Final goodbyes....

This looks to be my final posting. I return the cable modem tomorrow so I will not have any internet service. It has been a great pleasure making the blog and I hoped you enjoyed following our exploits and enjoyed some of the images. This posting is a hodge podge of images of our last few days here and the things we will miss. There are many other things that could be in this posting but I thought it best to keep it brief. [I feel somewhat proud that this blog passed the 3000 hit mark before we ended...that is about 6x more hits than I ever imagined possible.]


Goodbye condo (we lived in the bottom left hand condo) and thank you Frank and Marjorie for allowing us to live in your wonderful place. Also thank you Mike, the general manager, for all his great advice and personal insight to the great island of Kauai. He was amazingly gracious and generous even though the bumbersticker on Mike's truck says -

"If you love Kauai, then send your friends to Maui"

I will miss the view outside of the post office down in Hanalei (we will also miss saying the hackneyed phrase - Another beautiful day in Hanalei).


This is looking across my favorite taro field to the lush mountains (notice Bat Ears?) at the back of the valley who are often shrouded in clouds and streaked silver with waterfalls.

We are really going to miss fishing for dinner. The island has a variety of beautiful and tasty fish that we have enjoyed over the months. This month it is baby weke season - when large schools of weke fingerlings (or as Ian likes to say - dingalings) move around the pier for 1 hour or so in the late afternoon. Here we are with the locals trying to catch our share using tiny hooks and itsy bitsy pieces of shrimp. It is great fun. 

Ian with one of the 4 baby weke's we caught. You fry these things whole and salt them and eat them like a french fry - head and all. They were quite tasty.  

We will miss turtle cave and jumping off the rocks into the ocean. Ian is making the plunge today, we had to go back one more time.

This photo captures two of my children's favorite things - the great friends they met here (Tai and Gio pictured here on the pier) and jumping off the pier. Shayne and Ian only got brave enough to jump off of the pier a couple of weeks ago so we have made many a trip to Blackpot beach to maximize their fun.


No surf?
No problem - we can jump off of things into the water.

Etel finally got her shell necklace made...all of the reddish shells are the Kahlelani shells she hand picked from the beach over the months we were here. The sunrise shell was found on her Kalalua valley trip, Vickie found this shell on the beach and was generous enough to give it to Etel. Thank you Vickie for making Etel's dream necklace a reality. 

We will all miss the exotic wildlife we have seen on the island - seals, turtles, fish, albatross, and these majestic Nene geese. Ian took this photo all by himself, I rather like it. 

I will miss the crystal clear water of the ocean and how it looks different every day and yet always beautiful. 

Of course I will miss most watching my children play in the surf as the sun sets and the sky is a swirl of pinks and blues. Goodbye Kauai and Goodbye all of the wonderful people we have met on the island.

Last hike in Kauai

Since arriving to the Princeville/Hanalei area I have been mesmorized by the twin peak mountain top seen here in the top right corner of the image [you may have to click on the picture to enlarge it to see the peaks]. I read once the twin peaked mountain being referred to as "Bat Ears" and it stuck in my mind because the two peaks are reminscent of a cowl of Batman. The offical name is Hihimanu but I have also heard it called Hahalua - the Hawaiian name for Manta Ray since it looks like the head of a manta ray. Anyway, I have always wanted to hike up to the top of that mountain and did part of the hike when I first arrived on the island. I knew the hike to the peak should not be done alone so I needed to find a partner in crime. I was very fortunate to meet a guy named Craig Pearson (also a great, honest real estate agent email him if you are interested in Kauai real estate). Craig is an ex-white water river guide, ex-rock climber, and current skate boarder and surfer who is also adventuresome enough to go with me on this hike.

This hike was one of the last things I really wanted to do while in Kauai. We left on Sunday morning at 8:30 am for what we thought was a 4 hour hike...but much like Guilligan's Island, we were a bit off on our estimate for the time it would require. .