Island life

We leave in approximately 94 hours, and I have a rough week of spa treatment and packing ahead of me. This blog will be serving the place of postcards home about our many adventures over the next month. We'll be posting pictures and stories as often as we can, so I hope this makes it seem like we haven't dropped off the face of the earth (even though there is a good possibility that we have).

Dog in caring hands? Check!
Plants set to be watered? Check!
Tivo(s) mostly cleared? Check!
Checked-in for spacious exit-row seats? Check!
Ridiculous number of small techie devices? Check!
Sarongs? Check!
Harry Potter 7 to read on the plane? Check!
11 LBS. of alternate reading material? Check!
Two cameras? Check!
Not nearly enough shoes? Check!

On the plane first thing in the morning? Priceless!

We arrived, and just about everything has gone wrong since then. Our luggage has completely disappeared (tough news in the era of no-liquids-on-the-plane) and we ran into trouble with our car rental. It was a Seinfeldian take-the-reservation/hold-the-reservation problem: all our paperwork was ready to go, but when we got to the lot, there were no cars. Eventually they showed up with two of the model we rented, but one had a dangerously broken passenger seat-- and the other they gave to someone else. So we're driving around in a tiny, rough-riding Jeep until they figure out something else. We're basically just sitting in our hotel room (we don't get into the house until tomorrow) waiting for someone to call us about our clothes or our car.

But it is lovely here!

Well, things just got a little better! Picture yourself checking into a hotel. You tell the staff that your luggage is lost and will hopefully be delivered later. They make a joke about your luggage going on its own vacation, so you know they understand the situation. Now imagine it is four hours later and you still haven't heard from the airline and you can't get anyone on the phone there. You call your hotel front desk to see if they have any other suggestions, based on their vast experience. And lo and behold, they have your luggage, just sitting there. Apparently it never occurred to them that you might want them to bring your luggage to your room.

I am now hugging my clothes and a bottle of shampoo.

We left the hotel, went to the drug store, drove to Hanalei, ate, got some snorkel gear and then went to the rental house and got settled in. The place is pretty nice and right across the street from the beach. After we were settled we headed over to the ocean and did some snorkeling. Danika went for a little while and then read, I was out for over an hour. It was overcast and a little windy, so the water wasn't very clear, but I still saw a lot of different fish. I can't wait to get out again when the weather is a little nicer with the under water digital so I can take some fish photos. We still have the stupid Jeep but hopefully will get the other car tomorrow. I can't wait to see Brooke and Chris tomorrow.

Today we had to kill time until we could check into the house. We thought that would give us a great opportunity to swap our rattle-trap Jeep for something more sensible, but apparently there are NO OTHER VEHICLES on the entire island. I spent a bit of time on the phone today with the manager, and I think he understood that I would not give up and be happy with my Jeep. We got a discount and our REAL car should be delivered to us first thing in the morning. Cross your fingers!

Whoo! This is a long one...

What is a blog without photos? Well, here you go, not the best photo, but one of the first ones taken on the trip.

It was on the plane (hence the poor quality) just before we landed in Kauai. Today looks pretty nice so far, so perhaps we'll post some fish photos later today. Did I mention the wild roosters have been crowing since about 3am? ... gotta love island life.

As those of you who have been to the island(s) know, there are these adorable 4-inch-long lizards everywhere. I have recently learned that "everywhere" includes in our house. Rational me (tee hee) responds by going "oh, cute" while I continue my business. However, Actual me shrieks, ducks, and runs away talking to myself while checking to make sure they're not scurrying across my skin. It's not comforting!

Last night I'm propped up in bed reading Potter and out of the corner of my eye I see one of our little friends on the wall across from me. I had to read two extra chapters until he disappeared because somehow that is more comforting.

I don't think the photos we saw before coming here do the house justice. From the driveway, you can see the long porch. All those upstairs windows are the master bedroom, but we're not quite tall enough to see the water.

