December 24, 2010: Kaua'i - More Ocean, Sightseeing Flight, Whales, Kapa'a, Roasted Vegetables

First thing Mark and I walked up the shoreline to nearby Lydgate Park, where there was a snorkeling area. This was where Mark and Sara had gone to play in the waves the morning before our wedding. I was relieved to find that the waves were not as big as they'd been at Tunnels Beach, and I started to get the hang of just floating on the top of the waves rather than standing firm trying to resist them - going with the flow and enjoying their motion was much more pleasant. The snorkeling wasn't great - a lot of sand diminishing the visibility and not too many fish, but it was still good practice for getting used to using a snorkel - we hoped to do more snorkeling while in Maui.

One of the top tourist activities in Kaua'i is a helicopter flight over the island to see the mountainous interior and north shore, which are otherwise not accessible. We had debated whether to take one - some of the seats don't have a window view, and we weren't keen on guzzling gas and creating noise pollution for hikers below. But after reading a review for Air Ventures I booked myself, Mark and our parents on a tour: their small fixed wing planes are far more fuel efficient, quieter, and every passenger gets a window seat. The plane can't fly as low and close to the landscape as a helicopter, but we would still have an amazing perspective on the island. And it was much less expensive!

We had a perfect day for flying - sunny with not a cloud in the sky. Our pilot also told us that the air was very calm so we would have a smooth flight. The tour was over an hour long, and we flew over the entire island. At the outset we saw a humpback whale breaking the surface of the water - the whales migrate between Alaska in the summer and Hawai'i in the winter. Mark and his father, being west coast residents, were particularly excited by this sight - they knew how rare it was.

Virtually every view was cloud free except for the highest peak, Mount Wai'ale'ale. This was not surprising - it is said to be the wettest spot in the world, with almost perpetual clouds raining down an average of 450 inches of rain per year. If we return to Kaua'i in the future I'd love to go on the hike through the Alaka'i swamp which forms from its run-off - it's the highest elevation swamp in the world, and has many rare plants and animals.

We finally saw clearly what had been obscured by clouds on our trip two days earlier to the Waimea Canyon and the Kalalau look-out to the Na Pali coast. We also saw amazing waterfalls - our pilot told us that the Wailua waterfall, close to our resort, was one of the best and most accessible.

After returning to the resort, we (my mother, John and Sara) headed in to the nearby village of Kapa'a for a bit of sightseeing in the shops. I bought some coasters in the shape of sea turtles, in honour of Mark and Sara's sighting the day before. We toured an amazing gallery of glass art, which had incredible sea creatures and shells recreated in glass. We also visited an orchid shop, housed in a long alleyway between buildings. Then it was time for us to take Sara to the airport, so that she could continue on to her trip to New Zealand.

For dinner we attempted to use up all the food in the kitchen - my solution was a batch of roasted vegetables (taro root, carrots, onions, possibly others that I've forgotten) with several lemons (which I've never thrown in with roasted vegetables before) and the spice packet from the tabouleh mix - for a dinner of mismatched items it worked out quite well.

 

Before take-off

 

Inside the plane

 

The whale's tail!

 

One of many waterfalls

 

Waimea Canyon ridge

 

Waimea Canyon valley

 

Na Pali coast from directly overhead

 

Clouds descend over the Na Pali coast

 

Even more clouds as we round the coast of the north shore

 

Wailua Falls

 

Mark - wishing he had a good quote from Top Gun

 

Fields of crops

December 23, 2010: Kaua'i - Kalalau Trail, Ke'e Beach, Tunnels Beach, 'Anini Beach, Turtle, BBQ

We didn't get up quite as early as recommended for hiking the Kalalau Trail - we (Mark, myself and Sara) headed out in the car at 6:45, rather than 5:30. The drive was the same route as we'd taken to our luau dinner - just a little further along the north shore, with a few more one-lane bridges and narrow hairpin turns, until the highway's end at Ke'e Beach. Happily, we still got there early enough to get a parking spot near the lifeguard (safest from vandalism according to our taxi driver friend), and so we headed into the rain forest.

