Saying Aloha!

We spent Wednesday hangin' out at the condo to rest up for our last adventure we had planned for Thursday. Wednesday we spent in the surf, sand and grass. The surf has been HUGE, so bad for snorkeling, but great for body/boogie boarding, surfing, etc. We would just go out on the beach and body surf mostly...and let the waves just hammer us! It is a blast, and very tiring. We are going to need to rest up after this vacation. So with the beach and reading under the palms in the morning and afternoon, and our afternoon chill (lunch, nap, frisbee on the luscious lawn in the pic), our day was pretty much spent. We ended up eating at Keoki's Paradise again for our last nice, big, $$ dinner, then walked back to the condo and creamscicles for dessert. We hit the sack kind of early, since the wake up call (by me) was at 630am on Thursday and, as teenagers, B&M would sleep much longer than that if undisturbed!
Ever since we got a guide book for Hawaii, Maddie scoped out zip lining as one of the top things she wanted to do while here. Since we were running out of time, and there were some thing I wanted us to do as well. we decided on a tour with Outfitters Kauai that had a bit of everything...kayaking up a (calm) river, jungle hiking, wagon ride through a huge working ranch in the middle of an ancient volcano caldera, zip lining, swimming and rope swinging back at Kipu Falls, and a powered boat ride back to the start. It was an all day affair, with 20 people on the tour and 2 tour guides (Aram the Surfer Dude and Nate the Cable Guy...super nice guys). BTW, the pic to the left is the last you will see of this adventure (sadness). Maddie was snapping some pre-trip pics at the check-in shop, and the camera battery pack ran out of gas--arghh. No extra pack, no time to charge. Oh well, this was one for the memory banks...and we could all relax and soak it in since we didn't have to worry about snapping pics every couple of minutes. It's all good! SO if you want some pics, browse around their website: http://www.outfitterskauai.com/KipuFalls.html . Sorry!
The trip started with a van ride to the kayak launch point, then a 3 mile kayak up the Hule'ia River past the Menehune Fish Pond (long story by guide), past the rope swing where Indiana Jones escaped the dart-blowing Natives in Raiders of the Lost Ark (swinging into the river and swimming to the waiting sea plane...remember?) Cool. The kayaking was so much easier than the ocean kayaking I made the kids endure...the water was calm and there was no wind...so they were cruising!! We had some good splash-wars with the other kayakers, the mangrove and "tourist bushes" (another longish story), and it seemed this leg of the journey was over with all too soon.
After abandoning the kayaks, we hiked through...and I am not kidding...a tropical rain forest jungle. It had rained the previous night (almost all night), and as we hiked you wouldn't know if you were in the Amazon or Indonesia or Kauai. Dark, dense forest, water dripping from the leaves, birds of all kinds singing, squawking, sunlight trying to find its way through the canopy...pretty awesome. I had to stop behind the group and visit the Liki-liki bush (too much coffee/water), and while making my way back to the bunch I hear thing loud grunt in the bushes next to me. I was thinking...whoa...that's a wild pig. And as I stood there, it grunted again and O could hear it snorting, but still couldn't see it. Knowing they could be aggressive and could have 6 inch tusks...I didn't wait around much longer. Aram was bring up the rear, so I asked him about it, and he said...oh yeah, there were quite a few out there. Hog encounter...nice. He also told me that many of the hard core natives hunt the pigs with dogs & knives..that's it. The dogs chase down the pigs (and he said the things can be HUGE beasts), grab a hold of it anywhere it can, then the hunters try to jump on and slit the pigs throat! A high adventure, high adrenaline sport! Too me, that is much more sporting than a using a rifle at 1000 yards. Right on dudes!
After escaping the wild boar, we came out of the jungle to a tractor pulled wagon where the caldera, refreshments and Hawaiian cookies awaited. (Not roughing it too bad, eh?) We rode the wagon through the caldera and some magnificent scenery. You could see how huge this volcano must have been, and where the side blew off millions of years ago. I mean this was many, many, many miles across in both directions! The property we were on was a 7000 acre working cattle ranch right in the middle of it (Kipu Ranch) and it reminded be much of Valle Grande in northern New Mexico (however a bit more verde!) We shot the breeze with the guides as we rode along and soaked in the surroundings. Ahhhhhh.... Right before we turned of the path to the next leg of our adventure we saw some more (friendly, female) wild pigs in the road the cutest clan of little baby piglets. Maddie so wanted one! I have to admit, they were really cute. When we drove up, the babies scattered but the moms ( and some peacocks - equally impressive) came to munch on some feed the guides threw out to them. It was interesting to watch the dynamics between the pigs and the peacocks competing for the same food...animal kingdom WWF! "And in this corner....."

To Be Continued...
(still lunch, zip line, Kipu Falls, hike, boat ride to come)
gotta go eat breakfast, pack and check out of here (maybe one more dip in the surf!)...sadness :-(

Helo Tour - WOW!!