Chris and Brooke called today, they were in San Fran with a 2 hour delay in their flight to Honolulu. That would be okay except flights to Lihue from Honolulu stop around 8pm. We talked a bit about it and then Danika and I went to the beach. When we got back, there was a message from Brooke, they switched to a United flight (versus NWA) and got a direct flight to Lihue getting in about the same time as they were originally scheduled for, so I guess "Traveling woes" may not be the best title, but who is interested in reading something titled "Everything is going according to plan... sorta".

We waited around for the car to arrive it wasn't too much later than they finally said it would... island time. Once it finally arrived I got in and headed to a trail that is pretty close to where we are staying. It was labeled a fairly easy hike with not a lot of views, but since I hadn't done the Carkeek hill since we left I wanted to do something. It was pretty much as advertised, fairly easy with a couple of pretty cool views but nothing crazy... except lots and lots of mud. Since returning from the hike I have washed off, went snorkeling and taken a shower and my toes are still red from the famous Kauai red dirt. Perhaps by the next pisces party my toes will be pasty white again :) I expect the other hikes we do will be much better, but this one is nice and convenient so I have no excuse for not getting out (hopefully every day) and doing it.

At long last I got to take the digital elph (S400) into the water. It was less than great, but I got a couple of okay shots. It turns out it wasn't such a nice day for snorkeling, there was a lot of "stuff" in the water which made visibility low and there was a pretty good wind which made keeping the camera steady nearly impossible. The sun was out, which was good, but it also made the lcd on the camera tough to see. I tried to take some photos of fish, which was pretty difficult and instead decided to try to get some images of "still" stuff to see how they turned out. Follow the link to see the photos...

Now that Chris and Brooke are here, Matt has someone to go hiking with. I dropped the three off for a 10 mile hike this morning so I could go run errands and read Harry Potter. Everyone's happy!

In un-Hawaii news, Khya and Orion found out today that they're having a boy! Spread the word.

I stopped off above the Wailua Valley to get some shots of the river where we're going kayaking later this week, and then used computer magic to stitch them together.

Click to enlarge:

While the kids were hiking today, I drove down to Lihue to get a hiking trail map for the rest of our trip. I needed to go to the State Parks Office. I had the address. I had a map. It should have been easy. But then I learned two things about the city of Lihue:
(1) There are few street signs. Not that big of a deal, because it's easy to drive around the block, find another street, and refer to the map to figure out what that unmarked street must be. However...
(2) There are few buildings with address numbers, or signs indicating what the building is. You pretty much have to find a block and then wander around looking for someone who knows how to find the place you're looking for.
(3) Senior citizens are invaluable for direction giving. Every question I had was answered by a volunteer senior citizen (labeled as such) sitting at a desk in a hallway.
Whenever you're lost, I heartily recommend finding one.

[By Brooke, with editing by Chris]

Checking the baggage with a little girl having an endless and high-pitched conversation between stuffed chipmunks at a tea party was a little grating at 7:00 AM on a Sunday. After enduring that, the first flight (DTW to SFO) was uneventful, with our seats together in first class and the flight leaving on time. (editor's note: Other than the balding jackass behind me was pounding his keyboard like a 15-year-old boy after an all-night Internet porn session.) Northwest first class is just ok. The breakfast was nice - sausage, eggs, potatoes, yogurt, fruit, and a bagle or apple and walnut bread, mmmm, and as much as you can drink. No cloth napkins, though. 4:40 of flight time in clear and calm air. When we got to SF, we found out that our next flight was delayed for 2 hours - on top of a 4 hour layover! So Chris and I decided to take BART into the city....

Boogie boarding is fun, but it turns out I don't like the part where you get from the beach to the place where you catch the waves. I kept getting knocked down by breaking waves and dragged under. Brooke and Chris taught me when was the right time to rush out, but by then, I was exhausted, with a nose full of seawater, and a suit full of sand.

[Adria, how do I get sand out of our hair?]