Just as we started up the trail, Mark found a walking stick that someone had left behind. I had my hiking pole, and all three of us were wearing reasonable hiking gear. We were glad of it before very long - the trail was slick and muddy from recent rains, and it zigzagged up and down the mountainsides that plunged down into the ocean.

When we reached the fork in the trail, we had to decide: Hanakapi'ai waterfall or beach? We wouldn't have time to do both. Although I really love waterfalls we opted for the beach - a shorter, easier hike. There were only a few people at the beach when we got there - we sat at a quiet end of it by ourselves, watching a sandpiper dashing about to avoid the waves and crabs popping in and out of their holes. Apart from a surfer there was no one in the water - scary signs warning about the high number of people drowned at the beach had scared us off.

By the time we got up to leave the beach had filled in with more visitors, and starting back along the trail we passed numerous hikers, making us even more glad that we'd headed out early enough to feel like we had this beautiful wilderness to ourselves. More than one of them commented enviously on our walking sticks. The closer we got to the trail head the more inadequate footwear we saw - surely these people would not make it to the beach without injury or great unhappiness. My hiking pants had become red from the knees down with splashed mud - Mark thinks the sight of them was striking fear in the hearts of those who were just starting out.

We sat down at Ke'e Beach to eat our lunch, watching the wild chickens run about, then rinsed off our shoes and pants at the freshwater tap. Then we drove back along the north shore, looking for a less crowded beach to relax at.

We pulled in at Tunnels Beach. Although I've read that this is a great beach for snorkeling it wasn't possible that day - the waves were much too big and strong. After going in the water I realized that I had no real idea of what ocean waves could be like - I was determined to stand up against them and promptly got knocked down and swept up toward the beach, skidding along on my backside. I hung onto Mark's hand as tightly as possible, swallowed a bit of salt water, and more or less managed to enjoy being buffeted about.

Tunnels Beach was a bit crowded, so we continued along the north shore to revisit 'Anini Beach, which we'd seen the day before was far less busy. The waves weren't as strong there, but I still opted for a nap on the sand rather than going in the water again. I'm not much of a lying in the sun kind of person, but the weather really was perfect for it - warm enough to be perfectly comfortable, but with a gentle breeze so that you never got overheated. I actually nodded off to sleep - when Mark and Sara got back they told me how they'd seen a giant sea turtle come up from the depths - an amazing sight I was sorry to have missed.

We headed for home, stopping in at the grocery store along the way. Getting out of the car Sara mentioned that she was so relaxed she felt drunk, and I realized that was just how I felt too. I may never have felt so mellow in my life - all our wedding tasks were successfully out of the way, we'd had a great workout with the hike, been massaged by the waves, and then I'd had a blissful nap on the beach. I've never before wandered about in a grocery store in a bikini top, but it felt totally normal under the circumstances.

We reunited with the rest of our families, who'd enjoyed touring around the island, visiting an historical plantation and taking the river cruise to the famous Fern Grotto. The men tackled barbecuing meat and vegetable shishkabobs (no lights to see by and no surfaces to set anything down - the resort needs to rethink its barbecue facilities) and we feasted: chicken, shrimp, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, zucchini and mushrooms.

After dinner I quickly pulled up our wedding photos, picked one to post and wrote up a wedding announcement message so that we could share our surprise.

 

 Mark and Sara start the climb up the trail. We climbed up and down over and over again.

 

Beautiful morning light along the Na Pali coast.

 

Clouds over a peaceful ocean - later on it was much rougher.

 

Do you think there's anyone officially recording on this sign how many visitors are killed?

 

Mark and Sara cross the river. And where am I while taking this photo? Standing in the water - I gave up on trying to ford it over the rocks.

 

This poor little sandpiper kept running, trying to avoid the waves.

 

Crab burrowing in the sand - it was very difficult to get close enough for a good shot.

 

The surfer finally makes it on top of the wave.

 

The trail, criss-crossing up the side of the ridge.

December 22, 2010: Kaua'i - We Wed, Under the Rainbow

After four days of unrelenting rain (an unusual state-wide weather system hanging over Hawai'i) we woke to the sound of wild roosters crowing (a universal sound on Kaua'i) and to sunshine!

