Closing Kauai

The final chapter of the Kauai sneak attack blog

Hey blog fans! It’s the final chapter of the sneak attack blog because I am sitting in the Honolulu airport waiting for the flight to Portland to board. Let’s all hope that this flight goes slightly better than the one out here.

Before relating the fun and excitement of the past couple of days, some housecleaning and a little pimping are in order.

I was asked “what is a 3 tank dive and how long does it last”. Diving, in general, is categorized by the number of tanks you are going to dive in a day. The number of tanks equates to the number of dives you actually do. So a 2 tank dive has you diving twice while a 3 tank dive has you diving 3 times. To make matters more fun and exciting, when diving on compressed air, nitrogen gets absorbed by your body and does not leave easily until you get out of the water. Getting too much nitrogen debt leads to the bends…and that is bad, m’kay? When you do a dive, you have a “surface interval” where you need to stay on the surface before diving again. When you are doing a 2 tank dive, for the most part, the surface interval is around 45 minutes. There is a chart/tool you learn when getting certified that lets you calculate what you need based off the time down and the depth and a dive computer actually keeps track of that for you based off what you did during the dive.

But let’s go with around 45 minutes for a 2 tank dive. When doing those, you usually leave around 7 or 8 in the morning and get back by noon depending on how far the boat needs to go. Really it’s about 40-50 minutes dive, 45 surface, and another 40-50 minute dive plus the travel time. They often do afternoon 2 tank dives too. Anyway, the cool thing about 2 tank dives is you do that in the morning and it leaves the afternoon free for other fun and excitement…like going to Waimea.

A 3 tank dive adds a little degree of difficulty. In reality, that 45 minute surface interval between dive 1 and 2 doesn’t really get rid of all the nitrogen in your body…it just gets rid of enough that you are safe. But you start dive 2 with a little debt already and that second dive adds onto that debt. So when doing a 3rd dive, the surface interval is longer before that last dive. For most dive trips, that provides the opportunity to have lunch and just hang out and enjoy the weather. I think it’s usually around an hour and a half to 2 hours just to be good. For any 3 tank dive you will leave in the morning and not be done until the afternoon. So you kill a whole day for about 2 and a half to 3 hours of dive time. But it’s worth it. Really.

Pimping: Kalapaki Joes has a killer beer selection and happy hour. Plus their fish tacos and seared ahi tacos are killer. They have locations in Lehue and Poipu and maybe others..but if you are on Kauai, its some good stuff.

Okay…back to the action. Btw, I am now on the flight to Portland about 3 hours from landing, which should be on time, so happiness is here and all that.

Marci wanted to take surf lessons. She tried on Wednesday while I was out gallivanting around at Niihau but the surf and current were bad so they didn’t do any surf lessons. Thursday, then was the day o’ surf. The initial plan was I would ride with her to the lessons, hang for a bit to get action photos so she could cherish the memories, and then take off to do whatever for the couple of hours the lessons would be. I heard “they start at 10” even though we were leaving at 9:10 and the town was only about 15 minutes away. What I didn’t hear, because I was getting the last blog ready for YOU, dear friends, was she needed to go to another place to pay, then head to the lessons which were 10 minutes from the pay area. I caused us to be a bit late. In the end, she got there around 10:07 but late is late. Fun times seeing Marci frazzled about being late AND not completely oriented on where she needs to go. We did donuts on a traffic circle for about 5 minutes. Normally not a bad thing, but I was trying to look up the surf shop to get directions on my not-so-smart phone and spinning in a car while reading is never a fun time. Oh well…it was my fault and all was okay in the end. Marci frazzled was AWESOME!

She caught on pretty quickly. Looked like she was having a blast and, really, it was a ton of fun watching her wipe out time and again. I ended up staying the entire lesson watching and taking pictures. Plus I saw my potential retirement plan. Dude was metal detectoring all over the beach and had a sieve scoop he was digging into the sand with. Granted, I would provide some competition for him, but realistically, I am probably not going to retire for another 15-20 years so I am sure I will be able to probably just take over his racquet.