While it might look to you all like we're about to be blown away, Kauai is doing pretty well and we're safe and fine. The surf is up a bit, the wind is blowing, and we have clouds rolling through and 15 seconds of torrential downpour every few hours, but things are okay. Our dinner (booze) cruise for tonight was canceled, but we rescheduled for later in the week, so our vacation is still on track.

After the adventure this morning, we had amazing smoothies from Banana Joe's. Due to Chris' forethought, we brought Rum along to improve the experience. Then we had a nice lunch in Kilauea. So we ended up spending the afternoon doing nothing. Really nothing. That kind of nothing that you can only do on an island. Reading, sleeping, nothing. Dinner out in Hanalei (Brazilian-Mexican) was a treat.

Hi y'all. So this post is a little late since we went boogie boarding yesterday, but better late than never. So, we went to Chris' favorite beach, Kealia just north of Kappa'a. It has nice, big waves. Since I'm a beginner, Chris started us out in the smaller waves near the breakwater. I tried to start catching waves right away, but C had to slow me down (ed. note: "Patience, grasshopper.") and tried to teach me a thing or two about timing. All I knew was that when I saw a good one, I needed to start swimming like crazy to try to catch the wave.

The hike looks innocent enough on a map. Pretty much a straight through, north-south 10.5 mile hike on the Powerline Trail. It starts with a low water bridge where Matt threw B over his shoulder and carried her across Minnesota-style...like a giant sassauge. I decided to take my shoes and socks off and wade through the cool, shin-deep water. Had I known what awaited my poor old Keens, I wouldn't have gone through the formalities.

Nika and Chris posted about the hike Chris, Brooke and I took that went pretty much across the island. It was pretty cool but labeled mild and not very scenic by the travel books we have. Perhaps without the mud it could be considered mild, but with it, I would have to say not very mild, however, it was much more scenic than I expected. We didn't go too high, but it was still high enough to see most of the island, at one point on the hike we could see both the eastern and southern shores of the island... it did have a cost, we were also covered with Kauai's famous red dirt. It was a much slipperier hike then most I have taken and I have also not seen puddles quite as milky looking as those we saw. All and all a pretty good day.

I have always wanted to go surfing, and when I saw boogie boarding it got added to the list of things I wanted to do. Well, yesterday Chris gave us all lessons on boogie boarding and it was a lot of fun... until I got out of the water and realized that somewhere along the way (probably going through the wash...with an extra spin cycle) I really screwed up my back. It is now 10pm the next day and my back is better but I still can't stand quite straight, oh well it could be much worse, at least I can think of how much fun it was catching waves on the boogie board. :)

Since boogie boarding is not for me, I spent the day reading. Whoo hoo! Sometimes in the living room! Sometimes on the porch! Sometimes at the beach! This book is really long!

C got up early this morning to make us pancakes. I'm helping. He's making his mom's "stick to your ribs" kine pancakes. I cooked up the Portugese sassage. Mmmmm. Now, how long should we wait before we go snorkeling?

It's 7:00 AM and the house across the street is under renovation. The crew of 5000 is mercilessly pounding the roof structure with hammers...not quite in unison. And yesterday during my "peaceful" early morning run, there was a guy mowing his lawn at 6:15 with the dew still heavy on the grass. There would be bullets whizzing over his head in my neighborhood if he pulled a stunt like that. Mahalo.

It is about 8:30am and we are headed to Tunnels beach for more snorkeling. We went last night on Anini and it seemed pretty good for my back. The water was not very clear and there weren't a lot of fish, we're hoping early morning at Tunnels will solve that. I got some photos yesterday, but I figured I would wait to unwaterproof my camera since we are going again now. I will try to get some photos posted later today, off we go...

Well, I have to say Tunnels was much cooler as far as snokeling goes. Unfortunately after I took one photo the camera's battery went dead. We will be going again, until then follow the link for some photos from yesterday as well as the one from today.

