Stacey's third full day

Stacey's third full morning started, again, a bit early.

The plan for the day was to drive up to Hanalei Bay on the other side of the island to check it out. However two things needed to happen first; I needed Stacey to look at my foot, and caffeine was a prerequisite.

Apparently the day before, while swimming at Turtle Beach, my foot hit a rock. This I was aware of. What I didn't anticipate was the trauma that occurred to my foot as a result. I knew I had scraped/cut my foot up. But when I woke up, there was one spot that was especially sensitive to any form of stimuli.

The spot had raised to about the size of a BB over the night and was extremely...colorful. Of course, me being me, I had to squeeze it to see what would happen. Immediately after applying pressure, it opened and issued a measure of bodily fluids. It felt immediately better, but when Stacey looked at it, she noticed it felt like something hard was still in the wound. So, she grabbed a pair of tweezers and started working what ever was inside towards the exit, not unlike working a splinter. A couple painful minutes later, and we saw what was causing the problem; somehow three grains of beach sand embedded themselves in there. With my foot better, we hit Starbucks (coconut mocha frappuccino!) and hit the road for Hanalei.

The drive was rainy, this part of the island being literally the wettest spot in the world. However it was clear enough that we got to see most of the scenery on the way up there.

On the road to Hanalei.

The first stop along the way was to view to taro fields. However, the rain moved in within five minutes and sent us back on the road.

The taro fields when we first got there...

...And five minutes later when the rain came.

The next stop after that were to the beach caves, a couple of old lava tubes that are freakishly large. It's scary to imagine that at one time the entire tube was filled with lava, probably pahoehoe.

The dry tube.

The sign outside the wet tube.

While at the caves/tubes, we found what I think is the Kauai hippie beach, as evidenced by the numerous tents, several shirtless people, and one couple standing on the side of the road with backpacks in hand trying to hitchhike, and after an unsuccessful attempt yelling "Awwwww come on maaaaaan, it's raining!" (for the record, if you come to the rainiest and most isolated spot on earth knowingly with little to no cash and no vehicle, don't get irritated at people for not feeling sorry for you.)

Tents on the beach. And what is either a camper or hippie - really the difference is all in the perspective.

Up the way from the caves was the end of the road we were on (It does not go all the way around the island). At the end of the road there was a beach, and a hiking trail that took us to a decent vantage point. The parking was tight, but the nice thing about a Jeep is that parking becomes an activity all to itself.

I watched a Lincoln Towncar try to take this space when we left. It was entertaining to watch.

The trail itself wasn't too bad, for someone with hiking boots. However, we made what could have possibly been one of the worst decisions of the trip and decided to go up the trail in our flip flops.

The beginning wasn't bad...

...But then we got to the actual trail.

However, we escaped injury all together by being uber careful, and the short hike was totally worth the pictures.

There's a reef in the center, with good snorkeling to the bottom right of the water.

This is allegedly the best snorkeling spot in all of Kauai, and while we did see snorkelers in the water, we declined to go in as we were devoid of snorkeling gear and wanted to check a few more things out on the way back, like a spring we had seen gurgling through the mud on the way up the trail.

Short little video of the spring bubbling up.

That's when we found what is probably one of the neatest little churches I've ever seen.

Coming up to it...

And driving away from it.

And a field just down the road from it, where you can see two long waterfalls.

We crossed a bridge that had been there for who knows how long (not that it wasn't in good shape), and wound up finding a beach not too far up.

Single lane bridges are everywhere on the island.

The road as it turns out had a bunch of beaches scattered here and there. So of course we had to stop and check one out.

I wonder what this tree is hoping to accomplish.

We also, again after a fortuitous wrong turn, found a sweet little lagoon that was secluded of the rood a little ways.

The left side...

...Center (the Pacific is just behind the sand in the background)...

...And right side.

And we found some more wild basil in there. I so need to go back and hook up some caprese salads.

It's everywhere!

After getting back on the correct road, we headed towards the light house and bird sanctuary. The light house was, well, a light house. However, the bird sanctuary was a lot more open than what I was expecting. I was thinking it would be more like an aviary, but it was still way cool, and we even got to see some red-footed boobies. Now we just have to see the blue footed ones to make Stacey happy.

The light house on left, bird sanctuary, well, rest of the picture.

The light house was pretty much the end of the Hanalei Bay portion of the morning, and Stacey really wanted to go swimming again, so we headed to Turtle Beach. On the way we stopped at Ali'i Kayaks to inquire about the rental of a two person ocean kayak. As it turned out, a guided tour up the Wailua to Secret Falls was only like five dollars a person more than just straight renting a kayak, so we signed up and had a check in time of eight thirty the next morning.