Three months ago, when we started booking our trip to Hawai'i for Mark's conference, we had the idea to get married on the beach - it was the perfect opportunity. And, happily, all of our immediate family were able to join us: my mother, Edith; my sister, Heather; my brother-in-law, Anthony; Mark's father, John; and Mark's sister, Sara.

In the morning, Mark and Sara went down to the nearby shore to play in the ocean - a bit of a bachelor outing of sorts, while Heather and Anthony took me to my hair and makeup appointment with Christie Thompson. By this point I was feeling a little nervous, but Christie was so fun and easy to talk to that it was a relaxing experience.

We had a delay getting back to the resort because of construction traffic, so I dashed up to our room in a bit of a panic - then had a bit more of a panic because I couldn't get the door open - my key wouldn't turn the deadbolt. And where was Mark?! Turns out he was upstairs at his family's room, having his own mild panic as he tried to iron silk for the first time ever - we hadn't realized that the fancy island shirt and pants we'd picked out for him were silk. I got his key, dashed into our room, and was back out and ready at the car no more than fifteen minutes later. How was I so fast? Because I knew the dress well - I was wearing a favourite sundress that I'd bought several years earlier and had already worn to several other fancy summer events.

We had worked with A Fairytale Wedding to book our service - they knew which beach would be as private as possible, how to get the permit, arrange for the minister, photographer/coordinator and musician. Other than that, it was easy for us to prepare - we selected our songs and customized the aloha-themed wedding vows. The trickiest thing was probably getting the directions for the exact pull-off for the beach so that we would be able to find each other - 'Anini beach is a very long beach without any major landmarks to meet at.

It wasn't clear if we could trust the sun to hold out all day, or if the same conditions held on the rest of the island. We'd seen the day before in our drive around the perimeter of the island how the weather could change radically from minute to minute, one place to the next. But we were hopeful.

As we pulled in to 'Anini beach on the north shore the sun was shining, with some cloudy areas off to the east. Just as Rev. Billy Magruder began the service, a rainbow started to form. By the time we came to the first musical interlude it was shining brightly. Our photographer/coordinator, Holly, was stunned by our luck (she'd come with umbrellas in hand to the service), and our musician, Charity, was delighted that the song we had chosen for that interlude was "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". The rainbow lasted throughout the ceremony until we finished taking pictures at the end.

We were happy to find that our wedding rings from Fair Trade Jewellery Company (flown in with Heather and Anthony, as they'd only been finished days earlier) fit well - it was the first we'd seen of them, although we'd been working on the design for some time. The rings are etched with a section of a topographical map of Norway, along the trail that we hiked two years ago. The two of us, represented via our birthstones, walk together along the dotted path. I'd debated trying mine on before the service, but was a bit paranoid that it might be too tight to come off, so I'd waited.

With the service done we drove back to our resort for a celebratory drink as the sun set. For dinner we ate at Hukilau Lanai, just down the road from our resort. It was, all agreed, the best meal we've had thus far in Hawai'i. The highlight was probably the candied ahi tuna, but the fish and steak main courses were fantastic too. Mark and I ordered the chocolate molten lava cake, which was so rich that it circulated around the whole table of seven more than once.

And at the end of the evening we had a happy reunion - Sara's helpful cab driver from her first night on the island gave us our ride home - and tips for our next day's plans - a hike along the Kalalau trail. He advised us to start off at 5:30 in the morning - maybe the first day of married life is going to be the toughest one of all!

Addendum: turns out we didn't start our hike until 6:45 - phew!

 

Our wedding procession - the Nitz family is in the car behind us

 

Holly pins a flower in my hair (a flower on the left, in Hawai'ian culture signifies that a woman is married or taken)

 

The rainbow appears

 

Mark places the ring on my finger

 

Holly asks us to try a dip - easier said than done

 

Our families: John, Sara, Mark, Julie, Anthony, Heather and Edith

Wearing our rings

 

A close-up of our rings

 

The ceremony

 

We pose under the rainbow

 

Dinner at Hukilau Lanai 

 

Delicious chocolate molten lava cake - so rich it took all seven of us to eat it

 

A sneak peak at next morning's hike - we made it!

December 21, 2010: Kaua'i - Waimea Canyon, Brief Sunshine, Luau

The rain persists, although we hear that Kaua'i will be free of this weather system sooner than the other islands - hopefully by tomorrow.