Chris and Brooke decided to go boogie boarding again, and since my back was feeling better, I decided it was best for me not to go and be tempted to get out and screw it up even more. Instead, I decided to walk over to Anini and do some more snorkeling. I went out into the water closer to where the park is (west of where the little walkway across from the house) to see if the snorkeling would be better there. I thought more people in the water there would make the fish a little less scared of MN white fish. I think they were a little less scared, and I think I may have figured out how to get photos of them... find the ones that want their picture taken. We'll see once I get a chance to pull that camera from the underwater housing, I am still waiting for it to dry.

I was working with a particularly friendly fish. I swam away to turn around and come back at a better angle when I noticed something large move in the distance. I went to investigate and as I got closer to my very pleasant surprise it was a sea turtle! It let me get pretty close (30 ft or so). The tide mixed with my curiosity and excitement made it difficult to keep my distance, but I did the best I could. I took some photos and a movie (I sure hope some of them turned out) and then just watched it for a while. It was so majestic, its movements slow and peaceful. It seemed to be keeping an eye on me, but didn't seem to mind my presence. After awhile it started to head off in a direction away from me, so I let it go and went back to finish the photo session I was working on before I saw it. I don't think it could have been a better day. I guess I should thank my better judgment (and Danika) for convincing me boogie boarding should wait. I will post photos of the fish and the turtle as soon as the camera dries.

As promised, follow the link for photos of some fish and the sea turtle.

Today we rented kayaks to go up the Wailua River and hike to Secret Falls. It was a really fun trip and I am pleasantly worn out, but here's the secret about Secret Falls: it's more of a trickle and not that exciting once you get there.

I finished Harry Potter this afternoon and I'm bursting!

I'm serious with that title there: you shouldn't read this post until you've read HP7 because I'm going to be talking freely about the book, specific plot points, and the finale, and encouraging others to as well. There will be nothing about Hawaii in the post, I swear.

Well, we have just completed our first week on the Island. I don't ever want to go home! So far, we've been hiking, snorkeling (saw the honu yesterday!), body-boarding, and kayaking and have been eating and drinking ourselves silly. The weather has been great, with lots of little showers that haven't managed to deter us from any of our activities. We did decide to pass on the bodyboarding during the high surf warning that came during Hurricane Flossie's pass, but other than that, I really can't complain. We've been sleeping 8 hours every night, waking up at 6 am and passing out around 9-10pm. A girl could get used to this.

Since Chris is a much more, how shall I say, "colorful" blogger, please write him a comment. He is currently boycotting until he gets some comments.

In a Kauaiblog first, we bring you video from our excursion on Wailua yesterday.

By the end of the day, Brooke, Matt and Chris had captured five coconuts and a dozen mangoes.

Yesterday was our Sunset Sailing Adventure with Capt'n Andy, so after the men folk made us breakfast
, we all headed down south to see how the other half lives. It was hot and dry, so apparently not as good as we have it. Anyway, while down there we went to the Po'ipu Beach area to check out the "Alien" landscape. This is just where the lava met the ocean a million years ago and is still very lava-like.

"4 Hour Na Pali Sunset Dinner Sail." Can you feel it? The beauty? The grandeur? The peacefulness of gliding over the water? Forget all of that.

Down past all the fancy resorts in Poipu, there is a road marked "No Trespassing." If you ignore that (as we did), and drive slowly down a deserted dirt road until it is dangerous to go any further, you will be rewarded with the sight of Maha'ulepu. Beauty so great that it cannot be captured on film (or bits) is well worth the trip!

I'm a little late getting pics up, but here are a few from the kayak trip

Matt and Danika showing off their form:

My back has still been bothering me, so I went into town for a yoga class this morning. It was fabulous, but I'm as sore as the kids who hiked 8 miles today. Two things of note:
(1) If you offer Bikram classes at your yoga studio (you know who you are), and you have to heat the room to 100 degrees, opening the windows is not enough to get the temperature back down to normal before the regular class an hour-and-a-half later. I'm just saying, it was hot.
(2) If my next career is as a yoga instructor, I will choose to take the 200-hour, 6-week training here on Kauai. You may join me.