The beginning of the next days activities planned , we headed over to Turtle Beach where, once again, we saw another three turtles. It was the same story as the day before though, not close to touch or take a pic of, but still kinda close. After a few hours we were ready to leave. On our way out Stacey spotted some more turtles, this time in a different area. So we pulled over and parked, and counted no less then six turtles in this small area. We think they were eating moss off the rocks. Whatever they were doing there, we were able to get pics this time.

We dubbed this Turtle Cove, next to Turtle Beach - you can see a couple/few in the wave.

Even got a pic of one breaching the surface.

Also, a one of the many black and red hibiscus flowers in the area made its way into Stacey's hair.

We picked it from the plant in the background.

The drive back was nice, as is most of the driving there, with lots of stuff to look at.

I so want to build a house amongst those trees.

After running home and showering, we decided to go check out Wailua falls once more. The falls are apparently very dynamic, with their flow being heavily influenced by rainfall on an almost real-time basis. Come to find out this was true of the Wailua in general. As it turns out, it was still at low-flow, but it still made for a nice picture.

Awwwwwww...

Just before we left, we were intruded on by what I think was a Hawaiian motorcycle gang. Well, maybe a moped gang. Either way, we were doing our best not to laugh hysterically as they left the area.

Rebels without a clue?

Dinner was had at the crew house that night; tortillas, kalua pork, cheese, and cock sauce (the sauce with a picture of a rooster on the front - aka the best damn hot sauce ever). Oh, and of course the obligatory rum and cokes. We crashed soon after, since we had a bit of another early morning right around the corner.

And that was the end of Stacey's third full day.

Stacey's second full day

We woke up fairly early on Stacey's second morning.

First thing on the to-do list was to go hit up a local place that was supposed to have the best loco moco in Lihue, possibly in all of Kauai. Stacey had never tasted it, and I wanted her first bit to be good.

We went to a restaurant called Tip Top. It sits in the bottom of one of Kauai's oldest hotels, and honestly it kinda looks like it. I didn't get a picture, but I'm sure there's one on Google Earth or something. After stepping into the bottom floor where the restaurant was supposed to be, we weren't sure if we were in the right place. There wasn't much to see but a long partition (it could've been had a third-hand office store by it's appearance) and a single counter/desk in the center of a large space. It gave the feeling of a bachelor apartment; stark and minimalist not out of choice but by limited resources, using cheap and/or found furniture. However, asking the lady at said desk proved that we were in the right place, we just needed to round the end of the aforementioned partition.

It was open seating, so we found a booth and sat down. There were more locals than tourists, which made me feel better - if the locals love it, I owe it to the restaurant to at least try their fare, if not outright fall in love with it. There was also a person busing the tables. They were using a small cart and continuously circulating through the booths. I wholly expected the person pushing the cart, a small, elderly Asian woman, to yell "dim sum" at any second.

Once at the table we settled in and ordered. I got the loco moco, Stacey being ever so cautious about a new and scary food, ordered a Denver omelet. After my coffee arrived I started hunting down some sweet-n-low when I saw a label on a bottle that made me laugh.

Are they being sarcastic, or possibly trying to tell me something?

When the food came, Stacey tried the loco moco and decided it was "ok". I said I hoped she thought slightly better than that of it, as I planned on making it when we got back home. Her Denver omelet was ok, even though it was lacking cheese thus making it more of a scramble than an omelet. Oh well, with breakfast nommed, we grabbed an awesome, huge cookie by the register, and it was time to hit the road to the Kauai Coffee Company.

How we knew we were on the right road.

The estate was on both sides of the road (note the rows in the background).

The KCC was pretty cool, especially as I have never been to a coffee estate or plantation before. Come to find out, the KCC has the largest coffee estate in the US (3,300 acres), and produces around sixty percent of all coffee produced in Hawaii. I had no idea that coffee was even grown on this scale anywhere other than Kona, or even that Kona wasn't the only game in the islands.

The rows from the main building.

Once inside we immediately hit the free coffee tasting area. They provided all the little, winged, paper shot cups you could need (you can see one, bottom-left in the above picture) and about eighteen or so types of coffee.

The tasting area.

It was a bit of an experience, tasting coffee on the grounds it was grown on, with a view to boot. I would imagine it's not unlike wine tasting, though I haven't had a chance to do that yet.

The front lawn of the estate.

It didn't take us long to find our favorite, Estate Resrve Kauai Sunrise. We then decided to start the self guided estate tour, guided by the coffee-stamped sidewalk.

Just follow the coffee road...

The tour was informative, as well as scenic. To walk among the rows of coffee plants is reason enough to go.

Eight feet tall, and miles long. And Stacey.

We saw everything from green coffee cherries...

I was surprised at the densely packed clusters.

To ripe coffee cherries...

Well, ripe-ish.

To gratuitous plumerias.

It's a good thing we love them, since they're everywhere...

...Even in Stacey's hair.

