Justicia betonica – Squirrel's Tail
We got up before dawn the next day (Friday) to catch a flight from HNL to Kauai-Lihue (pronounce le hooey). It’s a short flight of barely forty minutes. At the airport, we landed on a dry runway and taxied into a downpour that was just ending at the terminal building – an apt demonstration of the weather forecast of “scattered showers”.
A taxi took us from the airport to the office of Kauai Photo Tours in Kapa‘a. We were the first to check-in and spent some time in the Kauai Plantation store, which had a nice selection of authentic made-in-Hawai‘i Hawai‘ian shirts at a good price. So I bought four to add to my collection. Walking back to the tour office, the other five members of our tour arrived, so after throwing our packs (and shopping bag) into the back we were on our way.
The tour leader was a young transplanted Philadelphian named Matt, a wiry fellow with a ponytail and a fedora shod only in flip-flops. Our first stop was a waterfall called Ho‘opi‘i Falls on the Kapa‘a Stream. Parking the van on the side of the road, we followed a red clay trail down into a valley where the creek ran. Meeting the stream at a broad and calm turn, the trail followed the creek downstream, although the path rose along side the slope, before we turned down a spur to return to the water and the falls. Of course the rain chose that time to grace us with one of those scattered showers.
Jonathan and I pulled out and donned our rain gear, and put Ziploc bags over our cameras. I fished the little waterproof camera out of my pocket. I also gave some extra Ziploc bags to our companions for their cameras as we backed up under the foliage for protection from the rain.
After backtracking up the trail to the van, and Matt collecting some walking sticks, we drove up the east coast of the island to Anahola Beach Park where we had our next photo op.
Justicia betonica – Squirrel's Tail
Jonathan coming down the trail.
The creek upstream of the falls.
The falls.
The orange blossom is from the African tulip tree an introduced species.
Looking up the creek from the falls.
The would-be photographers huddled under the trees.
A fern.
A view of Anahola Mountain.
Sand, sea, sky.
The black lava rock on the beach.
I took this shot for the textures.
Framing the view under the ironwood trees.
Beach view.
Contrasting rock, with water.
A crab.
A long view of Anahola (Kalalea Mtn) Mountain.
The next stop was at an unidentified overlook on the north shore, I’m guessing aournd Kāhili Beach to Waiakalua Beach. As we drove down the arrow-straight dirt road, we spotted a Laysan albatross waddling on the side of the road. Stopping to observe, it eventually took off heading down the dirt road like an airport runway, heading off towards the sea.
Laysan albatross on ground.
Still on the ground.
Taking off.
Off the ground.
Heading out to sea.
Jonathan taking a few snaps.
Another view of the surf.
A broader surf view.
Looking eastward.
Returning to the Kūhiō Highway, we continued westward along the north shore of the island, turning into the Princeville Country Club. This area is, as one might imagine, a rather well-to-do development where the trailhead down to the beach isn’t very obvious, although several cars were parked there. This trail followed a stream down to the ocean’s edge, and there were a couple of small waterfalls. This trail was probably the most challenging of the day due to the steep climb in several places.
Waterfall in Princeville.
The view down to the shore.
Rock, sea, cloud.
Surf on the rocks.
Looking westward.
Taking a shot of the creek entering the ocean.
Looking eastward.
Foliage.
One of the many colorful chickens we saw on Kaua‘i.
Our lunch spot.
Another shot of the scenic chicken.
Trying to capture the clouds stacking up on the mountains.
We stopped for lunch in Hanalei at the Hanalei Taro and Juice Company, one of Matt’s favorite spots. Jonathan and I both had the pulled pork BBQ sandwiches which were quite good and I also had a mango smoothie with a taro base, also quite tasty. Matt had a taro leaf-wrapped pork and rice assemblage – it looked like a big green tamale – that he liberally doused with poi (which had a slightly purple cast, like grape yogurt). He commented that poi was used not so much for taste than for texture.
The next and last beach stop was at (I think) Wainiha Bay where the South Pacific “nurses’ beach” scenes were filmed.
There were two more stops on the way back, both inland. The first was just past (east) of the Hanalei Valley, at a spot overlooking the valley and its agricultural fields of mostly taro. The weather looked like it might chase us back into the van, but the showers held off while we took our snapshots.
The second stop and last stop of the day took us inland at Anahola, up a roughly paved road, turning off at a dirt road where we walked down a trash strewn path – complete with pig carcass – to a point looking back to the sea and the Anahola mountains. Afterwards, we returned to Kapa‘a and the tour office where we arranged a ride to the Marriott resort near the airport where we had 5 PM reservations at Duke’s restaurant.
The varying textures of foliage.
Hala tree.
Westward beach view.
Looking out to sea.
Another angle - using an ironwood sapling for interest.
A couple fishermen silhouetted against the sky.
Jonathan taking a landward shot.
I found this rock formation curious - a pile in the center of a circular pit.
The surf on the beach.
Roots of a ficus.
The rain that didn't quite drive us back into the van.
The wide view over the Hanalei valley.
A closer view over the valley.
I liked the various trees outlined against the sky; a Cook pine (Araucaria columnaris) right.
Back at Anahola - looking at the back side of the mountain.
Looking back down towards the beach.
The view from the veranda at Duke's.
The Marriott is an extensive resort and it seemed we had to walk all the way through its exquisitely groomed courtyards to reach the restaurant that overlooks the resort’s beach. Again we were seated on the veranda, although like Costa Rica, the entire restaurant is open air under a roof. We both had the same type of tropical fish (name forgotten, although I know it wasn’t wahoo/ono) that was white and had a meaty texture and was perfectly prepared. We skipped dessert and hopped the resort’s shuttle to the airport for the flight back to Honolulu, where we got back to the hotel at about 10 pm.