Hawaii II - Day 2

Day 2: The North
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True to her threats, Sabrina dragged me out of bed at the arse-crack of dawn to go watch the sunrise. She, of course, had already been up for an hour (apparently not everyone can just change their internal clocks on a whim), and took some pictures from the balcony at first light. The first photo is timestamped 5:25 AM.



By the time I "finally" made it down to the beach, it was "already" 6:15 or so.



Since we were up anyway, we walked across the street to a bakery for some breakfast. It being around 7 AM, they were still baking, so it was about 105° F in there.



The plan for today was roughly "drive north on the road that goes around the island, until it ends", plus "beach" and "snorkel". So we rented some snorkel gear from a place named Snorkel Bob's, headed north, and found more chickens.



Along the way, we stopped at every location marked "scenic lookout", and some that were neither marked nor scenic, to take more photos.



The lookout at the Hanalei National Wildlife Refuge reveals a stunning view, looking south over the taro fields down in the valley. I recall reading somewhere that this valley produces over half of all the taro grown in Hawaii.



After Princeville, the road turns into a "scenic drive", officially Route 560 (and also still part of the Kuhio Highway (Rt. 56) that nearly circumnavigates the island) sprinkled with one-lane bridges, narrow stretches with cars parked on both sides, dotted with pedestrians and cyclists, and more chickens.



When we finally reached the end, at Ke'e beach and/or Haʻena State Park, there was nowhere to park, so we backtracked about 3/4 of a mile, ditched the rental car on the side of the road, and walked back to the end of the road, as is apparently the custom. (Photo is not our car. You think Sabrina would let me park illegally? Ha!)



We stashed our stuff amongst the rocks and headed in for some barely-underwater exploration. Sabrina had some technical difficulties with her mask, but I was able to upgrade Snorkel Bob's finest equipment from "leaky" to "passable" via judicious application of duct tape. Never again will I be criticized for always traveling with a roll of duct tape (and a flashlight).



I managed to take dozens of photos (and videos, some of which were intentionally video, none of which were intentionally slow-mo) of fish, coral, my flippers, other people, Sabrina, a seal, an upside-down lobster, etc.; operation of the iPhone touchscreen underwater is tricky, especially when trying to follow a fish while being jostled by waves. Yes, I take my phone in the ocean. Don't you? Lifeproof™ case FTW.



The water appears very green, or very clear, depending on the amount of cloud blocking the sun and the whim of the whitepoint calculation in the iPhone.



Having exhausted the snorkeling opportunities (and my phone's battery), we packed up and headed back to the car; Ke'e beach was actually quite crowded, despite being at the literal end of the island, so we decided to backtrack slightly to the park entrance and Ha'ena beach proper.



We relaxed on the beach for... I have no idea how long... an hour? Maybe two?

It rain-showered very briefly, as it has done sporadically since we got here, but we are always prepared.



Oh, and there's a cave (so-called "dry cave", in contrast to the one filled with water by Ke'e beach) that was large but had nothing in it. (Always travel with a flashlight!)



Does anyone know what the hell this is? I've seen them all around the island.



It was around 4 PM when we began the return trip. We discussed options for things to stop and see on the way back. There's allegedly a lighthouse north of Kilauea, but the internets told us it closed at 4. We tabled this option until further notice.

The option we chose to exercise was stopping at the .Hanalei Pier. The weather inland looked threatening, although the beach was busy. It started to rain again, so we retreated to the car and continued along the coast.



Our last stop was yet another beach (it's just beaches and beaches, eveywhere) for a quick look around. The rock suggests it was Kealia Beach, which is enough evidence for me.



When we got back to the condo, we took a quick rinse in the pool (more like a hot tub, at 94° F) before unpacking and heading out again for dinner. Someone was grilling next to the pool, which put me on the hunt for something with teriyaki sauce. We ended up at Bubba's, where my craving was satisfied. Sabrina had a taro (veggie) burger. She seemed slightly underwhelmed by it.

Tomorrow, if we've correctly reckoned which day it is, should involve some kayaking, a river, possibly some hiking, and possibly some waterfall. Stay tuned.