Marci hanging 10

If I start now...I might be able to grow my hair out on the side to that length...

Not a whole lot happened Thursday other than some much needed relaxation. Did some pool time back at the resort and Marci hit the beach. It was a nicely enjoyable lazy day.

Yesterday we went hiking. The original plan was to hit “sleeping giant” which is supposed to provide awesome views of the ocean and inland. It was super overcast though so instead we tried to hunt down the road to the reservoir that hinted of a potential waterfall close by. We ended up on a pretty raggedy semi-paved road when a dirt road to the left called out to be driven upon. Marci being Marci was totally hip to the idea of 4 wheeling out Nissan Versa in the back of beyond Kauai. There was a stray dog at the beginning of the dirt road who decided he wanted to lead us for a while and continued to run in front of the car, occasionally looking back to make sure we were following, for about a mile or so. After that mile, I think he was too pooped to pop and scurried into the growth on one side of the road.

Road to hiking...back of the beyond...there were no street signs here.

Friends, you can see this road was AWESOME! It was barely wide enough for the car and full of pot holes and other fun-filled obstacles. We drove on the road until we hit a yellow gate across it. Pulling back to an area where we could park, we started hiking down another branch of the road that led away from the gate. Marci being Marci, turned off the road to follow a smaller trail into the jungle which was not quite SJoD worthy, but for sure much more off the beaten track than the SJoD. We were for sure the only people out there that day. We followed this trail making turns and taking forks for about 45 minutes until we hit upon another road that was tree lined and sort of awe inspiring.

Flowers seen in the jungle

The sight we saw after slogging through some jungle....

Based on how we had gone through the jungle, I was pretty sure if we turned left, on that road we would come to the other side of the yellow gate. So we turned right and strolled for a while. At about the hour mark, we turned back thinking if the road didn’t hit the yellow gate, we were going to be slogging back through the jungle the long way. Luckily(?) we did hit the yellow gate and our car. Looking back, we are pretty sure that road was the road to the fabled reservoir and we have a riddle to solve should we ever find ourselves back on Kauai.

Rest and relaxation was the order of the day yesterday afternoon. We were both lamenting the fact the week flew by too quickly. Not a lot to report other than that.

Roosters are everywhere in Kauai. These were running around out back of our villa.

This morning did a little run and hit the fitness center for a little lifting. Showered and packed and headed to the airport for a fairly standard trip back (so far). The only “highlight” was I got to be randomly selected for the pat down. Oh boy! Not entirely sure what they expect to find that the metal detector couldn’t. Dude definitely came close to cupping my balls there too. For sure its more invasive than I think it needs to be…but that’s me.

Anyway, fun times in Hawaii! Can’t wait to go back some day and am totally looking forward to the next adventure.

Love to all!
Jim

Kauai Kraziness Kontinues!!

The continuing adventures of the Kauai sneak attack blog!

Monday Marci and I went diving. For me it had only been a little over a year since the last time I dove (in Cabo…scroll back a blog or two and you can be entertained about those adventures.) For Marci it had been maybe 5 years. She was all good in the boat ride out there and putting on her gear. I think she mentioned a little nervousness before we got into the water. Once we rolled in (we entered the water by sitting on the sides of the boat, holding onto your mask, and rolling backwards into the water) she expressed serious concern (like “I don’t know if I can do this”). I tried to help calm her and then our dive master, who hasn’t reached her 20th birfday, came up and calmed her right down. She even led her around by the hand during the dive. I am surprised she didn’t buy Marci an ice cream. To be fair, once Marci got down, she was smooth as silk and looking good (with only minor hand flailing).

We did 2 dives. The first one was to the house of turtles. The other was s drift from one spot to another (I can tell you the spots if you really want to know). Here are some pictures of that awesomeness.
There was a cool double rainbow over the harbor when we got there that morning. You can barely see the second one in the photo above the first one on the right side...sort of. Photo courtesy of Marci. She is the more skilled photographer of the two of us.