In the meantime, I suggested a drive out to Waimea Canyon - it seemed like the best way of getting to do some sightseeing while staying relatively dry. There's really only one small highway around the perimeter of Kaua'i - and it doesn't even form a complete circuit - the Na Pali cliffs on the north side make a road impossible. If you picture an inverse letter "C" our resort is at about the midway point, on the east side. Waimea Canyon is at the end of the road, on the opposite side of the road.

We passed in and out of non-rainy patches while circuiting the island - the weather was quite changeable, although largely wet. Our first view of the canyon, from a scenic pull-over, was pretty fantastic - it's called the Grand Canyon of Hawaii. Because Kaua'i is the oldest Hawai'ian island, there's been more erosion here than elsewhere. Kaua'i is also the wettest of the islands - the lush green vegetation in contrast to the vivid red earth is really dramatic.

Our next stop was in a little village, before beginning the ascent into the canyon. Because Anthony and Heather have a GPS system, we followed them (we've rented 2 cars for the 7 of us) - I'm not quite sure where it was that we stopped, but there were some tourist shops, a shave ice stand, and a path to the nearby beach. And there was also sunshine! It would turn out that this was really our only good dose of sunshine all day. We also saw some of the ubiquitous wild chickens, strutting about happy and free.

The drive up into the canyon was long and steep, with lots of hairpin curves. We passed through foggy and rainy patches, eventually reaching the first look-out. There wasn't much to see - the canyon was filled with fog, like a big bowl - you could practically see it lapping up at the edges. An interesting, eerie scene, but we couldn't get much sense of the canyon itself.

We had better luck at our next lookout - this one looks down to where the Kalalau trail (a famously challenging hike) runs - it's the only real connection from one end of the highway to the other. There was sunshine on the trees around us, and the clouds below parted to reveal misty clues about the shoreline - very green, beautiful blue water, and a rainbow.

As we retraced our route back down to the exit from the canyon, we stopped at a puzzling sight that we'd noticed on our way in - a pig on top of a car! And yes, it was a pig on top of a car - a small, dead pig (roadkill?) on top of an abandoned, beat up vehicle. Very odd - someone must have put the dead pig up there.

We circled back around the island to our resort, then hopped back in the cars again to drive to the other end of the island. We were going to a luau on the north shore, at the Mediterranean Gourmet. I had picked it because it's one of the smaller luaus on the island (only about 80 people, as compared to several hundred), and was said to have a more authentic family-style entertainment component. It also seemed appropriate to go out for a special event the night before our wedding - a rehearsal dinner of sorts (with no need to rehearse anything!).

We barely made it to dinner in time - although Google Maps thought it would be a 38 minute drive, they clearly hadn't accounted for the narrow winding roads and multiple one-lane bridges - in many ways a more challenging drive than Waimea Canyon. The mountains on the north shore come down very close to the water's edge in many places, so the road is as narrow as possible to skirt the edge.

Dinner was our first experience of traditionally prepared Hawaiian foods like taro - both in rolls and pounded into the paste poi - the purple colour of this sweet potato-like root turned both a blue-ish colour (not an entirely appetizing look, nor taste). There was also tender, smoky Kalua pork, and haupia (coconut) cake. The best item in the buffet was a delicious whitefish.

The entertainment was great - it really was a family affair - the father was the MC and main musician, and his three daughters earnestly performed traditional hula dances. At one point the band took a request for "Puff the Magic Dragon" - turns out that we were having dinner in the "land of Hanalei". The evening ended with the father's fire breathing routine - it might sound cheesy but it was pretty amazing to watch him in action.

 

Waimea Canyon

 

Welcome to Kaua'i

 

My family, through the fog 

 

Kalalau lookout

 

Mark on the jetty during a brief sunny interlude

 

 The luau (note the leis - shell necklaces - given to all of us)

 

Traditional Hawai'ian hula dance

 

Traditional Polynesian dance

 

Fire breathing

December 20, 2010: Oahu - License, Near Electrocution; Kaua'i - Family

Monday morning we set off to get our marriage license once again. This time we were successful! We were in and out in short order, since we had filled out our application ahead of time. What a relief.

