hurricane ready all day. We sort of felt guilty. 

Intrepid adventurers

We started our day out yesterday at the very respectable hour of 9 am. All we knew was that we were booked on a kayaking trip to a lovely bay with our host Dani, who works as a private guide as well as running her Air b'n'b. We should have got a bit of a hint as to her plans when she asked if we had river shoes, which of course we didn't. We packed light this time.

As Dani loaded up her truck with kayaks and a paddle boards, the other couple who were joining us on our adventure arrived. A delightful young, fit looking Californian couple who have been camping out and hiking in the canyon for the past few days. Dani is an incredibly fit, tanned mother of 5 grown up children who is 1/2 my size with about 20 times my energy. And then there was us.

The journey to Kalihiwai bay took about 1 1/2 hours and the weather changed completely from grey and stormy looking on the west coast to blue skies and calm waters on the north shore.
Our destination was a very picturesque bay, fringed with palm trees  and a river outlet. Our plan was to kayak  upriver, then secure our kayaks on the riverbank and walk upstream to the waterfall.
The land is privately owned so we had to walk in the water rather than along the river's edge so that we weren't  trespassing. This is where the river shoes came in . We were both wearing borrowed shoes. The view on the way up river was amazing, green, lush tropical jungle, hibiscus flowers floating the water, with the sound of wild roosters crowing in the background. Raf and I had some issues with steering and coordinating the paddling, so we initially zigzagged up the river rather than heading straight up the middle, but eventually we got a bit of a rhythm going.

Once we could  go no further in the kayaks, Dani secured them on the riverbank  and we headed up on foot, on very slippery rocks. We managed to stay upright most of the time. But a coupe of tumbles and one broken shoe later we arrived at the falls. They were breathtaking. A triple level waterfall, with a pool at its base and no-one  else but us to be seen. Apparently the only other access is via horseback tour, so it's not known to tourist at all. Just locals. We swam across the pool, sat under the waterfall and felt the serenity.

Feel the serenity

The return trip seemed quicker and easier, as return trips usually do. It helped that we had the current working with us rather than against us. We still managed a couple of tumbles but only bruised egos.

Then lunch under the trees on the beach before the next part of the adventure. We were going to kayak out of the river, into the bay towards open ocean, then around the point to a place called Mermaids Cove. Again Dani checked with me to make sure I was okay with a 'bit of a scramble" up the rocks. "No worries " said I blithely.  I was more worried about the kayaking in the direction of the open ocean bit, given that we have a hurricane coming and everyone has been saying how quickly things can change. But I was willing to defer to local knowledge and forge on ahead.

We almost made it out of the river into the sea without a problem, until the first wave hit and we capsized. Of course  we were just demonstrating the incorrect way to exit a kayak and the incorrect side to be on said capsized kayak so that when the next wave hits, the kayak knocks you over. Again.
Anyway, back into the kayak and heading out to the point. We managed to avoid all the rocks and then we saw the cove.  We had imagined a nice sandy beach with a bit of a snorkelling trip at the other end. What it was in fact, was a small rocky cove, no beach, entering into a sea cave with a blowhole inside. We were given instructions on how to get out of the kayaks and up the rock face between waves. Dani made it sound pretty straightforward. It was all going quite well until I tried to get out of the kayak and capsized it. Again. Luckily years of guiding and bringing up teenagers has made Dani very calm, so no panic ensued. We all made it up the rocks without further mishaps.

So then we see the entrance, and I use this term loosely, to the cave. It is in fact a 10 foot drop into the  pool in front of the cave. Everyone else took the leap, Raf included. I backtracked down the rockface,  slipped quietly and gracefully into the water and swam into the pool.  There is only so much intrepid adventuring I can take in one day.

The next swim was through a narrow rock opening into the cave itself. Again this had to be timed between swells of water, which seemed to me at this stage to be getting larger and more frequent.
Once we made it into the cave, it was incredible. It was filled with water, so we were still floating, but at the back of the cave was a blowhole. I have stood next to many blowholes, but i have never been swimming  in a sea cave next to one.  Very awesome.

Going in

Please do not complain about this. This was what the cave looked like when the blowhole blew. By the way regards to the clever lass who loaned me her underwater camera......whoohoo Anna.

We spent a few minutes in there then swam out again through the rock opening into the cove, with the ever increasing swells coming through the entrance. Up the rock face again, and across some rocks to have a look at a little bay around the corner which looked delightful, with yet another triple waterfall but which was only accessible with a hike and a...........and this  is where the sensible half of the partnership lost it with the iPad. So the slighly less sane but taller one takes over.

Then way out.

