Caves

Just when you think there are few things to do that are "new" on this island, a twist on the already checked list happens. Sunday, we got to go on a zodiac adventure thanks to Captain Shawn who owns the boat, a beautiful tricked out 26 foot Zodiac with twin engines and all the bells and whistles you need to get there fast and safe, and back again. The only catch was that I had to bring lunch for everyone, but I do that anyway . . . what's 7 more sandwiches?

At 8am we set out from Port Allen on the west side, going North past Pacific Missile Range to the NaPali.

These guys escorted us all the way there.  At this time of the early morning  the dolphins are sleeping. They turn half of their brain off and are conscious just enough to come up for air and follow the herd, and stay out of the way of the boat props while they sleep-swim along with it. 

The sea turtles are an endangered species. Because of that, they have no fear of humans, and don't hesitate to swim close to check out the snorkeling humans.

Captain Shawn took us into every cave along the NePali we have ever ogled from the vulnerability of our own fiberglass boat. This one goes into a cave that's ceiling has fallen, thus it's name "Open Ceiling Cave". If you've ever seen the movie, "A Perfect Getaway", a major scene was shot here. For $20,000 dollars you can hire a boat to bring you in here to get married on a rock in the middle of the cave and have a helicopter fly over and drop flowers on your heads. Turquoise blue water, huge black walls and a sun roof make this cave one of a kind! 

Going into the blackness of the Waiahuakua Sea Cave was the most fun of all. It is second on the list of the world's longes sea caves. It is 1,155 long dark and spooky feet which ends with a waterfall gushing through a hole in the ceiling. Like the Pirates of the Caribbean only "real" and better!

We came out of this cave to find snorkelers without a dive flag, very dangerous!

My family with an arch in the background big enough for helicopters to fly through. 

The pictures distort the true size of the cliffs which are amongst the tallest in the world 

at over 3,000 feet.

Reef fish everywhere.And everywhere. 

They liked Doritos but not Lays' potato chips my son concluded.

Meanwhile back on the boat. 

The days always seem short out here, even in the middle of summer.

One Tough Poodle

This is SourIre our standard poodle.

Only we can't pronouce his name properly so we call him Siri. He was named by our friend Emi who was fresh off the plane from living and working in Haiti for two years and living with us while she recovered from the war zone of extreme poverty. Siri was right off the plane from California where we had rescued him from an animal horder. Sourire means "smile" in French. Siri likes to smile and sneeze when greeting someone, but the French word for sneeze was not pretty, thus Sourire came to be. Small children think he is baring his teeth when he smiles but he is being friendly and sneezing, expressing his unique-ness.

Two days ago he did his most challenging hike. He wears a back pack on long hikes so he can carry his water and his snacks, like the rest of us. The main highway (two lanes with one lane bridges, it's Kauai) ends at Ke'e beach at the North Shore and you can drive no further. It is here that the trail head begins which will take you for an 11 mile journey through some of the most beautiful, lush, tropical cliffs in the world, over looking a hundred shades of blue, hundreds of feet down to your right. If you are terrified of heights you will not like this hike. Our hike was to the Honokapi'a stream at mile 2, and then turning off the trail and following the stream up to the falls on the falls trail, another 2 miles.  It included lots of boulder hopping, and several river crossings. Did I mention Siri is terrified of water?  The hike was good therapy. Notice the pink toe nail polish? Luna my daughter takes pride in demasculating this poor guy, (as if neutoring wasn't enough) by the end of the hike, there was very little polish left. 

This morning I saw he was sporting a spiderman cape. What a good sport Siri! Summer break will be over soon.

We don't have freeway over passes on Kauai so with limited options, graffiti is usually carved into trees, rocks, plants, or bamboo. 

The Honokapi'a falls are a welcome sight after leaving 4 miles of grueling trail behind you. The water comes straight off the mountains beyond the cliffs and is very, very, cold! 

Unless of course you are from the mainland.

There they are, my two babies happily absorbing it all, 

and some other people who blazed by us on the trail up here.

The euphoria of washing off the sweat has warn off, and Luna is feeling the chill.

After a refreshing brain-freeze swim, the kids are ready to head back. 

