Hawaii 2010

Diving 22 images

1 Our vacation begins at our timeshare at Hanalei Bay resort in Princeville, Kauai	2
3 Mountain view from our lanai upon wakeup Sunday morning	4 Later Sunday morning, I decided to try hiking down to Queen Emma's bath
5 Small waterfall along the steep path down to Queen Emma's Bath	6 Queen Emma's Bath warning sign. It is a sheltered pool cut into a lava shelf. When it is nice, it is nice, but if the surf is up, watch out!
7 View of the lava shelf, the "bath" itself is a pool carved out just beyond the edge of the photo. Surf was up and the rocks were very slippery. This is as far as I went!	8 Pool area at the resort, by Monday the weather had cleared up nicely
9 View of Bali Hai	10 While Dave was diving, Max golfed at the Princeville Makai Course
11	12 Tuesday is the Hanalei Farmer's Market in a field just outside of the village
13	14 We stopped off at Tunnels to check out the conditions. Still seems a bit rough, but hopefully will be better tomorrow for my first day of diving.
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17 The Hawaiian Monk Seal is an endangered endemic species. The law requires that you stay at least 150ft away from any seal on land or in the water. If a seal comes onto the beach to sun itself, the rangers put these warning stakes as a perimeter around the animal.	18 Mountain view across the road from the Tunnels dive site
19 Tahiti Nui, a great hangout for drinks and food in Hanalei	20 Live local music almost every night at Tahiti Nui
21 Very often local hula dancers or singers come up to entertain with the musicians	22
23	24 The fish market in Kilauea, great poke! Bought some mahi-mahi to grill back at the condo.
25 Stopped in at Long's Drug for some essentials and couldn't resist this display near the checkout of all sorts of "wet seed"	26 We took a short drive up Kuamo'o Road (Highway 580) to the Wailua River lookout
27 Beautiful view of the Wailua River all the way to the coast	28 The tour boats cruise up the river to the Wailua Falls and the Fern Grotto
29 On the other side of the road from the river is a view of Opaeka'a Falls, which are over 150 ft tall	30
31 Opaeka'a Falls	32 Upstream view of the Wailua River
33	34 Deb and Mary visited us for several days and to celebrate Deb's birthday we took them on a Na Pali coast tour
35 We load up into kayaks at the mouth of the Hanalei River, which take us out to the boat moored in the bay	36 View backwards as we leave Hanalei Bay, very early in the morning!
37	38 We round the point at Ke'e Beach where the road ends and head down the Na Pali coast. The only access to the coast is by boat or rigorous hiking.
39 Rugged coastline where the Na Pali plunge into the ocean	40
41 There are lots of sea caves carved by the wave action	42
43 Waterfalls plunge from the mountain tops	44 Looking upward into a waterfall as we enter a sea cave in the boat
45 The boat turns around in the cave and we start heading back out	46
47 Deb is enjoying her birthday trip!	48 Kalalau Valley
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53 Mary enjoys the scenery	54 Kalalau Valley
55 You can see the immense scale by the 2 small people on the beach. The only access is by boat or two days of grueling hiking.	56 View of the beach where we will have lunch and snorkel
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61	62 We anchor off one of the beaches and spend an hour snorkeling the reef
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67	68 Dolphins accompany the boat as we turn around and head back to Hanalei
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73 The lobby bar of the St. Regis overlooking Hanalei Bay	74
75 Mary, Deb, Maxine, and Dave for dinner at the Kauai Grille in the St. Regis	76
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81 Mother's Day means its time for the annual orchid fundraiser at the Kaua'i Museum in Lihue	82
83	84 Max chooses a couple of orchids to have shipped back home
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89 After the orchid show, it's time to head over to Hamura's Saimin in Lihue, one of our favorite spots	90
91 The 'aunties" ladle out the steaming saimin into bowls	92 Mmmm good! Wontons, pork, noodles, and other tasty goodness. No need for dinner tonight.
93 Dusk and sunset views of Hanalei Bay and Bali Hai	94
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97	98 Our old favorite sushi joint, Sushi & Blues in Hanalei, changed names to Bouchon and saw a steady decline over the last couple of years, so we were on the hunt for a replacement. We were happy to discover that Bushido had recently opened in Kapa'a.
99 Really great sushi by the owner-chef	100
101 After another morning of golf, Max relaxed over lunch at the St. Regis	102 View from the St. Regis over Hanalei Bay
103 A gaggle of nene's (the Hawaiian state bird and very protected) outside of our lanai	104
105 Mmmm.... Saw this display in the deli section of the grocery store. Musubi- grilled spam on rice, wrapped in nori.	106 Lunch at the Dolphin, on the road just before you enter Hanalei village
107	108 The restaurant is alongside the Hanalei River, which is used by kayakers and paddle-boarders
109 The taro fields of Hanalei valley	110 View from one of the outlooks on the road into Hanalei from Princeville
111	112 The Koloa Rum Co. is brand new since our last visit in 2009. They opened their tasting room at the Kilohana Plantation.
113 One of the rum stills	114 Driving back north on the Kapa'a Bypass late in the day, we encountered a beautiful sunset over the farmland and mountains
115	116 Our vacation was over and we connected back through Honolulu. Max had to catch an immediate flight to San Francisco for a conference. Dave had half a day to hang out with Deb and Mary before he had to grab his return flight. First stop was Bailey's Aloha Shirts on Kapahulu. First time there, it is definitely a trip back in time.
117 Deb and Mary then took me to visit their friends Cha and Colleen. Colleen is the daughter of the late John Kelly and they live in the family house located in the Black Point neighborhood on the shore, which is very close to the Doris Duke estate and in the shadow of DiamondHead.	118 View of Koko Head crater from Black Point
119 The Black Point neighborhood has a private salt water pool that was carved out of the lava shelf and built by the Army during WWII. Mary and Cha entering the pool.	120 The pool is filled by the ocean waves crashing over the walls
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123 Swim time is over, getting a few minutes to relax before taking Dave back to the airport to catch his flight home	124