The Kapa'a Bike Path is a work-in-progress. So far there are about 7 miles of paved path completed, with more to come in the near future. Our resort is located nearly in the center of the path... about a 2.7 mile path leading south to Lydgate, and a 4.1 mile path leading north along the coast. This morning we opted for the path north, which we picked up about a half mile north of the resort. Almost all of the rental bikes for rent in town are Cruiser style, with either no gears or a maximum of 3. The spa rents out the no-gear style of cruiser, which worked just fine for us as the path only has very minimal hills to climb.
Stopping at a viewpoint a few miles into the ride. It did take me a while to re-learn how to use foot brakes.
The view as we rode back south to the condo... it was a cloudy morning, which made for a pleasant riding temperature.
Back at the condo, we parked our bikes right on our lanai and headed over to Oasis on the Beach for a quick lunch.
They do make one of the best mai tais on the island, however a post-bike-ride-mai-tai can make one rather sleepy.
These are nachos made with okinawa sweet potatoes and melted grueyer cheese. Very tasty!
My lunch of fish tacos and fries - grilled ono this time. While they were quite tasty, they portions are just not the same as some of the other taco stands in town.
With the combination of exercise, sun, and fresh air... and mai tais... D and I were both feeling sleepy after lunch so we all went back to the condo for a brief nap. Once awake and refreshed, we returned the rental bikes, gathered up our camera gear, and headed out to find some photo opportunities. We decided to give Smith's Family Botanical Gardens a try, as they are the closest garden to the condo, they are the least expensive (at $6.00 a person), and they are one of the few gardens that doesn't require a reservation or guided tour situation. Unfortunately we only had an hour to spend on the grounds... I had thought they would stay open longer, but I guess they close the gardens and clear everyone out before re-opening the gates for their luau nights? We made the most of our time, however... and quickly discovered that not only is the place teeming with birds of all kinds, but you can purchase cracked corn at the front gate to feed the birds.
And as soon as the birds see the bag of corn in your hand, they come running.
This peacock actually walked up behind D and nearly grabbed the bag of corn right out of his hand.
Will pose for corn.
This bird was *not* interested in corn, and in fact retreated into the marsh as I approached with my zoom lens. He is an 'Alae 'ula, an endemic and endangered species numbering in the low 100's on the island. This is a HUGE find for my semi-organized birding life list.
While I'm photographing rare birds, G is having her Disney Princess moment feeding doves.
Smith's Tropical Paradise offers some lovely landscape views
While the Nenes are also endemic and endangered, they are most definitely not shy.
I sat on the ground and this Nene came so close to me that I couldn't get his little face in focus. He had the cutest little honk!
I tossed some corn a distance away so that I could focus on the Nene.
Another Disney Princess moment for G, this time feeding Nenes.
Sleeping Giant with the Edge 80 optic
This duck is not in my birding book, but as best as I can tell it is a domesticated Muscovy Duck, and must be a "pet" of the gardens (similar to the peafowl)
G and I managed to follow the path all the way around the gardens, though we ended up at the far end right at closing time, so we were pressed for photos.
I stopped to quickly get a shot of these flowers, which remind me of fireworks.
Young banana trees in the fruit garden area.
Taro
The canopy was amazing, I wish I'd had more time to capture the majesty of it all. Perhaps next time.
D had made reservations for us to have dinner in downtown Kapa'a, amidst the scheduled arts and crafts festival which takes place on the first Saturday of every month. We arrived a bit ahead of our reservation, which gave me just enough time to do a little shopping in the local fabric store, Vicky's Fabrics, before walking down the street to Bushido Sushi for dinner.
D and I shared a plate of nigiri before dinner, as well as a "small" order of edemame (which was *still* too much edemame)
My main course was the grilled mahi mahi, a generous portion which I shared with G.
After dinner we enjoyed meandering around the art walk, which included many craft booths, and a whole street blocked off for food booths.
I meant to go back and get a frozen banana from this cart, but became too side tracked by all the booths.
I spent some time talking to a local photographer, who had been impressed by G's ability to name just about every tropical fish he had a photo of (thanks to her Wii scuba diving game) I made a mental note of the typical viewpoint photos he had up for sale, as well as his creative cropping of some locations. I realized that in a lot of my photos I had been attempting to fit the entire landscape into the frame, however there are plenty of beautiful compositions to be had on the island that did not necessarily have to include absolutely everything. So for future reference, I should consider using my 50-135 zoom to compose some smaller but still lovely landscape images.
After the art walk we made our way back to the room where we relaxed with a couple of movies in the background while I backed up and edited a few photos.
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