North Shore WOW!

Spent a very relaxing day checking out the Hanalei Beach and area the day before yesterday. Luckily we met a very helpful life guard as we were first heading out onto the beach. He politely told us that perhaps we would enjoy the beach more at the other end. It is moments like this that you look at yourself and ask, Do I seriously look like that much of a tourist? Apparently the answer is yes.
Once we set up at the other end of the beach we had a blast. The surf was perfect for beginners on bogey boards (they came with the condo). I managed to catch a few good rides in. Lots of fun and sun.

After enjoying the sunshine we headed to the local farmers market at Hanalei Bay and checked out the local wares.

Oh, and by the way, I failed to mention we bumped into Russell Peters while we we in the Maui airport the other day. Just saying.

Yesterday Karen and I went SCUBA diving on the south shore of the island at Koloa. We did the Koloa Landing East and West dive site. Our dive master, Megan, was great. It was just the three of us out there. She reinforced the importance of just taking it easy and looking for the little things. The topography was not that impressive, but the sea life was awesome.

This little Green Turtle was the second one we saw. He nearly ran me over as he headed for the surface.

We did two dives here and saw tons of things.

This Whitemouth Moray Eel was quite social.
Karen was checking out the more sedate animals.

The overall experience was very surreal.

We also got a chance to see one of the more aggressive moray eels, (he was nice with us though) the Undulated Moray.

We spent the evening relaxing at the condo and taking a short walk to get a different view of the sunset.

Today was another awesome day.
The question was asked today, what is the highlight of the trip so far. The great insight is that no one could come up with just one example. We have had a great time no matter what we have been up to. Without getting too philosophical, Hawaii is great because of it’s separation from the continent. The people are wonderful and the ones we have met are truly the example of an “island attitude”.

We did a tour of the Napali coast this morning. It was spectacular. We were in a group of 25 in an inflatable rigid hull boat. Now, I have to point out that we were the only foreigners on the boat. At one point during this trip we had a wonderful lady from the area of Tampa, Florida ask us where we came Kilauea Point Lighthouse, Kauai. When we told her we were from Canada and that it was snowing at home, she actually asked, “Do you live underground?” The scary part was she asked this three times. She was serious. The only depressing part was that we were so flabbergasted by the stupidity of the comment we could not respond with a brutally cutting answer that this deserved. This is a sad statement because this lady was ripe for rebuttal. There was more plastic in this chicks face than you would find in a toy factory in China. (childish I know, but deserving).
The scenery along the coast is fantastic. We were fortunate enough to get what they figure would be the last trip of this year. The ocean calm and enjoyable to be on.

There are numerous caves along the coast.

The size is hard to describe. The above photo gives you some idea of the size. This cave is the second largest shoreline cave in the U.S. the ruggedness of the coast is awe inspiring.

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There are hikes that can be done along this coast and I would certainly welcome doing some of them in the future. If you do the coast in a boat it is a little less challenging. At one point we were surrounded by Spinner Dolphins.

I would have a lot more spectacular photos if I had not lost my mind while watching them. With the dolphins less than two meters from the gunwales of the boat I thought, “wow, this would make a great underwater shot”. One problem, I did not have the waterproof back on my GoPro camera case. The memory card survived, but write off one camera due to salt water exposure and abject stupidity.
The trip backup the coast was beautiful.