Marci descending along the mooring line

Turtle! This is house of turtles so it better be

Marci stalking a turtle. I think she wanted a turtle ride. But seriously this large fella was just sitting there floating without a care in the world...other than Marci.

Sleepy turtle. There were tons of turtles lying around everywhere.

Spotted moray coming atcha!

Nudibranch eggsac. The little things are super colorful and then the eggs they lay are too! super cool...and this came out pretty good.

I think this is a crown of thorns starfish.

Yes there are fish here too....don't know what this is, but it stood still long enough for me to snap the photo.

Dive master said this was cup coral. It was all on the roof of a pass through we went through. The flash really brought out the colors.

After diving, we were very close to Waimea Canyon…the Grand Canyon of Hawaii (their words, not mine…although it was pretty impressive. Its amazing how the geography can change from the north end of the island (SJoD) to this south western end…almost high desert.

The canyon...or part of it.

Marci and I at Waimea. The picture doesn't really convey how nasty we were from the diving we had done. Nothing like salt water drying on our skin and getting itchy to make the rest of your day enjoyable.

How awesome is the topography. Yeah.

Tuesday I ran again (yes, I know). Then we headed north to check out a place called “Tunnels” that was supposed to be awesome for snorkeling. First though, we had to get some lunch. We decided to stop at Bubbas Burgers cause Marci met some people while walking one evening who said you HAVE to have them. They were just okay. Nothing to write home about other than they recommend not getting lettuce and tomato on their burger. I thought that was pretty funny.

Tunnels did turn out to be pretty awesome snorkeling with bright colorful fish and lots of them. Of course, I didn’t bring my camera for that one cause I am an idjut. Trust me…it’s worth a stop. Probably less worth that stop was the sunburned backs we both got. I think Marci and I agree: spray on sun tan stuff sucks.

We stopped at a fish monger on the way back and got a pound of fresh Mahi Mahi. Marci had a recipe for macadamia nut and coconut encrusted White fish with a mango salsa. Did I mention we found some mangos? Marci was on the hunt for papaya (no one really knows why wince we all agree papaya = ass, right?) and we had stopped at a farmers market where every stand had star fruit (looks like its name) and papaya but only one dude had mango. Boy is that mango awesome! Anyway, dinner was really good. That fish came out perfect and the salsa added some zest.

Today I did a 3 tank dive at Niihau (the Forbidden Island so named because its privately owned, has around 200 people living as native Hawaiians have always lived and is closed to the public.) Is about 2 hours boat ride from Kauai even though you can see the dumb thing from Kauai. The waters were clear blue and totally made the trip out worth it. The dives we did were: Chimney, Vertical Awareness, and Niihau Arches. Each one had something awesome about it. Chimney started with us diving into a chimney that turned into a pass through at about 80 feet. So we dove into this hole descending the whole way until it took a left and led us out. Super cool. Saw some good starfish and eels and what not. Vertical Awareness is just that. There is a shelf about 60 feet down and then the walls just drop away for 300 feet. This is also a known resting place for the endangered Monk Seal. We saw 3 of them and they were awesome to see swimming around. The arches were just that. Pass throughs and tunnels galore. I used to be a little freaked about pass throughs thinking I would somehow rise up while in them and get stuck due to my tank or something. But I did enough of them during sabbatical that I got over any uneasiness.

Pass through at chimney. Light in front of you is always a good thing.

Zebra eel. Never seen one of these before. Little blurry. Sorry.

Wounded starfish. Little nubby.

Another starfish. Looks a little like a person! Freaky

I believe you can see why they call this vertical awareness.

Look what we found on a ledge...its the endangered Monk Seal

It didn't like all the attention so it took off for a bit

Lion fish. Look but don't touch

Star fish of some kind

One more time

The first pass through at Niihau Arches

Hmm....up or down?

Moray Eel action

So you drop down this chute and then go through the tunnel. You can see one persons fins at the bottom starting through the tunnel.

Saw this little chunk of colorful coral. Micro setting on my camera at work

Finally, they call this the TV room. Wish we could have spent more time in this one as there were supposed to be all kinds of interesting critters hanging out.

