Snorkeling, Botanical Garden, Waimea Canyon II
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A lazy morning, then over to Poipu Beach for some early morning snorkeling. It was a bit breezy and cool but uncrowded and not baking in the sun. The little bay on the left was a little shallow (tide out?) but we both ventured in. Almost immediately we saw a long green fish with a pointed nose (a needlefish I think) and some others. I of course hadn’t brought the underwater camera with me. It was still on the beach. So I waddled back up to the towel in my swim fins and got it. We swam around the small bay for awhile and saw a fair amount of fish. But it was just a hair too shallow for my taste after yesterday at Anini Beach (and an unfortunate experience on Maui 20 years back that I still have a scar from). So I made Marion go over to the other side, which turned out to be deeper but a bit more raucous wave-wise.
After a bit Marion had had enough but I stayed out awhile longer. I saw a whole bunch of fish. Poipu is far and away the best beach for snorkeling we’ve found. We had enough just about the time people started arriving and headed back to the house for a shower and a rest. Marion took a nap and I read out on the patio. Very pleasant.
It was getting towards lunch time so we decided to head over to Bubba’s for another burger. Once again they didn’t disappoint. And we caught the penalty kicks in the Ghana/Uruguay World Cup match. Ghana lost. And it turned out had a chance to win on a penalty kick in extra time but hit the cross bar. Crushing.
After lunch we headed over to the National Tropical Botanical Garden, a many adjectived but very nice garden just down the road from Bubba’s. And it turned out to be free which was also nice and unexpected. As you come in, there’s a lily pond on the right that was quite striking. It was apparently someone’s yard that got big and varied enough to warrant being open to the public. Lots of different varieties of plants and just the right size so it wasn’t a slog in the sun.
We debated (well I did) whether to take the tour of the world famous Allerton Garden — a 2.5 hr tour involving a bus ride and a 1 mile walk. I was feeling a little uggy after swimming, and it was pretty warm out, so I decided against it. Maybe next time. Instead we wandered over to the Spouting Horn Park for another pass through the craft stalls. There were a couple of tour buses there this time (the ever present Polynesian Adventure bus) so it was a bit more crowded. But Marion found a few items to purchase.
Back to the room for another rest. Then a drive to the Kauai Coffee Plantation for a little walking tour and coffee purchase. They’ve got a nice little setup. A 1/8 mile walk around some coffee plants and machinery where they tell you how the operation works. Then of course an opportunity to taste and buy some coffee. I’m not a coffee drinker but Marion found a variety she liked and got some. Plus a few other trinkets.
We had lunch at Grinds again. Big salads you could barely finish and I watched a surfing championship on TV. The TV Marion could see was showing Judge Judy. I got the much better deal. Some pretty impressive displays of surfing, including riding on top of the wave after it had turned over. The outside of the tube if you will. I had never seen that before.
It was getting to be late afternoon and it occurred to me we were within shouting distance of Waimea Canyon and the light might be really nice. So I talked Marion into going back up one more time. And this time we would take the ‘good’ highway that they don’t tell the tourists about. It turned out to be a much better road. Straighter, much better views, faster. I have no idea why the signs direct you a different way.
We stopped a few times for pictures because the light was nice and the lower part of the canyon was visible from the road. On the other road the other day there was nothing to see and no reason to stop. Maybe that’s why they send you that way. To avoid people constantly stopping.
About halfway up though I remembered that I was thinking we should get gas in Waimea before heading up but had forgotten. The tank was down to about 1/8 and starting to drop precipitously. I decided we should turn around when it got halfway from 1/8 to E. It got there when I knew we were near the overlook. A mile later we still hadn’t gotten there. I finally decided, that’s it, we have to turn around, but Marion said “really?” so I took one more corner and there it was. Almost gave up 200 yards short.
As it turned out, it had clouded over a bit. But there were still some interesting shots to be had. I tried very hard to get the ‘shot of a lifetime’ to make up for having to walk back to Waimea if it came to that. I was hoping that downhill would use a lot less gas.
Well, with the car was pointed downhill, we had an 1/8 of a tank again. So things weren’t as bad as we thought. And we pretty much didn’t have to touch the gas pedal most of the way back down. We ended up back in Waimea with some room to spare but it might have been nice not to have had to worry about it. We did make one stop on the way down when the rainbows appeared. I figured it was worth walking for that shot if it came to it.
The last stop of the day was in Hanapepe where on Friday nights it’s Art Night. The galleries stay open late (till 9!, they’re wild in Hanapepe) and it’s a bit of a party with some live music, some street vendors, chicken roping (just kidding) and such. The plan was to wander around, then go buy the painting we had seen the last time we were there as an anniversary gift. The first gallery we went in was one we hadn’t seen the last time. It had a lot of nice stuff including a few we really liked but the prices were pretty high. We wandered through a few more galleries and listened to the music a bit. Marion talked to an author at the book store (a bit of a loon…). We got to the gallery with the painting and both of us went ‘oh, huh’. We didn’t really find it that striking and decided we didn’t need it after all. So we were a bit disappointed since it was going to be our anniversary gift to each other.
Well, maybe we should take one more look at the first place. They had said they were willing to negotiate. Lo and behold we found a few we liked that weren’t quite as expensive as the others. One in particular we liked because it reminded us of Anini Beach where we had gone snorkeling the day before. Marion negotiated a 10% discount and that got us into anniversary gift range, so we bought it. And it turned out it was of Anini Beach so that was extra nice. We also met and talked to the artist so that was kind of fun.
It’s our last full day tomorrow. We’ve got the big boat tour. Hope it doesn’t disappoint.
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