Hawaii June-July 2010

Kauai and Oahu....HAWAII Trip 2011

Its so easy to be in Hawaii..the weather is 75-85 every day no matter what season...the seas are warm and full of interesting creatures. There are so many water sports to try, along with some cool culture, including the song, dance and food. Whats not to like? I would like to plan a trip for the next or the following year....any takers? Let me know! Leave my a comment following this blog entry or give me a call!

Here are some highlights from this trip...thanks for reading!

PADDLIN'
I was fortunate enough to do two cool ocean paddles and a short river paddle. The first ocean paddle was a "test run" in Kauai on Hanalei Bay. I wanted to see what it was like to be in ocean swells before a long trip down the coast we were doing later that week. The swells on that day turned out to be no problem...they peaked at 5 feet or so but the waves didn't break on the kayak- we instead, we went right over the waves; pretty cool. During the paddle something even better happened. I saw splashes about 100 yards away and started to paddle in that direction. The splashes kept coming so I kept paddling that way. Eventually it was clear what was making the splashes...spinner dolphins! We were paddling with a pod of about 10 of them...a group of 2 or so surfaced several times near the kayak. Each time they surfaced they would exhale....loud!The noise was a thrill and I do admit it made me jump a few times. That was a great experience and a first for me! They swam alot faster than we could kayak, but they continued to play and surface in our vicinity for a long time....!

The second paddle was a 18 miler down the famous "Na Pali" (translation "the cliffs") coast in Kauai. We did it with a guide and paddled with a group of 7. During the paddle we stopped for history lessons of the island (its been inhabited for thousands of years so there are lots of stories to tell). All of the paddlers would raft up with the guide, hang our legs over the side for stability and to listen to him speak. Nice...

Our guide looked so comfy on a kayak that my goal for the trip was to try to recreate his relaxed posture. Check him out below on the aft position on the tandem kayak.

There are three great thing about paddling in Hawaii; one is the intense blue color ...I am forever amazed at the hue...check out the color in this sea cave on the right we got to visit on the trip, and in the other ocean shots.

The second thing is the all the cool creatures that may appear under or around your kayak; as we were launching a green sea turtle was also launching himself into deeper water!

The third thing that makes paddling great here is the ocean and air temperature. If you get wet its no big deal cause the temps are high enough that you don't feel uncomfortable.

We ended the 18 mile kayak at at a beach called Punihole (at left) where we surfed into the beach with the help of an employee of the guide company who if your lucky, "catches" the kayak while you surf the shore break saving you from looking like complete idiot capsizing on the beach. Amazingly he caught us and saved us the embarassment earning himself a good tip! The company meet us with a van for the ride back to the shop.

THE FOOD
On the way back from the trip we stopped for snacks at this unassuming smallish sized supermarket called Ishihara's. In the back was an absolutely amazing assortment of Poke, this uniquely Hawaiian food which consists of little pieces of raw fish seasoned or not ..... Poke is not cheap...it was priced at more than $13/pound for most of it. What was more surprising at Ishihara's was how many local people were ordering huge amounts of it! SO many people turn their nose up at raw fish but not these folks...Go Hawaiians- you guys eat cool food! What I learned later is that most supermarkets and alot of menu's will carry this stuff. I ended up eating it lots of times during the trip. Its mild tasting and healthy... Since there are so many folks of Asian decent on the Islands their food is also on the menu. One great food is the Hawaiian spring rolls....a super way to eat your veges! Here's a pic of a great meal we had at the Waikiki yacht club (Chuck had a temp membership so we could visit)...that consisted of blackened ahi, spring rolls (a wonderful way to eat your veges) and soup.

ACCOMMODATION
In Oahu we stayed at the Royal Groove hotel...a funky old 6 story hotel amidst much larger real estate...you couldn't beat the location of this hotel...it is two blocks from the beach. Here's a picture of me on the lanai (Hawaiian for porch) look for the blue in the background after the white high rise - that's Waikiki beach. The hotel had boards and chairs you could just grab and borrow for the day. They also had live Hawaiian music on Monday night. All to boot the price is most surprising...$70/night for up to 3 people...all of youze who say Hawaii is expensive I'm telling you you CANNOT stay in NYC for less than double that price!

BIRDS
The only native birds in Hawaii are at high elevations where the mosquitos and other creatures can't get them. So at ground level you only see these aggressive and sometime annoying "city birds" - imports from other countries who have made a home there and overpopulated (Hmm...I see this could be read with some irony for the other mammals who visit stay and populate as well!) Anyway we visited the higher elevations of Koke'e' State Park in Kauai and spent a few days here hiking and birdwatching. The fortunate thing was the campground had several of the native trees where native birds like to hang out...the O'Hia Lehua tree..(pic to right). It has red blossoms and is a favorite of the Hawaiian honeycreepers. I did get to see a few species of honeycreepers and other native birds....including their Puheo...a short eared owl that was soaring below us in Waimea Canyon (the canyon in the pic at the very beginning of this blog entry).


VIEWS
One thing that has always impressed is Hawaii's spectacular eroded cliffs and sea views....the best pic I took was Waimea canyon (at the beginning of this blog entry...) This picture was taken on a mud trail called the Pihea trail (at left..I'm on the mud "steps") looking down to the place we kayaked on the coast...You often had to walk on the edges of this one as the grade in the middle was too great. This trail was not too difficult and the views were outstanding.

Some of the hiking trails we encountered were not so nice. They were well...unpredictable- muddy and in places not well maintained. At one point, along a cliff trail, we hiked a portion of the trail that was about 6 inches across. With a backpack in tow this seemed about 6" too narrow at least. Thank God the drop was only about 25 feet but we were on top of much higher cliffs so I don't know what would happen if you fell. The trail was listed as "easy" on the trail map. I'd add "terrifying" to the description!

I'll end here with a a few more of my favorite "view" pics from the trip.....and a few other misc pics I wanted to share.

Thanks for reading and looking! Mahalo (Hawaiian for Thank You) Hope to be with you in Waikiki!