The Moday helicopter tour of Kauai was one of the highlights of this amazing trip, without a doubt. I am not going to take the time now to try to describe it in detail since it would take longer than the flight itself! I will update this post later after we return. Just a few details...we went on a Hughes 500 with the doors OFF (as pictured)...what a blast. I let the kids pick...they could have had a comfy, quiet ride on an A-Star instead...but to my surprise and excitement, they chose the open door. Great choice! The wind, noise, the ground thousands of feet below your sandal bottoms, the cliffs so close you'd think you could reach out and touch them...wow! Brian & I got the back seats (me right , Brian left), and from left to right in the front was the pilot (Jason), Maddie, and Christine (had to fly with 4 and she was our foursome, she actually flies helos, big ones, in the active military). Maddie was glad she wasn't the only girl, and Christine was great with her. The flight was about 60 minutes long (longer would have been better!) and it covered all the highlights of the island. We got to see some places we have been (North Shore, etc), and some places we haven't (Na Pali coast, Waimea Canyon, the wettest spot on Earth >420 inches of rain a year!) I ended up taking over 180 pictures on a 60 minute flight. Obviously, can't share them all here, but I will try to pick out some highlights! As I said, words can't describe, and I don't think pictures can either. Memories and feelings are what we will keep forever. If you ever get out here. I highly recommend it!!

It was fabulous! Gratitude.... Aloha for now!

Stand Up Paddling

Before I try to describe yesterday's helicopter tour of the island (on a later post, since it may take awhile), I wanted to post today's adventure...which was a solo (i.e. no kids), "stand up paddle" lesson for me with a guy named Sage Gasaway, whom I met after watching him in the surf way out from our beach. When he came in one day, I followed him to where he was loading his board in his truck and struck up a conversation...which eventually led to him saying he gave lessons (Google "stand up paddling" to learn more of what it's all about). So one thing led to another and I lined up a lesson for this morning at 630am starting at his house which is right on the Hanapepe River (so we launched right in his backyard, to the right in the pic). Sage was a gracious, patient, centered teacher and I really appreciated his positive, unhurried style...it was a pleasure to meet him and share this experience. It was also cool because it was just he & I, one on one, so I got his undivided attention which he freely gave. We started out on the river which was totally calm, just to get used to standing up on the board, falling off properly (which I got real good at), proper paddling, turning, etc. The river led to the harbor at Port Allen, which then led to the ocean...so it was perfect for learning because the level of difficulty could be adjusted to the student , from calm to heavy surf (easy to hard). Sage was sizing me up as we made our way down river to the bay, and decided I should go for the whole shabang. So first we went to what he called "the buoy", for which he said I have big bragging rights, then asked if I wanted to tey to go out to what he called "my buoy", which was further out in the harbor/ocean where the wave action kicked up quite a bit. (Let me throw in a Google pic to break up te text...I have no photographic evidence of any of this except the above since my camera isn't waterproof).

So I made it out to "my buoy", for which he said I got huge bragging rights! Oh yeah! The only way I can describe the feeling of stand up paddling is that it is like standing up in a canoe and paddling...so imagine that. The boards we had were 11'6" (huge) and the paddles are about 5' long. On the way back from the buoy we saw 3 of the biggest sea turtles I have seen on this trip. One of them ended up swimming almost directly underneath my board (bonus) and I swear his shell was at least 3 feet in diameter! What a treat! What a setting. What a way to start the day! One of those moments in life when everything is peaceful and that you will always remember. Gratitude. So once Sage figured I could handle the waves, he asked if I wanted to try catching some waves at a spot where they broke in the harbor/beach area (which was perfect since it was shallow with a sandy bottom, i.e. softer landings than on rocky or reefy bottoms). So there we headed, Sage coaching and encouraging, hoping that I could catch a wave and ride one in (he said he never includes this in a beginner lesson, but thought I was up for it). The waves were small by his standards (he rides the big ones way, way out), but it is amazing how small a wave can upset your balance. So for me it was extremely challenging. Anyway, long story short, I ended up catching 3 or 4 really good rides (and crashing many, many more times than that, but like Sage said, it's not how many times you fall that counts, it's how many times you get back up!) It was awesome, and it seemed like he was as pumped as I was when I caught one and rode it in. We played there and talked for quite awhile, Sage trying to coach me on more techniques as he saw I was ready (he was so unhurried and relaxed and we were both having fun...there was no clock watching or caring about time). After catching one more bonus wave all the way to shore, he asked if I would like to paddle up the river to a swinging bridge. I said I was game, and he was too, so back to the calmer waters and up river we went. The view was phenomenal as we talked about all kinds of things and paddled leisurely up the Hanapepe to the bridge. On the way back to his landing, we saw a barracuda...very cool. The lesson ended up being about 3 hours long and I was (am) whooped...stretching and ibuprofen will be needed. Sage got the boards out, I told him I would like a picture to share, and we snapped the one you saw above. I feel like we became good friends, and he actually said he would bring an extra board with him if I wanted to join him in the surf on the beach where we are staying later this afternoon when he finishes another lesson. (this is one of the places he comes when he is on his own time and wants to ride the big surf). I may take him up on it (if I can still move)! Thanks Sage...awesome time!! Aloha!