We walked back to our hotel, rather than taking the bus. Along the way Mark pointed out the crazy Christmas decorations that he'd seen on the same route Friday - a giant blow-up Santa and his wife, chilling by the pool with soft drinks and diving penguins.

As Mark pressed one of the pedestrian cross buttons he let out a yelp. With all the recent heavy rain something must have gotten wet that wasn't supposed to, and touching the metal button gave Mark a good, strong shock. I may be exaggerating when I list "near electrocution" in this entry's title, but we'd just played around with a simulation of an electric eel shock at the San Francisco Academy of Sciences and Mark told me the shock he got here was much stronger. Fie on you Oahu - we're ready to get off this island!

We didn't do much the rest of the morning - just packed up. On the news we heard that Hanauma Bay was closed due to the heavy run-off - apparently the "brown water" attracts sharks.

I'd hoped to get a manicure/pedicure, but the spa at the hotel was all booked up, a nearby shop that I'd read about was closed for the day (even though their website said they were open Mondays), and the little place across the street hadn't opened up by 11:00, even though their sign said they open at 10:00. Fie on you again Oahu for denying me my pre-wedding indulgence. So I went and bought a cheap bottle of nail polish (from the ABC Store - where else?) to do it myself.

We flew mid-afternoon to Kaua'i, picked up our rental car, and found our resort, Kaha Lani, fairly easily - we missed our turn-off, but since the resort is on a loop road we encountered it without even trying after getting off at the next turn-off. Happily it's only about 10 minutes from the airport, so an easy drive. And it's also next to the ocean, in a fairly isolated spot, but with shopping a quick drive down the road.

Mark's sister, Sara, was already there, having flown in the night before from Vancouver. She'd had a bit of an adventure, getting in so late at night that her luggage wasn't available, then taking a taxi out to the resort to find that they weren't expecting her until the next day with the rest of us. Her friendly taxi driver, Darson, turned off the meter and stayed until someone showed up and found her a room.

Mark and I got settled in, did a grocery run with Sara, and started cooking a curry stir fry dinner for the three of us. Just then the rest of our families (Mark's father, John, my mother, Edith, my sister, Heather, and my brother-in-law, Anthony) showed up - they'd been booked on a later flight for the last leg of their journey from Oahu to Kaua'i, but luckily got spots on the earlier flight. So we threw on more food, briefly caught up on the travel stories, then headed to bed, with everyone but myself and Mark tired out from flying and disoriented by the time change.

Loving the sixties-era bureaucratic architecture!

Crazy mash-up of tropical setting and Christmas tradition.

December 19, 2010: Oahu - Rain, Snorkeling, More Rain, Indian Food

We woke to rain. In the middle of the night. It sounded like quite the storm - driving against the windows for hours, and it still hadn't let up by morning. I checked with the concierge - we wanted to go snorkeling at famous Hanauma Bay, and I wondered if it might be closed with all the rain, but she wasn't concerned. And we figured if we were already wet in the water, what's a little rain?

So we set off on our journey. I didn't pack a regular camera, since I wasn't sure how secure our belongings would be there, but we did take an underwater camera we'd bought the night before. Although I looked up the schedule for TheBus, either we just missed it, or the bus never came, so we waited for 40 min under the shelter (which wasn't very sheltery - still got kind of wet from the rain). But once we finally got on, it was an easy ride.

By the time we got there the rain was coming down even harder than before. The guy who sold us our entry tickets warned us that there were no refunds - looks like he was skeptical about snorkeling in the rain. We walked down the long, steep road to the beach and found that there were no more than a dozen people in the water. The place was deserted. You could see that it would be beautiful under sunny weather conditions - and probably crowded with thousands of tourists.

The rainy weather really wasn't much of a problem once we got in the water. It was my first time ever snorkeling, so Mark patiently coaxed me through learning to breathe all over again. The visibility probably would have been better with sunshine, but there were still hundreds of huge, colourful fish everywhere, which was amazing. Most of the coral reef itself was dead and white - whether this is due to the large number of tourists or to some other phenomenon seems to be a subject of debate.