Sorry, no pictures.

This morning as we assembled for our Zip'n'Dip adventure, things started off badly as we realized the configuration of the group: the 4 of us, a nice early-20s guy who is a friend of one of the guides, and three families traveling together, with 5 tween-teen kids between them. They were from California. Southern California. Malibu. With all that you might think that entails. There was some unfortunate plastic surgery on the ladies, some unfortunate superiority on the men, and an unfortunate sense of entitlement on most of the kids.

It looks like I fell behind on the blogging, I guess I will blame my back. Sitting at the computer typing isn't doing anything good for it, but it feels pretty close to back to normal today, so I guess I can blog a bit. Follow the link for some photos.

Last night we were watching a movie. The house was warmer than normal, probably because it had been shut up all day, and there was almost no breeze. The boys kept fidgeting because it was so hot, but Brooke and I, each wearing a sarong, were just fine. We offered the boys sarongs, but they declined.

Before I left for Hawaii, I speculated that it would be nice to have a couple sarongs, so I could lounge around comfortably. However much I thought I would enjoy the comfort of a sarong, it is actually 10 times better. I must figure out a way to work these into my day-to-day wardrobe.

Yesterday, we headed around to the south end of the island to spend some time in Waimea Canyon. It was lovely, but it was a lot of driving and all of my navigators were sleepy or woozy from the switchback turns.

My back was feeling pretty good, so I went with Chris and Brooke boogie boarding today. The waves were much tamer today and I was careful to not overextend myself. I caught a few waves and can still walk, so I guess I call that successful. Here is a photo of Chris and Brooke going in.

We went on a snorkel cruise down Na Pali from the north shore today, and I did just fine with Bonine on my side. The nice lady who talked me down when I was thinking about staying home told me to take one the night before and one an hour before. That combo made me a little groggy this morning (and probably tomorrow morning), but I did great on the boat. It also took just enough of the edge off that I was able to enjoy snorkeling--in deep water, no less--and finally saw a turtle up close. All in all, a good day.

Pictures to follow.

The last time Danika and I were on the island we stopped at Waimea Brewing on our way back from Waimea canyon. The guide book didn't have a very high review of it, but I couldn't resist visiting the "Westernmost Brew Pub". The last time we were there the beers were pretty bad, the food was ok and the service was horrible. This trip to the island we decided to stop again, also on our way back from Waimea canyon. My expectations were about as low as they could get, I didn't expect much and figured at the very least I might be a bit surprised. So, what did I think of the beer this time? I guess my expectations were still too high because this time I didn't even get to try the beer. THEY WERE OUT OF BEER!!!

What sort of established brew pub runs out of beer? I can see a brew pub that is just starting up running out of beer, but for a brew pub that has been around as long as Waimea to run out is just unacceptable. The next time Danika and I visit the island I doubt we will even try to visit Waimea Brewing. Perhaps by then Keoki Brewing (another brewery on the island) will have a brew pub to visit. I have tried three of their beers and they are all pretty good.

Today marks the halfway point on our trip. We had to send Chris and Brooke home yesterday, and it is really quiet around here with just the two of us. In two weeks I've almost gotten used to the geckoes at night and chicken noise in the morning. I do wish my back would stop hurting so I would feel more enthusiastic about getting out and doing things. Maybe some more yoga this week will help.

Danika and I are half way through our vacation and Chris and Brooke left yesterday. On the way to the airport we stopped at Ono Char-Burger for lunch so they could have one last burger.

While Chris and Brooke were here, Brooke was disappointed every time we went past Banana Joe's and they didn't have their mango sign out. This morning (the day after Chris and Brooke left) I went boogie boarding and on the way to the beach I noticed Banana Joe's had their mango sign up. It was there on my way back from the beach too :)

I have this picture, and I am trying to come up with a catchy way to link it into the blog, but in reality, it's unrelated and I just want to post it anyway because it makes me so happy.