One pooped poodle . . . . . and 3.96 miles back to go. Luna decided to carry his pack for the return hike, after all she had painted his toes pink and watched him try to walk on water to avoid it for the 4 miles in.

In the 4 weeks since we returned from our vacation in Alaska, both kids have outgrown their hiking boots. Luna realized before we left on the hike that her boots didn't fit so she wore tennis shoes. 

Sol discovered at the falls after 4 miles, HIS boots didn't fit. There is Sol in the distance,  at the 7.5 mile mark of our hike, taking another agonizing step. I tried to be clever and took out my Swiss Army knife cutting the end of his boots off since he said they felt too little. He was offered the options of going barefoot or wearing Roxy sandles Luna had brought, but opted to stay in his boots.

At the end of the trail, it wasn't just length but width that left some nasty blisters on his cute, large feet. 

So much for passing those boots on to anyone else.

The Pier

We spent the day last Saturday in Hanalei entertaining friends with it's lazy summer spell. The pier was recently refurbished to it's original charm. I first saw it sitting in my living room back on the mainland watching "The South Pacific" VHS tape I had purchased, after my parents moved to Kauai in the late 80's. The sailors dancing around the pier with Bloody Mary just did it for me and before I knew it the soundtrack theme was on my telephone answering machines outgoing recording. The beckoning began about then I'd say.

Mitzy my alter ego.

These drummers were there at sunset. 

The kids were dancing to their Tahitian drum rhythms 

 in order to get Oreo cookies for dessert.

At any given time in the day, people are leaping off the end of the pier into happy oblivion.

Here is my daughter Luna doing just that. 

In Search of the perfect umbrella drink

Under my  Old Navy sundress exterior burns the hot coals of a food snob. Exchewing the jugs of pre-mixed MaiTai's tourist pick up by the cart load at Costco, visiting Mr. B and I treked off to the best market on the island to search for Trader Vics Mai Tai ingredients. 

Side note: Living on Kauai, means most days you are literally waiting for a ship to come in. A trip to the market often renders your ride home with a bag full of improvisation. Case in point, that day the market was out of Orange Curacao, we came home with blue. So, the Green Flash was born. To distinguish it from the drink we had just plagiarized we switched out mint leaves for Kafir lime leaves, which gives it a nice kick. We drank far to many of these that week, because they are so pretty. We DID indeed see the greeen flash at the beach one day and it was delicious!

The Green Flash

• 1 limeshopping list
• 1/2 oz blue Curacao
• 1/4 oz simple syrup
• 1/4 oz Orgeat syrup
• 1.0 oz Dark Rum
• 1.0 oz Light rum
• fresh Kafir lime leaves for garnish
• 
  Cut LIme in 1/2 and squeeze over   ice.In a Double Old Fashion Glass...
• Add spent lime shell to glass (this adds oils from the skin..important.. and common with many Trader Vic drinks)
• Add remaining ingredients... and fill glass up with enough Shaved ice to fill
• Mix well
• Garnish with mint spring and a fruit stick

Hanalei

Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee,
Little Jackie paper loved that rascal puff,
And brought him strings and sealing wax and other fancy stuff. oh

Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee,
Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee.

Together they would travel on a boat with billowed sail
Jackie kept a lookout perched on puffs gigantic tail,
Noble kings and princes would bow whenever they came,
Pirate ships would lower their flag when puff roared out his name. oh!

Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee,
Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee.

A dragon lives forever but not so little boys
Painted wings and giant rings make way for other toys.
One grey night it happened, Jackie paper came no more
And puff that mighty dragon, he ceased his fearless roar.

His head was bent in sorrow, green scales fell like rain,
Puff no longer went to play along the cherry lane.
Without his life-long friend, puff could not be brave,
So puff that mighty dragon sadly slipped into his cave. oh!

Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee,
Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee.