No photos from our underwater adventure - the camera promptly swam out of Mark's pocket shortly after we got into the ocean. I comfort myself with the fact that we only lost $12.50 from our ABC Store purchase, rather than the $14.00 we would have lost if we'd purchased it on site when we got to the bay. That, and the water is so shallow and clear that some other fortunate tourist will pick it up and put it to good use.

When we finally got out of the water, the scene on the beach had changed. Whereas before it was a hard rain, now it was a torrential rain. There were rivers of dirty brown water streaming down the cliffs, across the sand and flooding the bay - it was only along the far sides that the water was still clear and blue. And there were even fewer people left in the water.

We walked back up the steep road to leave - now a channel for run-off and gushers of water springing back up out of drains that were too overloaded. We got a snack at the top, huddled under the meager roofed area, then headed out to the bus stop. No shelter there, but why bother - we were already completely soaked. Everyone waiting was laughing - it was ludicrous how strong the rain was and how wet we were. The ride back was crazy - I wouldn't have wanted to plow through that much water in anything but a giant bus - we tossed up a wake like we were a boat.

It may not have been ideal conditions, but it certainly was great to have the bay to ourselves instead of fending off thousands of other tourists. We judged it a crazy adventure, rather than a wash-out.

We had dinner at an Indian restaurant just across the street - we didn't want to venture far in the rain after managing to dry out in our hotel room. Great food and worth the long wait.

Whereas the typical visitor to Hanauma Bay may have seen a scene like this...

we saw something more like this... except less sunny.

December 18, 2010: Oahu - Valley of the Temples, Byodo Temple

Lessons learned today:
- Google Transit can't be relied on for accurate estimates of walking time or conditions
- TheBus can't be relied on for adhering to schedules in any real way
- black swans are not a myth 
- I must buy mosquito repellent before heading into the trees again
- Hawaii is the closest I've come yet to visiting Japan

I wanted to get out of the Honolulu area to see another part of the island, so I chose the Valley of the Temples, based on a beautiful photograph in a guidebook of Byodo Temple. Google Transit made it sound relatively manageable by transit - one bus, and then a 19 minute walk, half on a city street, and half along a highway. Turns out it was a 45 minute walk - ten minutes on the city street, and then 35 on the fairly narrow shoulder of a busy highway. Pretty dismal - felt like an endurance test. Actually started to doubt whether I was on the right route since I had been walking for so much longer than the estimate, but just as I was about to give up I crested a hill and saw my destination ahead.

Byodo Temple is a scale replica of a temple in Japan, and it's set in the Valley of the Temples, a large cemetery complex. It's a beautiful, quiet landscape, set against tall green mountains. At the temple itself were numerous koi fish (huge and eager to be fed from the coin vending machines), black swans (which I've never seen before - bright red beaks!), a nine-foot buddha (the largest outside Japan; his gold leaf was a bit worse for wear), and a large bell that visitors could ring. I was so tired and hot from my journey to get there that almost anything would have thrilled me, but it really was lovely. I sat down under the trees by the pond to eat the sandwich I had packed - by the time I finished I realized that I'd been mosquito-bitten on all of my exposed parts. I really need to find mosquito spray.

Not only was the temple Japanese, but so were many of the gravesites in the cemetery - I hadn't realized what an extensive history there was of the Japanese living in Hawaii. Couple this with the fact that Waikiki is a major Japanese tourist destination (signage everywhere is in both English and Japanese, and all the top restaurants are high-end sushi) and I'm as close as I've ever gotten to visiting Japan. It really doesn't feel like America anymore.

On the way home I endure the dreaded walk along the highway and get to my bus stop in time. Another fellow waiting there, who is a local, says that the last schedule bus (40 minutes earlier) never showed up. But luck is on my side, and the bus comes only a few minutes later. I get back to our hotel and jump into the pool to wipe away the grime of my hot, dusty trek.

Mark gave his talk at the conference today, so we met up after to relax with drinks with friends  (my first ever mai tai - strong, not so fabulous), then dinner at the Hula Grill - nice beachside location, good food, and improved meat to vegetable ratios.

Photos: the valley, the temple, the pond, a waterfall, some fish, a black swan, a bird (looks like a cardinal but the colouring is different), the buddha statue