I decided I had waited long enough and it was time to open two of our coconuts. The first part, extracting the milk was pretty easy. I used a knife to cut the little bit if shell away at one of the "eyes" to make a hole big enough to fit a corkscrew. Next I jammed a corkscrew in and out to bore the hole out. I flipped it upside down on top of a glass and let the milk drain out.

I'm sure you know I'm not much of a hiker, but I always wanted to be. Today I went on the longest hike I've ever gone on, 3-and-a-half miles, if you can believe that--and it was great! Yeah, it took two hours, but I'm sure I would have been faster if both my calves hadn't cramped up around the quarter-mile mark of the Kuilau trail (and stayed cramped). I don't think I'll be racing Matt on the 13 mile hike he has planned for the day after tomorrow, but it's a start.

And it's lucky we went on the hike today, because that's how we found out about the total lunar eclipse that's happening tonight and well visible from Hawaii. We'll have to stay up late, but we'll try to get some pictures.

You know what would really make Hawaii perfect? If I my skin, at some point, could be dry. If I could touch a piece of furniture and not have it be slightly damp. If I could walk across the floor without sticking to it just a little bit. If I could put on perfectly clean clothes and have them feel fresh.

That's what I miss most about home. Well, you people, of course, but also the feeling of dry.

I long to be cradled in the soft bosom of my curbside recycling bins. Here's what it takes to be a conscientious recycler in Hawaii. First, you've paid a 6-cent tax on your beverage bottles, so you're best off if you take them to the redemption center and get some of your money back. The "redemption center" is a field, off the highway, for which you have no address, that is "open" only on Tuesdays from 8am-2pm. It will take two drives through town to find it. They take only individual beverage bottles (glass, plastic, cans) and figure your refund based on weight.

Then the regular recycling center is not far. You need to separate your corrugated cardboard from your newspaper, from your other paper/board. They take all kinds of glass, but only limited kinds of plastic, and no milk cartons, those are just trash.

All in all, it takes an hour, but it gives you a chance to hang out with the locals, and you get to feel like the best tourist ever when you're done!

Here's a tip: lunar photography is really hard without a tripod. And a moon filter. And a telescope. And a motor. Or maybe I'm just spoiled. I mean, people have been taking eclipse photos for thousands of years without all that stuff, right? Let's just say that none of the pictures capture quite how incredible it looked.

Chris was kind enough to bring (and leave) the Kauai trail book he got last time he was on the island. We also have the The Ultimate Kauai Guidebook, 5th Ed. (which we borrowed from Marc and Tina) and a State Park Recreation Map of Kauai. The three of them have been great resources for finding trails to hike. I have been out on a few hikes now and I thought I would share my experiences. So far I have hiked the PowerlineTrail, the trail to Secret Falls, the Okolehao Trail, part of the Kalalau Trail, the Hanakapiai Falls Trail, the Kuamoo-Nounou Trail and the Kuilau Ridge Trail. There is for sure one new hike I plan to do, the Kalalau Trail to Hanakoa Falls, and perhaps one or two other new trails. If/when I hike them, I will add new blog entries.

Of the hikes listed above I would say the one I liked the best is the Okolehao Trail. I think it has offered the biggest bang for the buck. It is a pretty short hike but you get some great views of Hanalei Bay as well as most of the north side of the island. Follow the link for some details and photos from all the hikes.

I meant to post this a few days ago, but I have been too busy. Danika posted about our hike already, but I wanted to added my two bits. After snorkeling at Tunnels Monday (I still need to do a blog about it, you won't believe what I saw... and got a photo of), I was very happy to get back and have Danika tell me she had been looking though the hiking book and wanted to do a hike. She had a trail picked out and we cross referenced it with the other book and the park map and found a better trail that went to the same place, just from a different direction. We ended up selecting the Kuilau Ridge trail. We put together everything we needed for the hike got in the Vue and started of for the trail head.

We got to the trail head where there were a few other vehicles parked. One of the vehicles was a truck with 3 dogs in the kennel in the back. We found the trail and started hiking. The trail was mostly dry which was nice, but there were a few places where it was a little slick. The trail was also being used for horseback riding, so we got to dodge (and smell) horse crap, which is always a good time.

