UNDERWATER PARADISE

Thursday, May 14, we met at Fathom Five Dive shop in Poipu, tried on our gear, and then met our boat at the harbor.

Here I am on our way out to the first dive sight, Sheraton Caverns.

Surprise, more turtles.



Here is Sean exiting one of the caves. This place was remarkable! The caverns were very extensive and sea turtles littered the crevices. On one instance, our guide, who had a writing tablet, huddled under a ledge with 3 of the other divers. He had written MALE on his tablet and I thought what the heck is Maleh (pronouncing in Hawaiian) all I saw was the hind side of a HUGE turtle.
We got back on the boat and I asked Sean what Maleh was, M-A-L-E? Sean couldn't stop laughing, all it was, was a boy turtle! To my defense our guide had been using a lot of Hawaiian words to identify fish. OK?

During our surface interval we saw bottle nose dolphins porpoising by our boat and then spinner dolphin's in the distance actually spinning out of the water. Very cool!

For our second dive we went to a spot called Fast Lane. We saw a lot of fun critters. Here are a few.
This is black coral that is supposedly pretty rare.

Arc-eye Hawk fish perched in cauliflower coral.

A White spotted Toby (in the puffer family). They have beautiful bright green eyes that my underwater camera did not pick up at 80 ft. below.

A Porcupine Fish, AKA blow fish, this guy was at least a foot and a half long. All the fish in the puffer family are so cute to me.

Our boat dive's were done by noon and so we went to explore more beaches. We found this one called Gillian Beach off of some dirt roads and a little hiking.

The cliffs were eroding away by the wave action leaving these cool, scary cliffs.

We set the timer for this shot and missed the huge cave to the right of the photo. Genius's.

After hiking around it was time for what else...another shave ice. This place is owned by Puka Dogs where the most unique and yummy hot dogs are made. Our friends Mark and Rochel recommended it to us and it was definitely worth it (hot dogs AND the shave ice)!

We then enjoyed the scenery at the Grand Hyatt again. Sean napped on the beach and I used a complimentary coupon for the spa facilities. Can't beat that! Once again, I am sitting here asking myself if Kauai really happened. Daisy is screaming in one ear and Lily begging for more gum in the other, dishes are overflowing the sink and let me tell you shave ice is calling my name. :)

REST AND RELAXATION

Wednesday, May 13, we had a few hours before taking our friends to the airport and so we went to a huge Botanical Garden. Did you know that almost 90% of the plant species on Kauai today are not indigenous to the island? That is crazy to me! Despite the invasive and introduced flora this place was gorgeous and we were the only ones there. I guess tourist's mostly go for the Luau's that are held there and not the actual garden tour.

Spider Lilies, Peacocks everywhere, and the tropical icon, the Hibiscus.

Kissing Dum Dum.

Heliconia and fresh pigs for the Luau. I don't know about you but seeing my food alive, right before I am going to eat it is NOT my cup of tea!

Gum Tree, Plumeria (they smell sooo good), and pineapple, of course!

Last shot of the 4 of us. We took Bert and Jenny to the airport after getting a shave ice (forgot to get a pic of that one Seth). Upon going to the car rental place to put the car in our name, we were informed that unless Bert were there to confirm his name be changed, Sean was driving illegally and would be charged with auto theft. So, we sped back to the airport to pick up Bert before he flew away and Sean went to prison for the rest of our vacation. We contacted Bert and were able to pick him up and make the proper transfer without him missing his flight.

After our exciting little side adventure, Sean and I went to check out some waterfalls. This one is called O'Paekaa Falls.

Across the street from O'Paekaa Falls was this view of the Wailua River.

Then on to Wailua Falls. They were featured on the old TV show Fantasy Island. The government maps list the height of the falls at 80 ft. but according to our Kauai guidebook they hand measured with fishing line a whole 173 ft. high. Quite the discrepancy! Next time we go to Kauai, because there WILL be a next time, I want to hike down to the pool and snorkel with the small-mouth bass and large shrimp. (I wonder how that food chain works?)

We, I mean, I did a little shopping and then of course another mouth-watering shave ice.

After the falls, we headed back to the condo for some R&R. Later we found a local farmer's market and I coveted the tropical flowers that these people could buy anytime they wanted. I did not however, covet the $6 and $7 pineapples. Maybe they knew we were tourist's and quoted us a higher price or maybe the locals actually pay that for an in-season-all-year fruit. Either way, I will stick with my $3 Costco deal!

SUN KISSED & SALTY

Tuesday, May 12, we headed up north to Hanalei Bay.

There we got on this outrigger which took us out to a bigger boat in the bay.

We were going on a tour of the Na Pali Coast. It is uninhabited (except only by a few hippies) and can only be accessed by hiking, helicopter or boat.
One of our guides driving the boat with his foot. He couldn't talk enough about what an awesome surfer he was!
Sean spotted some spinner dolphins and so we stopped and watched them for awhile. Most of them were just floating there "sleeping".

One of the many sea caves along this coastline. Our boat actually went inside this one.

This whole tour was just full of ooooo's and aaahhh's!

We snorkeled a bit off the boat before heading back to Hanalei. There were 4 or 5 sea turtles right there waiting for us. Very cool.
Buoyancy getting the best of me. I was trying to stay down so Sean could get the pic with the turtle under me.We got back in the boat and had one of the best turkey sandwiches I have ever had (everything tastes better in Hawaii) and then we headed back to Hanalei. The conditions were roller coaster rough on the way back which made for a fun ride. At least for me anyway.

Our daily shave ice. Seth, I dedicate all the shave ice pic's to you buddy, I know how much you miss these and I wanted to share!:) (FYI. My little bro. Seth is on his mission in Honduras right now)

After refueling with shave ice (they don't call it shaved ice, there is no "d") we hiked to Queen's Bath.

Just a waterfall along the way.

Bert demonstrated what would happen if you did not heed the warning signs.

Here we are with the "bath" below us. I didn't get a pic of it. It was a HUGE lava pool filled by the tide that people swim in and lay out by just like a normal pool.

After Queen's Bath we made our way over to Secret Beach. Kailua Lighthouse is behind Jenny and I on that point but is hard to see.

We played here for a while. You could lay out by your own mini waterfall. They were everywhere.
The surf here was pretty strong. The guys had fun playing in it.
We then went to ANOTHER beach called Tunnels Beach. This was an amazing place! The scenery and snorkeling were superb...

...and the sunset was breathtaking (that is Sean and Bert watching from the water. How romantic :) )!

We really packed in as much as we could this day because Bert and Jenny were leaving the next morning. We realized that night we didn't have a pic of all of us, so here we all are, sun kissed and salty.