After the coffee company, we headed to the beach so Stacey could finally go swimming in the ocean, which meant another trip through the tree tunnel.

You remember the one.

Along the way we stopped by a a meadow to take what is possibly one of, if not the nicest pictures of our trip.

Twelve megapixels of awesome.

Initially we tried to go to Shipwreck Beach, but wound up making a wrong turn and found ourselves fortuitously at another, much better beach for swimming.

I don't know why I look like that. Maybe I was dropping a deuce. Or drunk. Hard to say, really.

The water was clear, the waves not insane, and the sand uncrowded. We didn't see any signs for the beach name, so we weren't really sure where we were.

So clear you can see the bottom - through a swell.

After a while of swimming, we saw something in the water. I thought it was a snorkeler at first, and there were probably better places to snorkel (out of the waves). That's when Stacey and I realized what we were seeing; a sea turtle. Then we saw another one, about fifty feet away from the first one, and another one a hundred feet from that. Our first trip to Hawaii, first time swimming there, and we see three sea turtles. And they got close too; not close enough for a picture or to touch, but within about ten feet. And good luck trying to swim over to them, they're faster than they look. Since we still had no idea of the beaches name, we dubbed it Turtle Beach.

The edge of Turtle Beach.

Stacey, toes in the air, ass in the sand. (for the less-than-cultured, that's a song reference.)

After swimming we headed back out to find Shipwreck Beach, which as it turns out was just down the way from where we were. One of my favorite things about Shipwreck is the shaded lawn, but it's also known for good boogie boarding waves. This is the beach where I cut my hand up after eating sh-t in a wave while boogie boarding with a local pilot.

This lawn and some rum, possibly some nudity, and you got yourself a party.

Also at Shipwreck is trail that takes one to a huge rock you can jump off of. Honestly, I don't know how people jump off, as their huge balls would seemingly get in the way...

The jumping-off rock in the background...

...And me photobombing Stacey on the trail to the rock.

...Or smashed on the rocks on the bottom.

From the top of the rock (shaded lawn at the top). Maybe those aren't rocks, maybe they're huge testicles, sheared off by the impact force of those who jumped... Also, I tore up my hand in here.

Surprisingly, there was a ton of wild basil at the top of that rock. It smelled far better than the stuff you can buy in the store. If I lived there, I would totally cook with it. All the damn time.

One of about fifty stands of wild basil on the rock.

After the beaches we headed home, showered, and head out for the evening activities. First on the list was something I wanted to do the first time I was in Lihue but didn't have the ability to: rum tasting at the Koloa Rum company, located on the Kilohana Plantation.

I freaking love this building, and not just for it's rum storing properties.

They even had an example still set up, though I was a little disappointed; the still there was a reflux/column still, which is perfect for vodka. However, for rum (or whiskey, cognac, etc), where the flavor needs to come out with the spirit, a pot still is preffered.

A functional column still, with the tasting room in the background.

Offered for tasting were their three types of rum (light/silver, gold, and dark), their Kukui brand muy thai mix, macadamia nut rum cake, and rum chocolate sauce.

She pours it (while Stacey apparently makes an odd face)...

...And we taste it. (that's the shop and still behind us, we were in the tasting room.)

The inside of the store was nice, with most of the cabinets and such made from what looked like maybe Koa (a local hardwood). Even the rum cabinets were cool.

So much rum, so little liver.

We wound up buying a rum cake, jar of chocolate sauce, and two bottles of dark rum (the best tasting of the three). After leaving the distillery, we went to the Kukui'ula shopping center to check out some stores and have dinner at Josselyn's Tapas and Grill. After walking around the shops and stopping in a few (including Bungalow 9, a cool decor shop owned by the wife of one of our pilots), we looked at the dinner menu for the tapas place.

The Kukui'ula center.

Unfortunately, there was a lot of fish and dairy, and since Stacey doesn't eat fish (I'm still working on that), and can't really do dairy, we decided to cancel the reservation and go to Dukes for dinner. The best part of that decision was the drive through the parking lot access road. While we don't have any pics of it, beleive you me that anyone with less than eight inches of clearance on their car would be severely ill-advised to so much as attempt it.

The Duke's menu, courtesy of Stacey.

I had been to Dukes before and knew Stacey would like it for the view if not as much as the food. I recommended the mango ribs with a couple of muy thais.

When this guy suggests food and drinks, you shut your word-hole and listen.

During dinner, it rained pretty good. With the tiki torches, the rain, the view, we had an awesome time.

Best view ever.

The mango ribs and white rice were good, but honestly the muy thais could have been a little stronger. Especially at seven dollars a piece. Even Stacey, the super-lightweight commented on the minimal amount of liquor in them.

At first she was like...

...But then she was like...

After dinner, it was home and off to bed. And that was the end of Stacey's second full day.