Suffice to say this place was at the base of a cliff on which Ben Stiller has his house and we found a pair of socks. After some really complicated manouvres to get back into our kayaks, We headed back  to land and tried very hard to line up the surf and the entry to the river. Yep! we flipped her again. Still we were laughing as we come up. By the way Damian and Nina( young, fit, athletic couple) flipped theirs too. It was tough. So tough we had a ten year old give us a push off to get on our way to the landing.

Truly an awesome day. We both did stuff we probably would never have thought to do and it was good. 

On our way home Dani invited us to view the sunset with her church group at Salt Pond Beach. We did, we were also invited to eat with them and joined in their after meal bible games and sing along. OK, all you cynics can stop now. No, it is not normally us. However we were invited and accepted so openly and warmly that we had a thoroughly enjoyable time.

OK that was yesterday. I will try to catch up on today during the evening.

Five 0

OK some people go to Paris, stay on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées and do a cooking class, some go to to South Africa on a private safari ranch and rough it in luxury tents with the big animals, some go to Bali and surf every day, even to Byron Bay for the yoga. Marjan and I go to suburban Kekaha, stay in a lean-to in someone's backyard and turn the tap on for the local cat when it jumps in our sink. Is this travel or are we stupid?

By the way, why do local politicians (it is coming up elections here and the signs are everywhere) never mention party affiliations? Also why do locals queue for gasoline everywhere you go? More on this later.

We set off early for our helicopter flight. I did not sleep well because of the heat overnight so I was dozing through the spiel until I heard the words "in case of a water touchdown". The adrenalin kicked in right away. They apparently do the seating based on marital compatability and butt size. Marjan got seat 1, I got seat 7. Marjan got to sit next to Joffrey our pilot, I was being clipped in the behind by the tail rotor.

The weather was not great, with a little cloud about, particularly on the heights. As we took off we got the Hawai five oh theme...corny but fun. Through all that it was still a worthwhile and awe inspiring experience, particularly for Marjan in the front. Waimea Canyon and the Na'pali Coast were absolutely awesome from the air. A whole new perspective. 

Lower canyon with Waimea in the background

Three hundred metr drop

Spot the other helicopter

What we particularly liked though was the mystery of the cloud topped valley leading to Mount Wai'ale'ale. The highest point on Kaua'i and the 'wettest place on earth' ( a short digression....no it is not. I always thought it was in India and looked it up, various sources confirmed it. This is one of the wettest places on earth, or the wettest place in the USA but NOT on earth.....whew, just had to get those yanks off my back). The chooper could not make it up over the mountain to see the crater that is now a swamp as we hit the clouds and they became our ceiling. But the scenery was very King Kong (now we also saw that, yes that, King Kong mountain, it along with Jurassic Park and Hunger Games scenery is on Kaua'i). At any rate it was terrific and bugger the expense. The children will just have to do it harder.

So after the chopper we had a coffee and morning tea to get our land legs back. Bought some decent cheese (it was Manchego...say no more!) and headed off for a beach crawl. Ke'e beach to start. This is right on the edge of the Na'pali Coast and fringed by reef. No snorkles so we just swam, watched the other tourist doing the burning sand shuffle to the water, and checked out the chickens looking for scraps. We had a couple of swims in between a pleasant picnic in the shade. Marjan jumped me and splashed water in my eyes. As if the helicopter back row was not bad enough. That woman!

Then on to Lumaha'i beach where I swam in the river and we watched a couple of frigate birds hovering above us. A great kid's  beach with very calm river beach front and a wilder surf beach.

We then decided we would like to see more frigate birds but the Kilauea wildlife sanctuary was closing in 30 mintes so we decided not to stay ( County officials start work at 7:45 so they go home early too). Instead we went to Moloa'a Bay to stare at the shorefront real estate and have a swim without having to worry at the mortgage. Neat hey.

On the way back we stopped at the good supermarket again for some fish. It was crowded, I mean really crowded. A huge line in front of every register, people carting off huge loads of canned food and water. We decided to risk talking to a yank and asked if this was normal. After all who can tell? It's the storm he said. Some people are panicking he said. He personally had 24 bottles of water and one bottle of whiskey. Be OK he said, no need to overreact, I am just here because I have the grand kids staying. That explained the whiskey.

So whilst everyone stocked up on emergency supplies we stocked on on two pieces of Mahi Mahi and a lime. 

When we got in the car we tried to find a news radio station. We could not find one so we settled for Alice Cooper playing our kind of musak. We were immediately calmed and felt much better about dying on Kaua'i. We got back to our lean-to and hijacked the internet from the people who live in a house. It told us that we have Hurricane Iselle bearing down on us Thursday and if we survive that on Sunday Tropical Storm Julio is going to sing up a ....well you get it. By the way I am due to go out in a rubber dinghie on Thursday and we have a flight booked over a volcano on Sunday. People who live in lean-tos should not throw cats out at night.