Shortly after we started off, we heard what sounded to me like a person trying to make pig noises. Hunting season for wild boar is open, so it didn't seem too odd (to me anyway, it was still pretty weird to Danika). We passed some other folks on the trail and they said it was a hunter who had lost a dog who was making the noises. When we passed the hunter he had a antenna and seem to be trying to track something with it. On the way back out when we passed the hunter there were now 3 or 4 dogs with him a couple which had radio collars on. We said, "It looks like you found them", he said "Nope, there are still three missing". I guess you need a lot of dogs to hunt wild boar.

I have to say I was pretty impressed with Danika, her calves kept cramping, but she just kept stretching them out and continuing on the trail. The trail itself had some pretty amazing views (see the my other hiking blog entry) and being able to share them with Danika just made them all the better.

Last Monday I got a chance to go back to Tunnels Beach to snorkel. I went fairly early in the morning so there weren't too many other people there yet. I saw a few new creatures, most of which were fish, but the coolest thing I saw was an octopus. I was on my way back in and saw something moving and scurry into a crevice. It didn't look like a fish, so I tried to investigate. I got fairly close to it but still couldn't tell for sure what it was since only part of its head was sticking out. I thought it might be an octopus and I should wait a bit to see if it would crawl out of its hiding place. I waited and waited and waited and finally decided to give up. Just as I was swimming away, bubbles started rising to the surface and I noticed there were some scuba divers below me. The place where the octopus was hiding started to bubble a bit too, so I decided to wait thinking the bubbles might get it to move. I don't know if it was the bubbles that did it, but the octopus finally crawled out of its hiding place and scurried across the reef. They sure have an interesting way of moving. I tried to get a video of it, but when I looked back after changing the settings on the camera it was gone.

I also saw a small eel. I have seen a few eels one of which was pretty large. They kind of creep me out, so it was nice to see a small one. It didn't creep me out so I was able to get a couple of photos of it.

Unfortunately, the underwater housing for the camera fogged up shortly after I started snorkeling, so wasn't able to get as many shots as I wanted to (at least I got the octopus), but now I have a good excuse to go back again. Follow the link to see some of the photos I did manage to get.

Yesterday I hiked the Kalalau Trail again. This time I went 6 miles in and then did a ½ mile side trip to Hanakoa Falls. All in all, I went at least 13 miles and did about 3000 ft of elevation. The trail for the side trip to the falls wasn't marked so I probably spent over half an hour hiking around trying to find it. Here is a list of things I learned from doing the 13 mile hike (some if which I knew, but for some reason decided to ignore):
• I can do a 13 mile hike! :)
• It is probably better to pace yourself (I did the first 2 miles in less than 40 minutes, averaging just over 3 mph but it made the next mile which had 800 ft of elevation not very much fun)
• Wear socks regardless of how comfortable you think your shoes are
• 3 liters of water is not enough (for me anyways)
• Taking a hand towel to wipe the sweat off your face to keep it and sunscreen from running into your eyes is a good idea
• If you don't normally jog for exercise, jogging 3 miles a day and half before a 13 mile hike is probably not a very good idea
• Soaking in warm ocean water after a long hike is very rejuvenating

After giving my legs (and feet) a day of rest yesterday, I thought I would try another hike this morning to see how it felt. I decided to hike the Okolehao Trail again. I got to the trail at 7:45am and started hiking. It had rained last night (it pretty much rains every night here) so the trail was pretty slick. It was a bit more challenging hike this time than last when the trail was dry, but it was still a nice hike. After hiking about 5 minutes my legs were warm and both my legs and feet felt pretty good. Last time I was on the trail there were a lot of little green fruits. They looked a little like guava, but they seemed too small and the ripe ones were red not yellow. This time I realized what they were, strawberry guavas, and they ripened quite a bit since last time, there were a lot of red ones.