Today we'll do a little island hopping.
Here's the plane that will take us to Hawaii's "Garden Island," Kauai, and another just like it will bring us back to Oahu at the end of the day.
Bye bye Honolulu International.
Bye bye, Pearl Harbor.
Hi, Kauai. We'll land in Lihue.
I mean, "Aloha, Kauai."
We'll start the day driving around the south side of the island and along Waimea Canyon, and then we'll re-trace our route to Lihue and head up north to Kilauea.
Let's go see what's up here.
This is Waimea Canyon.
Mark Twain called it "The Grand Canyon of the Pacific."
Waimea is Hawaiian for "reddish water," a reference to the erosion of the canyon's red soil.
Doug and Bonnie are enjoying the view.
The canyon was formed by a deep incision of the Waimea River arising from the extreme rainfall on the island's central peak, Mount Waiʻaleʻale, among the wettest places on earth.
Bill had no idea, none, that he'd see anything like this in Hawaii.
Doug and Bonnie are taking it all in.
Beautiful view on a beautiful day.
And then there were chickens.
Lots of chickens, running loose all over the island. They're everywhere, they're everywhere!
Oh boy, another lookout!
Another view.
Another lookout.
Still another view, only this time there's ocean.
So pretty. Kauai is known as "The Garden Island."
Tarzan lives over there, I just betcha.
Doug and Bonnie like this place too.
And Bill continues to be amazed by the beauty.
I betcha Doug installed a search and rescue microwave tower up there. He seems to have installed that stuff on every high spot in Hawaii.
Mount Waiʻaleʻale (the name means literally, "rippling water" or "overflowing water at an elevation of 5,148 feet, is a shield volcano and the second highest point on the island. Averaging more than 452 inches of rain a year since 1912, with a record 683 inches in 1982, its summit is one of the rainiest spots on earth.
They filmed part of the movie JURASSIC PARK down there I think maybe I believe I heard that probably.
They don't look like dinosaurs.
There's another one of Doug's microwave search and rescue towers. They're everywhere!
Glad it wasn't rainy today.
Though it looks like it could get that way any time now.
It's a long way down there to the dinosaurs.
Bonnie and Doug will remain safely up top, thank you.
And off we go to our next overlook.
If there's one thing Kauai has plenty of, it's overlooks.
With very nice views. There's a taro farm down there in the lower center of the picture. Taro is the potato of the tropics.
And pretty soon we're back to the ocean. Off in the distance is the town of Waimea.
Oh boy, we're finally gonna have lunch.
Bill was determined to have an authentic Hawaiian lunch while Doug and Bonnie were desperate to find a McDonalds. While Bill wandered all over town (took five minutes), Doug and Bonnie settled on this place and eventually Bill joined them.
"Ha, ha. You struck out, didn't you?"
But wait, maybe this is just the place for Bill, too. Iced tea with passion fruit. Mmmmmm.
And what's this thing? The menu calls it a “kau kau” tin lunch, with Beef Teriyaki, Shrimp & Vegetable Tempura, and Kim Chee, served in the Traditional Plantation Worker “Kau Kau” Tin (lunch pail). Bill is drooling, just look at him.
Well you'd drool too, wouldn't you. C'mon, Doug and Bonnie, put away those French fries and dig into the good stuff!
Um, no thanks.
Well pardon me then, while I partake.
This kau kau tin is now officially cleaned out. Can't say there's much passion fruit tea left either.
Bonnie can't understand how anybody would pass up a souvenir stand.
Say, what's that all over the ground?
Papayas everywhere! Going to waste! Do you know how much these things cost at Safeway in DC?
Roadside vegetation on the Garden Island.
Just down the road near the town of Kalaheo is the Kauai Coffee Company.
Here they'll show you how they grow it.
And they'll show you what it tastes like.
They'll even let you wander on your own through a coffee plantation.
Christmas trees! And coffee trees.
Look! It's a coffee bean!
Lotsa coffee beans.
Here's where they prepare little coffee trees to be planted.
This machine slaps coffee trees silly to shake the beans loose. Don't let it grab you!
We even saw coffee flowers.
And big bunches of coffee beans.
Mmmmm, Starbucks.
They have a pretty garden here.
But enough of the coffee. Let's go find more mysterious mountains.
And don't forget to admire the roadside foliage along the way.
Each year, thousands of migratory seabirds use Kīlauea Point National Wildlife Refuge for nesting, foraging, or resting. Laysan Albatrosses, Red-footed Boobies, Brown Boobies, Red-tailed and White-tailed Tropicbirds, Great Frigatebirds, and Wedge-tailed Shearwaters all visit the refuge. In addition, migratory shorebirds, such as the kōlea, can be seen August through May. A small population of endangered nēnē were reintroduced on the refuge in the 1990s .
Kīlauea Lighthouse was built in 1913. In 1976, the Coast Guard deactivated the lighthouse and replaced it with an automatic beacon. In 1979, the lighthouse was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Prime time for whale watching is between January and March. But I don't recall seeing any whales here. We saw them elsewhere, though.
It's awfully breezy here.
Hey Doug! Look! Somebody's cap blew off his head and is stuck down there on the cliff!
Cap? Who's missing a cap?
And "aloha" to Honolulu. In Hawaii it's hard to tell whether you're coming or going.
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