Marie Anne and I have begun to take this seriously, we are practicing being mean to other people. Luckily for us it all comes naturally. We were made to feel much better when the owner of the lean-to came to tell us we were all in this together, and if absolutely necessary she would let us doss in her garage........all jokes aside, Danii our host has made sure we are aware that her house will be ours if needed and that we are part of her family's emergency plan.

Having said all that we still plan to go kayaking tomorrow. Apparently waterfalls in the river are part of the plan....walking to said waterfalls I hope and not kayaking over them. Still with us, who knows?

A couple of late extras. The mahi mahi and lime was delicious but we have nothing left to eat after the hurricane. Also, people point at laugh at our little car. A little girl waved, when I waved back her Mum said she thought it must be full of munchkins. One bloke hung his camera phone out his window to take our picture. Small cars amuse yanks. Yanks amuse me. We all win.

No photos till tomorrow as we are planning on skyping some of the soon to be poor but bereft.

Waimea

A hiking day. We did not start as early as we had planned, some folk over the road had a very active and late Sunday. Still we decided that the walk was the way to go. So up into the Waimea Canyon we drove. Interestingly there are lots of eucalypt through here. They were used to reforest the area after the twenties had seen much of it denuded by cattle and goats. We got glimpses of stunning views on the way up but we were headed for the end of the road; Pu'uo Kila lookout over the Kalalau Valley. Stunning, I know the one-off pictures here will not do it justice,Ii hope to get a good panorama from the dozens of photos I took. Helicopters are like bees around here taking people in for aerial tours.

The morning had periods of mist

And the light was nice through the forest

And we were looking good at the top in Pihea.

From here we walked a mile to the Pihea vista. Slight elevation to 4284 feet. The walk was short but relatively tough as it was quite uneven footing in many places due to the extraordinary amount of erosion. Kauai is slowly eroding back to the sea after being thrust up in a huge explosion many millions of years ago. Some nice views back to the other side of the Kalalau Valley and a quite steep climb to the top of Pihea, which of course proved more challenging on the way back. This is half of the trip I'd like to do, depending on Marjan and how she pulls up. Perhaps later in the week.

There is a helicopter in this photo. I just cannot find it now. I took it specifically to show how small the choppers looked.. And that is a tourist boat along the coast.

On the way back down we stopped at Kalalau and it was nice. Stunning views are stunning views and these were stunning. We had lunch at the Koke'e museum come restaurant come camping ground. A picnic in the shade whilst a couple of cocks decided to put on a show. Mostly it was crow, run, and back off, but once they actually got the hackles up and flapped up at each other talons first. Apart from the cock fighting we knew we were not in Europe...the smallgoods from the supermarket were edible....just. The cheese needed to be decribed that way as nobody could tell otherwise...and that was after we chose the 'sharp cheddar'. When travelling in Spain, good food was a given. I suspect we may to work harder here.

Back on the road we stopped at a couple of places to look at the Waimea Canyon. Awesome place, really magnificent. Again the photos do not do it justice. The waterfall is only one qurter to one third of the drop down the canyon. It is pretty dry at present otherwise there would be more falls.

The falls in context....ie without a telephoto

And we were still looking OK

Well, back home to change and head to the beach. We are working our way through the guidebook's best 15 beaches. Today it was Kiahuna next to the Sheraton. A little beach with difficult parking and a very steep drop. Two metres in I was about shoulder deep. The water was lovely but a bit choppy so Marjan only had one swim. So that meant she got to drive home. Her first drive on the 'wrong' side of the road. She did well, a little panicky at first but calmed right down. Must say it was a relief to be a passenger.

An interesting question to chase up here is why such a large number of the 4WD cars have elevated chassis, some to a ridiculous extent. Also why there are so many churches.

Anyway dinner was lovely plain food cooked well, so foodwise we improved over tha day. Made a few phone calls so we are settled in for our hard adventuer mid-week. Helicopter around the island tomorrow, kayak down a river and into the ocean Wednesday, and dolphin chasing in a zodiac on Thursday (Marjan not joining me on the zodiac).

See you later

Around the beaches

We crashed by eight. Both of us doing synchronised crash sleeping after half a sentence from our respective ebooks. I woke for a bit around three thirty but managed to crash again. Bed was lovely and the odd car driving by was a mere background to the snores.

Well after a very solid and long sleep we finally got going around nineish. Decided that one coffee was not enough so we did a cofee tasting and self guided tour of the local coffee plantation. The coffee was nice and the staff friendly. The parking spot was cute too.

After that we drove to a waterfall. 

Then to Hanamalu Beach Park where we did not swim.