P.S. Why does Google Photos think the videos from the iPhone are from the future? It keeps dating them as today+1. Inquiring minds need to know.

Hawaii II - Days 0 and 1

Hawaii, part 2: The returning.

Day 0: airports
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Continuing with our tradition of returning to the same foreign/exotic locations, we have returned to Hawaii.

It's been over 7 years since our last trip (Yes, I know the photos are broken. Yes, I will fix this some day), but this time we're splitting our time approximately equally between Kauai and Oahu; The overachieving Dr. T has graciously brought me along on yet another academic conference, so that I might chauffeur her around and serve as photo journalist. This time, we have elected to vacation prior to conferencing, and will head first to Kauai for 5 days before returning to Oahu for another 5.

The trip began as so many do: getting up earlier than I'd prefer, sitting in traffic, enduring the insufferable TSA, and questioning the sanity of fellow travelers who have brought small children on an airplane.

5 hours from Philly to LA, enough time for a (quite good, really) burger, then another 5 hours from LA to Honolulu. Despite leaving the house before 10 AM, it was after 9 PM (local) when we arrived in Hawaii (6 hours behind EDT), which is too late to catch the last flight to Lihue. So, we hitched a ride on the airport shuttle to an extremely adequate, but nearby, airport hotel for an 8-hour stay.

Day 1: The South
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Still operating somewhat on EDT internally, we were checked out of the hotel at 6:30 AM and headed back to the Honolulu airport, to be subjected once again to the vagaries of the TSA. At least this time, the scenery was nicer.



The inter-island flight was 30 or 40 minutes, after which we picked up our sweet rental car (the woman at the counter decided the guy ahead of us did "not look like a red car kind of guy", but then gave it to me instead).



We also encountered the first of many "do not feed the chickens" signs.



Side note about the chickens: we discussed this intermittently today, and have decided that while we certainly remember seeing wild chickens elsewhere in Hawaii (mostly Maui), there appear to be many, many more of them on Kauai. In fact, I created a game wherein I say "chicken" every time I see one on the side of the road, but gave up within 10 minutes because it had already gotten tiresome. They really are everywhere, and we have heard roosters crowing in the distance at every stop.

We stopped at a restaurant, whose name escapes me, near the airport for a quick lunch, and then headed south to explore.

The first stop was a chance encounter with a local rum distillery (or rather, their tasting room and gift shop).



Conveniently, there was a tasting session commencing shortly after our arrival, and Sabrina insisted that we partake.



Leaving the rum shop, we headed south to the coast and ended up at Poipu Beach Park, where we had fairly-close encounters with a large turtle and an endangered monk seal (and his volunteer attendant) sunning himself ("resting") on the beach.



Next up, we headed a bit west, to see the Spouting Horn. I think this was also the first "Entering Tsunami Hazard Zone" sign, which was comforting.



And then back up to Koloa to get rained on for a few minutes, buy a jug of Pog, and grab a snack. We had heard from some random people at the rum tasting that the Kauai Coffee visitor center was worth a visit, so we rushed over there to get in before 5. (It turned out they have "summer hours" that include staying open until 5:30, of course.)



By the time we left the coffee plantation, we decided it was time to head back east, towards Wailua to check into our accommodations and find some dinner. Along the way, we stopped at the Hanapepe Valley Lookout.



When we finally made it through rush-hour traffic (surprisingly bustling, for such a sparsely-populated location) to Wailua and found the condo (yay, VRBO!). After schlepping our luggage up the stairs to the third floor, we were delighted to discover the view we'll be waking up to for the next 4 mornings.



Once we were somewhat settled in, we ventured out to find something to eat, and then stopped at a grocery store on the way back to the condo. Sabrina wouldn't let me buy any of the donut-waffles.



Tomorrow, there's a vague (at least, for me) plan to watch the sunrise from the balcony, followed by more vague plans to go see the north shore, drive the scenic route, and potentially do some snorkeling. Somewhere.

I think the photos are all shared publicly, but this is the first time I'm using Google Plus/Photos/whatever-it-is-this-month to host the pics, so let me know if something is amiss.