{photos by Kelsey and April Kennedy}
Today we bring you the second installment of the Kennedy family’s vacation DITL. Click here if you missed Part 1.
Fri. Jan. 9: Last full day in Hanalei. The boys and I do early surf lessons by the pier today with Mario. We can all surf a little but are most certainly novices. Okay, the boys are better than I am and April is better than I am but the lessons are good for all of us. About an hour and a half in the small shore break near the pier and we're all looking reasonably good. Tacos from Pat's food truck at the pier.
After lunch, boogie boarding in the slightly bigger waves a couple hundred yards down the beach. Supper includes poi and the best fish ever (Opakapaka) from the local fish market.
Sat. Jan. 10: Last Hanalei beach run. Lynn from the surf shop calls to ask if the boys would still like a ride in the Pinzgauer, an old, German 4WD military surplus vehicle used by the shop (it was being worked on yesterday and they missed a chance to ride in it). The answer is a resounding yes and we get a ride around Hanalei Bay with Uncle Mitch, the surf shop owner.
The ride is loud, bumpy and fun. Mitch is friendly and gregarious. He shares stories and info such as the differences between several surf spots around the bay, the quickest route to safety in a tsunami, stories of growing up on Kauai's north shore, and other local lore.
Back in the car and driving around to the south side, we stop in Lihue for lunch. Saimin with homemade noodles and broth at Hamura's. Drooling over ukulele at Scotty's Music Shop. We arrive in Poipu in the late afternoon in time for some beach play and a glorious sunset.
Sun. Jan 11: After a bit of a late start, we made our way west around the coast to Waimea and inland to the Waimea Canyon. Whew! What a looker! Every bit as beautiful and majestic (if not as big) as the Grand Canyon. Across the expanse, ruggedly carved red cliffs give way in spots to large patches of intense green. Tall, thin waterfalls can be spotted around almost every corner.
Pulling over several times on the way up the canyon road for sightseeing and pictures, we stop at a spot for an “easy” 3 mile out and back hike into and halfway down the canyon wall. The easy hike becomes a bit too lunar, rugged and narrow at one point for our party so we make it about a two miler with no regrets.
More sightseeing up the canyon road to the Kokee'e lodge and visitor center. Here we learn a bit more about island geography. Some of the rainfall on the summit of Kauai, Mt. Wai'ale'ale, becomes the Waimea River which carved Waimea Canyon. Wai'ale'ale, purportedly the wettest spot on earth (>450″/yr rainfall), is apparently rather more like a desert than a jungle. The heavy rainfall contains little free oxygen and washes all the nutrients out of the soil leaving it quite barren.
Mon. Jan. 12: Up early this morning to drive to Port Allen at Ele'ele for a snorkeling and sightseeing cruise. We're on the boat, a beautiful 65' catamaran, before 8:00. The waters are six shades of blue and glassy. Out of the harbor and west along the coast then north toward Na Pali. 30 minutes or so out we stop to snorkel for an hour or so.
Even though the surface is calm, the water in the snorkeling area is oddly a bit murky. In some spots the bottom, 10-15' away, is almost obscured. Still, the snorkeling is not bad we see quite a few tang, angelfish, a couple varieties of parrotfish and a dozen larger and smaller species I can't identify.
Back on the boat and underway again, we almost immediately run into a pod of bottlenose dolphins who follow the boat for a bit but are obviously more concerned with lunch than interested in us. Later, there is an enormous pod, hundreds of individuals, of Hawaiian spinner dolphins jumping out of the water and spinning round just like their name would lead you to expect. More amazing sea life, Malolo, the flying fish. These guys would leap out of the water, and glide along near the surface for hundreds of yards. We saw one of them snatched right out of the air by a black and white tern!
Whales, did I mention whales? Humpback whales are in Hawaiian waters in the winter months. We saw plenty of them, starting before we even left the dock. Mostly at some distance, spouting, tail slapping, pectoral fin slapping, and full breach! One breach was so close to the boat that the captain suggested he could use a clean pair of board shorts.
As if that wasn't enough, the real purpose of the cruise is the up close views of the Na Pali coastline. Dazzling, verdant, knife edge cliffs, dripping with waterfalls, towering thousands of feat above the sea. I could wax (poorly) for pages about them but pictures better, come see even better.
After the five and a half hour cruise, we returned to Poipu for more time in the water. Ahi poke and ocean salad in front of one of the most spectacular sunsets you'd care to see wrapped up the day.
Tue. Jan. 13: Beach, forest and cliff run around Poipu Beach/Koloa Heritage Trail this AM. Sea cliffs, waves, we even saw a couple of honu in a rough and rocky cove. Late breakfast and some schoolwork. Math, history and literature reading. I've been having the boys journal this week about their experiences on Kauai. Wish I had done it last week. We used to journal together nearly every day, starting in kindergarten, but fell out of the habit somewhere along the way. We can hear the ocean (and of course, roosters) from here.
Today we visited the Allerton Garden, one of five National Tropical Botanical Gardens. During the 2 hr. walking tour, our friendly, knowledgeable guide, Mario shared fascinating information about the indigenous and introduced plants, the mission and work of the NTBG, Hawaiian lore, and had us taste unusual fruits.
The Allerton Garden was built by it's namesake, Robert Allerton over decades starting in the late 1930s. After the style of French formal gardens, each section of the garden is a massive outdoor room showcasing tropical flora both indigenous and introduced from all over the world. The boys were way more into the garden and botanical info than I had expected.
To be continued…
Kelsey Kennedy is a Track B SLOCA dad to two boys who suffers occasional bouts of logorrhea and writes his own “about the author” blurbs in the third person. He realizes that for a blog post ostensibly about home schooling, he probably mentions food more frequently than schoolwork. He likes food. Sue him.
PS: April says we actually did more schoolwork than I recorded. I guess I was just more focused on the other stuff. 
Stay tuned for the conclusion to this fun and fascinating account, coming next Tuesday!