Sometimes I get a glimpse of that first look, that first impression, that drunken sensory buzz that one gets when they land on Kauai for the first time. It isn’t everyday - but for a sure hit, all I need to do is go to Hanalei. Hanalei (Hanah Lee as folk singers in the 60’s named it) is an emerald cresent with a wreath of verdant spiked mountains. There is no place more gorgeous, and a whiff of the wonder of it all is both stunning and humbling. My children will truley be warped in life - they have no idea what the reality is for where most people live. This ripe, tropical Eden is what they know as home and it is my fault their view of any other place is tainted by the saturated colored backdrop they have grown up with. Last summer I took them to hike in Yosemite for a week and then a few days in my beloved San Francisco. Luna and Sol had never seen extreme poverty before and homeless people in the streets. They cried and cried while I tried to point out interesting places in the city prompting  the memory of my first days in the city, my rubber neck and big eyes, abosorbing it all, shaken by the large scope a city incompases, but also the homeless people- and I remembered that fresh abrasion, that rub, it was not OK but I had to live with it, step over it to get to work, and not look into the eyes of poverty but stay focused to stay on task, to survive. I cannot explain homelessness to myself and learned I could not explain it to my children last summer, but cried with them as I drove, secretely - because after having living there for over 11 years- poverty had become part of the landscape - and it didn’t hit my radar anymore.
Such is life when things become to familiar, like the sun light on a bay and the tan backs of my children dissappearing into it’s glitter on their surfboards to join a distant school of dolphin like children playing in the waves while I lounge on the stern of our boat moored for the summer. I pray for that pause, that reboot button - that turns on that which means we are alive, and present to appreciate and see with new eyes. I appreciate the fact my children help me see things again - less jaded - more clearly. Thank you God for Hanalei.

December

Yesterday my son woke up and as he set his 7 year old body down at the kitchen bar waiting for his egg sandwich to cook he announced "I snored last night". Hmm I thought, "Exactly how do you know that you snored?" Sol, my son got a serious look on his face and then said thoughtfully "cause when I woke up I could smell that snore smell".    Eh hmm, just for the record Luis and I do not snore.

A Different World

I was talking to one of my very best friends Larry today. He is lying in a hospital bed in San Francisco being studied in an Aids Study. He is not HIV positive but he is a negative test subject side-by-side with a positive test subject, and thus - 5 days of IV drips and no Cocktails to see how they both react to the same medication. As he was laying there bored out of his gourd in a tempterature controlled room, while record highs were being enjoyed outside in beautiful San Francisco, I went on about my day, and described the paddle-out for Andy Irons and the beautiful weather,  . . . my new painting I am working on. "Well you just live in a different world don't you?" he finally mused.
"I guess I do!", I replied, "I am sure it seems that way as you lay there in your hospital gown, while Richard (Larry's partner of 34 years) abandons you to  drive his friend a priest from San Francisco down to Puerto Vallarta, and I am here in babbling about paintings and art and  . . . gee,  I guess I'll shut up now".
I must mention, Larry was my husband in another life. In the 90's, Bank of America picked us out of their Creative Services department and thrust us from mere obscure work acquaintances into micro-fame by doing a photo shoot with the two of us as their poster family for their United Way campaign. In one part of the poster (before Bank of America's charitable giving swooped in and saved us from further misery) we are this couple living out of our car with a screaming baby (which I borrowed from a friend) - looking dazed and angry in an edgy black and white photo. The "after" picture of us in glaring color, has us looking like lobotomized zombies who just returned from an Amway convention, cleaned up and sparkling with a happy baby on our laps. Oddly, the whole experience was very bonding for Larry and I and we have been the  closest of friends ever since. It was amazing how many people back then congratulated us on getting our lives together, never for a moment thinking a United Way campaign could ever have staged models, let alone the impossibility of Larry and I ever spawning a child together. A picture does tell a thousand words - but especially in the age of PhotoShop - how many of those words are true?


Last thoughts for Andy Irons, with  some gorgeous pictures of the service  (you can click them to view them larger)

this photo was taken under water looking up at all of the flowers and leis dropped by everyone and also by a helicopter. Below are photos of Andy's brother holding up Andy's board. Scroll down

 but this video is as beautiful as can be. If you don't know what a "paddleout" is - this says it all.

Andy Irons Memorial - Kauai - 11/14/2010 | Surf Video | broadbandsports.com