After the diving, it was time for the ride back. Kidney jarring is the only thing I say about that. It was 2 hours of up and down as we powered against the current back to Kauai. They even said it was the price you pay for the awesome day. I guess so, but I was happy to be back at the dock.

Marci had wanted to take some surfing lessons but the surge was too big (strong currents and what not). She apparently lazed on the beach and napped and read. Actually did vacation stuff!

Not entirely sure what we are going to do today. We may hit Waimea for a little hiking. Nothing too strenuous but still out and about enjoying the day.

Hope all are doing well!

It’s the people’s time!
Jim

Kauai, Bitches!!!

Surprise! That’s right! Kauai, bitches!

I had some unexpected time off from work so I called (okay emailed) my friend Marci and asked if she was up for some travel. Working her magic, she found a 2 bedroom villa at the Marriott on Kauai for the week at disgustingly low prices. A quick purchase of airfare followed by a day o’ hell getting here and I am basking in the 105% humidity of beautiful Kauai.

View from the villa

It all started Saturday with my flight on lovely Hawaiian Airlines leaving at 10:15am. No problems getting to the airport…just a few thoughts about perhaps having a beer at the Rougue near the gate even though it was only 9am. The answer, for those interested was “no”.

We boarded on time and then sat there. Right at 10:15, the dreaded announcement came through. Those of you who have heard this know what I mean when I say hearing the worlds “the ground crew is checking out a mechanical problem and this should only take a few minutes” means it’s going to be hours. We sat there on the plane (I was in an exit row and had no one sitting next to me so I was fairly comfortable…just on a plane) for a couple of hours before the captain came back on the air to let us know we were lucky enough to add Seattle to our itinerary! Yay!

See the plane was made by Boeing and they have a big plant in Seattle so it was faster to fly the plane up to the part than to have that part driven down to us in Portland. Of course, the thought ran through my mind that if we could fly up to Seattle to fix it, why not Honolulu? Another thought was if there was a broken part, why were we flying at all?

Anyway, one 20 minute flight later, Seattle there we were! They kindly(?) provided $12 food vouchers for lunch and said be back by 4:30 (note this was later than when we should have arrived in Honolulu). I had some weak pizza and then headed to “Seattle Taproom” for an extended stay. Their selection of beers was decent, but most important; they had Manny’s Pale Ale on tap. Friends, if you are ever in Seattle and enjoy a good beer, find Manny’s and thank me later.

To make a long story less long, we finally got out of Seattle at 7PM and made it to Honolulu at 10 local time. There were enough people with connecting flights to Kauai that the airline held up the last plane out for us and I landed on the island around 11PM. 8 hours late, but here nonetheless. I am now the proud owner of a $200 “sorry for the wait” coupon to be used within a year and a lingering doubt I will ever want to use it with this airline (to be fair, the flight crew was awesome…its just that plane sat in Portland overnight and no one noticed the oil leak until we had to leave? Really?)

Got up early yesterday to run (yes…I know) and did a muggy loop around the property here. Note to self: when running on asphalt at 5:30am and its still dark, speed bumps are hard to see.

Marci and I left for the day with the plan to do a little snorkeling followed by a short 2 mile hike along the Naapali coast on the northern end of the island. We stopped at a bay where dolphins were supposed to cavort but didn’t see any cavorting occurring. The plan switched around to instead hike the coast to this beautiful beach and then snorkel there. Total consumable supplies for this foray: 2L Camelback w/water, 1L plastic bottle of water, 2 cliff bars and a container of Caramel Delight Trail Mix purchased at a local store.

Side note: Marci joins the cool people who don’t really like raisins. Caramel Delight: Cashews, Almonds, Dried Cranberries, chocolate chips, and caramel balls of goodness.

We drove to the end of the road and parked. There is only one main road on the north end. That’s the one you take. Can’t miss it. The trailhead said the beach, Hanakapiai Beach, was 2 miles away upping the fun to 4 miles total. We were feeling our oats and figured 4 miles is nothing! Ironically, we left a pretty nice looking beach behind to start this journey.

