Jeff Keller's Blog » Kauai Trip 2008

Kauai 2008: Day 5

Jeff Keller — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 15:58:18 +0000

Yesterday was our last full day in Kauai. Naturally, I had to have one more Mai Tai!
In a few hours, I’ll be on a plane back to SFO — I hope the flight is smoother than the one over. I’ve got a few last pictures after the link… hope you enjoyed all the photos!

We stayed at this hotel way back in 1990 (or so). It was destroyed by Hurricane Iniki in 1992, and wasn’t touched until very recently. Supposedly, the owner of the old hotel took the insurance money and ran. Now, they’re finally rebuilding it.

One thing that’s not coming back is the beach — it was there when I was a kid, but the hurricane took care of that

One last sunset shot

Post-sunset colors

Kauai 2008: Reality Check

Jeff Keller — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 18:51:24 +0000

Here’s something I hope I don’t have to see again in my lifetime. We were walking down the beach, near Poipu Beach Park. A big memorial for some in the local canoe club was about to start, so we were watching that. We were just leaving when I heard screams coming from the beachfront. I walked over (along with many other people) and saw lifeguards dragging an old man out of the water. Apparently he had been floating for a while, and he washed up on shore. We watched as the lifeguards and later the paramedics tried to revive him… I don’t think they succeeded, but I’m not 100% sure, as they took him into the ambulance eventually. It seemed like he was out swimming by himself… who knows where his family was (he had a wedding band on) — they’re in for a horrible shock when they find out what happened.
I’m not sure why I stayed and watched the whole thing… maybe I was hoping that he’d start breathing and be okay. Unfortunately, I don’t think that ever happened.
Update: Apparently the man survived, at least as of press time of the local paper. What a relief! He was from the Bay Area, too — Santa Rosa to be exact.
Update 2: Apparently the man died in the hospital… that’s too bad.

Kauai 2008: Day 4

Jeff Keller — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 17:03:35 +0000

Yesterday we did two things: visit Waimea Canyon, and snorkel near the Beach House restaurant in Poipu. The highlight of the evening was dinner at Roy’s, which is always excellent. The lowlight of the evening was my left ear — it’s totally plugged up!!
Pics after the link!

The view on the way to Waimea Canyon. Everything is so green here!

Waimea Canyon

Three shot panorama of the canyon

Lots of waterfalls in the distance

The view of the Napali Coast from the Kalalau Valley Lookout was spectacular!

Here I am at the same spot…

Now it’s time to go for a swim. I did a little more Photoshopping on these images than on the previous ones, to get rid of the bluish cast. Underwater photography is difficult to start with, and having a point-and-shoot camera (with crummy high ISO performance) doesn’t make things any easier.

I don’t know what this thing is, but it had teeth, so I stayed away

My favorite fish, the Humuhumunukunukuapua’a

Here are a few leftovers…

There wasn’t much spouting going on at Spouting Horn

The Grand Hyatt is spectacular, but soooo expensive

What gallery would be complete without a sunset picture?

Kauai 2008: Day 3

Jeff Keller — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 17:02:01 +0000

Yesterday’s activity was a catamaran ride to the Napali coast. Unfortunately, the seas were too rough to go all the way over there, so we turned around midway through the trip. The ride was exhilarating — I was on the front of the boat and it was an E-ticket experience for sure. I was SOAKING wet most of the time.
Check out some great pics after the link!

Okay, I didn’t take this on the boat ride – this is Poipu Beach earlier in the day.

Now we’re on the boat, sailing toward the Napali Coast. That’s an old sugar refinery I believe.

These are the “small” cliffs in Napali — we didn’t make it to the big (4000 ft) ones

They put the sail up for a while, but it wasn’t windy enough to really “sail”

Dolphins!

There are at least three whales here

Really like this shot.. whale tale AND sunset!

Two nice sunset pics

This pic was sort of an afterthought… but boy do I like it!

Kauai 2008: Day 2

Jeff Keller — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 04:57:54 +0000

Here’s the report from my second day in Kauai. Why the chickens? Because this island is crawling with them. Which is kind of annoying when you want to sleep late — they don’t keep the same hours as I do.

All of the photos in my Kauai galleries were taken with my Canon PowerShot SD850 IS.

Ginger anyone?

Lily pads and orchids in the garden in our complex

More cool tropical plants

Looking north from the Sheraton Kauai

A monk seal takes a nap on the beach

Opeaka’a Falls

The Wailua River as it flows into the ocean

My favorite pic of the day: the Kilauea lighthouse

The surf was huge on the north shore of the island

Beginners need not apply

A big “dry” cave across the street from the beach

Now it’s time to go for a swim! I can’t name most of these, so I’ll leave out the captions.

Back on the surface, now…

Panoramic shot of the Hanalei Valley

Now this is living… great view, sunset, and a Mai Tai at the Princeville Hotel

Kauai 2008: Day 1

Jeff Keller — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 04:24:43 +0000

We got into Kauai at about 12:40pm after a miserable flight from SFO. This one’s probably in my top 3 or 4 worst flights of all time. Not because of the service or anything like that, but for the 5 hours of almost continuous light-to-moderate turbulence/chop. A few times it got worse, and the flight attendants were ordered to their seats. I’m a nervous flier to begin with, so I did not enjoy myself.
Anyhow, the weather on our side of Kauai has been lousy today. Windy, cool, and WET — it rained for most of the afternoon and evening. It’s amazing how fast the weather changes here… one second it’s sunny, the next it’s pouring. It’s supposed to be the same tomorrow, but then getting better Thurs-Sunday.
After the link are a few pics that I took around our sprawling condo complex, including some nice sunset shots. Enjoy!

Yes, we DO have bananas! Right outside our room!

I don’t know what these are, but they’re cool. The grounds here are amazing… Kauai in general is so lush.

This picture doesn’t really do this garden justice… those are all orchids growing… I’ll try to go back and take more pics.

Rainbow during a brief visit by the sun

More wacky plants

Nice silhouette

Good stuff!