Kauai Out-takes

Hawaii is not paradise for everybody; Vicki read Michener's
old Hawaii, and read parts of it to me; the tale of
exploitation and oppression by US imperialists, well into
the 20th century, is shameful

"Ceci n'est pas une pipe"?

Garden hose snake at the National Tropical Botanical Garden

Mele Kalikimaka

Mele Kalikimaka, Kauai-style

Us at the Grand Canyon of the Pacific

Marie, Vicki, and Bob, at Kalalau Lookout

The Kapa'a Shores; thanks again, Bob and Beth

Kapa'a beach

Till we meet again, Kauai...cockle-doodle-dooooo!

Seldom Seen Kauai

The best beach on Kauai is on the navy missile range on the southwest side, accessible only to military or retired military personnel. Fortunately, brother-in-law Bob had his retired USN ID with him.

Looking south on huge, beautiful Major Beach

Looking north

We shared the miles of open beach with two surfers and two

fisherpersons

Niihau, the "forbidden island" in the distance

And its neighbor, uninhabited (by humans) Lehua

Because of Marie's keen eyes, we all got to see a whale--
maybe a mile away, flapping its tail and then breeching
once or twice; always a thrill; the picture above could be the
whale...

Also under the heading of "seldom seen Kauai," here is a 

sunny and absolutely clear and calm view of Kalalau Valley

from Kalalau Point in the higher country; doesn't get any

better than this; the boats and helicopters and ultralights

were out in force

Kauai Sunrise

OK, getting up to see the sunrise is not so big a deal this time of year, especially for tourists from the more eastern time zones; nonetheless...

Dawn's rosy fingers over the Mai Tai-dark sea

A lone paddle boarder off Kapa'a

Veteran sunrise watchers know that there is relatively full

light well before the sun actually rises

Thar she blows

More

Still more

Done

McBryde Garden/National Tropical Botanical Garden

Something we didn't do during our 2009 Kauai visit was tour the McBryde Garden/National Tropical Botanical Garden. There are certainly larger tropical gardens we have seen--many free and open to the public--but the McBryde features perhaps the largest collection of plants native to Hawaii. (Very little of what one actually sees here).

Main building/gift shop

Weird tropical fruit

The whole place is a couple hundred of acres, up from a
beautiful cove

More weird tropical fruit

South Florida, where I was born and raised, is loaded with

tropical vegetation; but Hawaii has the best hibisci

Vineyard, sort of

Staghorn fern, like one my mother had (until it was stolen)

Oozing orchid

Who can resist orchids?

Who can resist orchids, 2

Who can resist orchids, 3

An heron looks for lunch in the stream, surrounded by
papyrus

Mapplethorpe plant

Lipstick plant

Kauai North Coast

So one day we spent doing waterfalls on the east side of the island and then the north coasts...

Kauai waterfall and pool

Waialeale...the big one...see below

Not the rainiest place on earth, by inches of precip, but by

number of annual days of precip...360

Kilauea Lighthouse

We drove up around the top, shopped at Hanipepe, and visited

the beginning of the Kalalau Trail and the Na Pali coast

Norm and I got as far as the half mile marker; enough,

considering...

The view back down the trail; although it had rained lately,

the trail did not seem nearly as slippery as in February, 2009,

the last time I was on it; nor was I carrying all our

backpacking stuff...

Looking toward the Na Pali and more of the trail; I have some

seriously conflicting feelings about this place...

One of the big wet caves near the beginning of the trail

Return To Rooster Island

So we are on Cow Eye with Norm and Marie, guests of Bob and Beth, at a time-share on the east coast of the island, at Kapa'a. The time-share is right on the water, and we have a great view of the breakers, reef, paddle boarding, etc., from the balcony. Also the rain. Vicki and I spent a week or more here in 2009, doing all the sights, the Kalalau Trail, etc., and I devoted half a dozen posts to Rooster Island back then (search Kauai). So now I have more pix of all this, but I'll spare you, Gentle Reader, these updates. With one exception.

From what we have seen over the past 3 days, the feral fowl population of Kauai has diminished a bit. But one still doesn't have to go very far to find them. Any public place or parking lot will do. Apparently the departments of health and sanitation have done some Avian Flu preparedness drills and thus raised consciousness, if there was any.

A typical specimen; not an endangered species, as they say

So we are at a beach on the south coast near Poopie-Poopie or somesuch when 
there is a great flutterment among the fowl, all making a mad dash, a veritable 
stampede, for the pick-up that has just arrived. Apparently they know this guy.
The back of his truck is loaded with foods scraps, scoured no doubt from the 
dumpsters of the thousands of condos that line the coast here. At first I thought 
he was a county employee, distributing specially-doctored feed to the cluckers. 
(In Venice, they have brought the pigeon population under control by feeding 
them grain laced with sterilizing agents). But no, he was just a kind soul, with 
a special affection and compassion for poultry. "They are homeless, and 
someone has to feed them," he said in response to my innocent query. Obviously 
he hasn't been watching the Republican "debates." "Let him die!"

A homeless family feasts on Cheerios; family values among poultry are still 
pretty strong, despite these tough times

Ground-level view of chicken feed

After the chicken feed, Mr. Compassion turns his attention to a couple of  possibly 
homeless tourist cuties

And some extended hitting on the chicks; compassionately

In any case, the rooster notoriety has become big money here, and I doubt the 
poultry population will decline much more; at least until the pandemic...

Not pictured: Lihue, Kapa'a (Kapa'a Shores), assorted forgettable waterfalls, Anahola, Princeville (ick!), Hanalei, Wainiha Bay, Wet and Dry Caves (and moist caves), Kalalau Trail, Na Pali Coast, Mt. Waialeale, Poipu, the National Tropical Botanical Garden, Hanapepe, the Grand Canyon of the Pacific, Kalalau Lookout, Salt Pond Beach, Waimea, and more. See the previous Kauai posts. Maybe I'll do a Kauai out-takes post some day.