The trail started with a nice (steep) climb for 3-400 feet before leveling off, for the most part for the next mile and a half. The initial part was pretty damp and rocky, but the level areas were mostly dry.

View from trail along the coastline

Approaching the beach, it is a pretty steep descent and I was thinking “this is going to suck going back”. Plus we passed a sign almost at the beach warning against getting in the water as people died doing so. We met up with what turned out to be a local guy close to there who confirmed what the sign said, but there were some falls, Hanakpiai Falls, just another 2 miles in that were well worth it.

View of Beach o' Death from the trail.

We made it to the beach and took a break eating some of the delightful Caramel Delight and sharing some with the feral cats that were mooching off all the people who were snacking. Interesting side note: Feral cats don’t do dried cranberries. I was thinking beggars/chooser but I guess the kitty wasn’t buying.

We sat there enjoying the breeze and the first of many brief showers before deciding: 2 cliff bars + most of the water = falls!

The initial part of the trail up to the falls was dry and sucks you in with promises of no worries and happy fun. Then it turns into the Slippery Jungle of Death. Serious slick mud that has turned into shoe-wide channels 3 inches deep which were only mostly terrible going up, but coming back filled me with visions of the mud/rain slide at the beginning of Romancing the Stone. Yes I realize I dated myself pretty badly there, but if you are too young to know what I am talking about…you suck. This Slippery Jungle of Death continued the theme of the day that Marci was trying to kill me. She had earlier threatened to push me off the trail if I complained. Then she led me to a beach that kills people if you get in the water. Now, it’s the SJoD.

To be fair, it wasn’t all deadly. As a matter of fact we hit a cool bamboo grove that had a huge rock fireplace built in the middle of it. No noticeable walls or anything indicating a house had ever been there so Marci came up with a tale of campers who built it over time. My story was much more sinister about island cannibals and less savory things.

Time for some grillin'!

We followed the path along the creek up to the falls and had to cross over 3 or 4 times. At the first crossing, which was pretty hairy, we met up with a young woman coming down. She said the only advice she could give was: follow the pink ribbons. It was good she did. There were a few times during the trek of SJoD where we wondered which way to go only to see the lonely pink ribbon marking the more muddy of the choices of direction.

About 20 minutes from the falls, the periodic showers decided more water was required for about 15 minutes. It POURED!!! On the plus side, all that rainfall helped hide the fact I was sweating up a storm. Seriously, the last time I was sweating that bad, I was taking a leadership course in the Army in the middle of Kansas in the middle of summer and it made my very faded BDUs look like they were brand new because they were soaking wet. Soaking wet described my entire outfit except for my socks. All hail Keen for keeping a foot dry. After that heavier rain, we both looked like drowned rats…but we were almost to the falls!

The falls were awesome. Along the way, we passed multiple people who would tell us their vague guess on how long we had to go followed by “it’s totally worth it”. They were not wrong. If you have the chance, enough water, and a couple of cliff bars, go for it.

Jim at the falls

We stayed for a while, had our “lunch” of Cliff bars and started back. When we hit the worst part of SJoD (the Romancing the Stone section) my fears proved to be real and I was sliding with every step. More mud caked onto the mud already caked onto our shoes to make slippers of mud that slid in the muddy mud of the SJoD. Fun times!

We made it back to the midway point without breaking anything and started back to the trailhead immediately. The climb back that had been prophesied to suck going back did, indeed, suck. Marci, being in ridiculous shape due to ice skating 5 days a week, wasn’t even huffing much. I sounded like a freight train, but remembering the threats that gave birth to the idea that Marci was indeed trying to kill me, I didn’t complain…much :-D

We made it back to the car 8 miles and 6.5 hours later. We wearily made it back to the hotel, showered and went for some Thai food before heading back and falling asleep. I was pooped.

Today, we dove and went to Waimea Canyon. I am tired of writing and have long since passed the Tam Bui “you write too much” limit so I will stop for now. Pictures of fish and Marci trying to catch a Sea Turtle coming soon!

Aloha, Bitches…and remember: it’s our time…the people’s time.
Jim