Finally a beach we wanted to swim at Anini Beach. A lovely spot with amazing houses right on the beach. The beaches here have some nicely maintained parks and people seem to make the most of them. Lots of family picnics going on. I keep wondering if they catch the chickens for the BBQ. We walked around here for a while. Had some fruit for lunch and had a second swim. Lovely.

 Hanalei bay was next. Awesome location. Hopefully you can see the waterfall in the first pic. The context in the second and the broad context in the third. Seemed very popular and amazing how many cars actually get parked on the beach. Not all of it but a section on one side of the creek was wall to wall cars right down to where people were sitting on the beach. We enjoyed the swim, the setting and a nice lunch. The place we ate lunch at had all the manly necessities on TV....the gridiron channel, the surfing channel, the ice hockey channel, and much to Marjan's delight the deer hunting chanel. Good thing we did not order venison !

Nice view on the way back too.

So by then it was time to head back. We decided to go via the very glitzy Princeville. Apparently there is a nice rock pool. We did not make it. The parking lot was full, of cars and signs saying not to park outside the lot. Given there was a local security/police person sitting in their car we decided to move on. This area reeks of money, it is a private community, not gated but close to it. 

Just down the road was the Anahola Beach Park. Much more Raf friendly, and just the place for our final swim.

So a nice relaxing day. We will try for the actaul hiking tomorrow. Up to Waimea Canyon early if we can manage it. Bye for now. 

Dominic I will try for a buelo photo tomorrow.

Aloha from Kaua'i

Well we have made it across the international time zone and our plane did not disappear. Hooray for us.

We got a little nervous driving to the airport as the traffic around Fairfield was crawling and then there had been a car rolled over on the Tullamarine. However the normal Sanchez phobia had kicked in at leaving time so we still made it with plenty of time.

The plane was not completely full, but understandably extra room was made for parents of small children. Many of those small children joined together to create a 'progressive screech chorale'. Quite entertaining whilst trying to read, eat or sleep. Actually i am merely whining for effect. There was a bit of crying but overall the flight was fine and we managed some sleep. Marjan in fact managed a few hours all up. We woke to a very impressive sunrise but i did not want to wake others, given the thechildren were all asleep, so I have no photos.

Arrived safely in Honolulu flying over some impressive naval hardware. The airport was interesting. It had obviously been designed in more innocent times. With the advent of all the security stuff it was a little awkward, with lines cross and people going out one door to come back in another. All Ok, just a little confusing for the slightly jet-lagged. A coffee at Starbucks gave us a bit of a kick along and we hopped on to the flight to Lihue in Kuau'i. Flew over a submarine on the way. Only a twenty minute hop over a blue sea dotted with white caps and dozens of small boats and of course one submarine.

Arrived at Lihue a little ahead of schedule. Slightly overcast and humid conditions. We picked the car up, a little Chevy Spark (Sparky of course) after fighting off the various, friendly, upgrade attempts at the Alamo car rental place. Drove right over to an AT&T shop to find that the replacement phone I Bought in Europe, after the old one was stolen, does not work in the US of A. So I now have one phone per visited continent. The young lad at the shop was lovely though and so we now have a working phone (# emailed to progeny).

So we headed out to Poipu in the new car. Driving was fairly straight forward. None of the dramas of Europe, apart from the road signs being somewhat lacking. Lunch of various seafoody things was had a Brenneker's overlooking Poipu Beach Park. We felt refreshed enough to change and have a swim. The park like much of this island seems to be well populated with free range chooks (Sparrows and Indian Mynahs as well). We had a nice swim each, spotted a couple of Green turtles in the shallows and a Hawaiian Monk Seal basking. Nice way to collect our thought before driving on towards our accommodation. 

We drove through lots of flowering plants (frangipani, bougainville of various colours, something that looks like a flame tree etc etc)past a coffee plantation and have booked it in for a morning tasting. We also drove past somewhere that had pupu specials (perish the thought). We stopped at the Waimea supermarket and did a small stock up on fruits and brekky things. Five minutes later we were at our accommodation in  Kekeha. Rustic is one words that leaps to mind. It is a shack in someones front/back yard. Seems comfortable enough and it is certainly away from the touristy stuff. Having some afternoon tea of fresh fruit which is lovely.

If we do not collapse in a heap we may go off and walk around another beach.

In the meantime Aloha from Marjan.

An update. Rather than fall asleep a four in the afternoon, we decided to head out and find more beaches. I got dumped by a wave at McCarthur Park beach and then we both had a very pleasant swim at the Salt Pond Beach. So now it is 6:30 and if we manage to stay awake whilst i cook some tuna and a slop together a salad we will have been going for well over a day. I think we can be forgiven for collapsing in bed.

Leaving Honolulu

Arriving Lihue

Lunch

Turtles and watchers

Seal