Monday February 9

After such a late night of quadruple checking our items for stray bugs, we started our Monday morning slowly with the intention of finding a good beach for snorkeling. We woke to some pretty significant winds, and I checked the weather forecast and found that the island was under a high tide watch until Tuesday night. After talking it over we decided to stick with more land-based activities and allow the ocean to calm down a bit.

We had some breakfast in the room and then loaded up with camera and hiking gear and hit the road towards Wiamea Canyon. There was some traffic heading out of Kapa'a, so the drive was a little slow. After a little more than an hour of driving we arrived in the town of Wiamea at the base of the canyon. We stopped into a little grocery store and spent some time shopping around for picnic options, the piled back in the car and started the long, winding drive up above the canyon. We stopped along the way at a couple of pretty roadside views to take in the beginning of the canyon.

Looking down into the canyon with the edge 80 optic

G took these shots of us at the first viewpoint we stopped at

Further along the road I spotted a cute little waterfall to the left and we pulled over to get out and grab a few shots.

No photoshop, that is the color of the dirt on this island.

By the time we reached the main viewpoint for the canyon, the clouds had rolled in thick and the canyon was under a heavy ceiling of dark gray.

I realize now that this netbook computer screen sucks SO BAD... the angle of the screen can make images go from washed out white to incredibly dark just depending on how I sit... so I have no idea how this image will look to others until I get home to my proper laptop.  Oy.

This is a shot I took of the canyon... cutting out the sky really minimizes the scale of the valley, but the dark gray was throwing off my shot.  I'm still not entirely happy with this, but I hope it will look better when I get to a proper screen.

We stayed for a while, hoping the weather would clear, but it just kept getting heavier and lower. The view was magnificent, and I was incredibly frustrated that I could not capture it. (I did a few shots to merge into an HDR image later, and also a series to stitch together in a panoramic. But both those editing feats need my Photoshop back home) We decided to continue up the road to the Koke'e Museum and grab some lunch at the little cafe next door. I enjoyed a plate of kalua pork and rice, and picked up a few things from the gift shop (including a CD of Kauai bird songs) As we ate lunch, the rain came in with a good amount of energy. We decided that we would probably have to just come back another day earlier in the morning, so we began the decent back to sea level. On the way down I saw that the clouds had completely dropped into the canyon rendering the entire thing a bowl of thick gray soup.

We made the best of our drive back, stopped at a place called the Hawaiian Trading Post, which is full of kitchy photo ops and lots of Hawaiian shirts and jewelry.

 Through the traffic and closer to Kapa'a we pulled into another shopping center which looks desolate from the outside, aside from a few brightly colored signs assuring passers-by that they really are open! Inside was a whole different vibe... about 30 shops around a courtyard, a few restaurants, and Hawaiian music wafting from overhead speakers. From the road you wouldn't know this place wasn't boarded up and abandoned.

It was raining on and off at that point, so we decided we might as well go with the weather and head to the pool for a sunset swim. G was disappointed to find out the slides close at night, but enjoyed some time doing a few laps around the riger and warming up in the hot tub. After working up an appetite, we went to the room to clean up and head down to dinner. Our nearest restaurant is Oasis on the Beach, which has a fun beach vibe (the bar is a giant kayak shape and the wall on the inside looks like a huge ocean wave crashing on the beach)

I was impressed when I mentioned “food allergy” and the waitress brought out an allergen menu to help me navigate the food options. I chose a half order of the vegan curry and added a 3 oz piece of grilled ono. So Spicey. SO Good.  

The late dinner made for a long day, and I crashed as soon as we got back to the room.