Roosters

Day 8 - Feb 4, 2011
Ahh the roosters of Kauai ... nice way to start the day but so early!

Friday was our day to transfer from Maui to Kauai. The day started in the usual manner and turned a bit cloudy shortly thereafter. There has been talk of some foul weather coming this way. We had a nice breakfast in the condo and completed our packing. We had an 11 o’clock check-out and a 1 o’clock flight to Honolulu and a 2 o’clock flight to Lihue Kauai. We cleaned up the place and left the extra food and beer for the cleaners. Overall the condo was adequate but lacked the feel we had experienced when the place was run by a single management company. The owners now run through any company and the feel in that condo was not what we had learned to like about Kamaole Sands. Some of the entires into the Guest Book were not very flattering of the owners or their approach. But overall it was adequate and we noted some other locations for future stays.

We returned the car rental and checked in at the airport. The traffic through security was very high but they managed a pretty thorough security process in fairly short order. We were in a line that would take 45 minutes in Ottawa and we were through in about 10 minutes. Organized bunch for sure. We had a short wait for the flight (island hops are like commuter flights around here) and we were on our way – oh we landed after a short 34 minutes.

In Honolulu we had a short wait at the gate and we were loading, flying and landing all as scheduled. We arrived in Kauai at about 2:30. Once there I picked up a car and Freddi waited for the luggage. The latter came in on the next flight (30 minutes later) and we were off to the Marriott Vacation Club called Kauai Beach Club. This is our 4th time staying here and the feel and appearance was very familiar with that “feeling at home” feel about it. We settled in quickly and went down to the pool area and had some nachos and a cocktail at Kulio beach bar. We chatted with some other owners from South Carolina and enjoyed the brief interlude to the day. We then unpacked our bags and went to the local Walmart for some supplies for the suite and to set up the suite for Lucy and Tara-Lee. That was all very easy as we knew where to go and how to get there – mostly.

At around 7 pm we received a text from Tara-Lee saying they were unable to make the tight connection in Honolulu and they would be delayed by a half hour as they and to catch the next flight. They did that and we met them at about 8:30 when they arrived after a long day of travel. We gave fresh flower leis when they arrived to ease the weariness and we drove to the resort. They settled in and we went to Duke’s for some appies and sustenance before calling it an evening. It was a nice day and I was happy to have Tara-Lee and Lucy with us for the week.

Day 7 Feb 3, 2011

The day started with a clear sunny morning and no wind. What a nice way to greet the day. We had no plans for the day and we set out to snorkel somewhere in the North of the island. We drove to the site we thought we had been to before but approached it from an entirely new direction and decided this was in fact the spot. It was a bit confusing but we found it and went snorkelling off the rocky beach. We saw some beautiful fish over the reef but it just wasn’t what we had remembered and there were very few fish there. I recall it being quite clear and plentiful but that was not the case. We rested for a while and sat in the sun to dry our selves off before we set out on the famous drive around the North point. That was an adventure as a good deal of it is one lane and there definitely are vehicles going both ways. It was fun to see it in the sunlight as the last time we drove that route it was pouring rain. We stopped along the way to to enjoy a little lunch snack Freddi had prepared and enjoy the views, wind and the sun.

We returned to Kamaole for a brief relax and Freddi snorkelled out there too. She concluded that there were more fish at our local beach than up the north side near Honolua Bay. I read and contacted Lucy and Tara-Lee to cement our arrangements for the next day.

We drive to Wailea for dinner at Lohghi’s and enjoyed a fine dinner and entertainment from the Chinese community as they had a ceremony to bring in the New Year. Brian, our waiter, was from Oregon and was quite the comedian as he shared his views of the tourists, the Chinese event and some stories of the area. I had Filet and lobster and Freddi had a filet of beef. We enjoyed a fine bottle of Tuscan wine that complimented the dinner very well. A short drive home, some ice cream and the end of an easy but fine day.

A Whale of a day....

Day 6 Feb 2, 2011

The day was basically a non-plus day of puttering about as I was not feeling very well with the cold I have been harbouring since I left Winnipeg. However we did do one thing that is worth mentioning. We went on another Pacific Whale Foundation whale watch trip. We had about 100 people on board and lots of room for everyone. We cruised out of the harbour at about 10:30 and we soon spotted whales breaching and playing all around us. Our team were very excited as the watching has been very good recently. Our first encounter was with a “logging male” who looked like he was a sleep on the surface. We moved on from him and found a calf (picture above) who was playing on the surface and learning what he could do with his body. He finned us, rolled, breached several times and showed us his tail over and over again. Mum was nearby and occasionally showed herself at the surface. That lasted for about 20 minutes and we got some neat shots.

We then moved on again and came across two pods who were feuding over a female and they were all pretty large humpbacks vying for dominance. Apparently they push pretty hard but they do not fight to the death. They approached us and swam under the boat and actually surfaced right beside the boat several times. We could see the flukes under the water as they are white and reflect the light quite well. We stayed with them for about 35 minutes and we managed to get some clear pictures of them playing and being aggressive towards each other. While being aggressive they demonstrate behaviour that is atypical of their usual behaviour. They bring their heads out of the water to show their size and they use the barnacles on their head as weapons against their targets. They demonstrate behaviour to prove they are big and strong which of course impresses the females who is watching all of this. We were very fortunate to watch such displays. The team were also impressed as they do not see such behaviour very often.

So our watch was very successful and we returned to the harbour for a light lunch and some shipping before returning to the condo for an afternoon nap. A Nap.... what is with that!

Another sunny day....

Day 5 Feb 01, 2011

The day started with a perfectly clear sky and the birds whaling away outside of our lanai. We had a slow start to the day and got away form the condo about 10:30. We drove to Ma’alaea Bay to see about doing a whale watch tour with the Pacific Whale Foundation. We managed to register for Wednesday at 10:30 and then we shopped in the local craft market. The folks there were really friendly and open folks. We chatted with many vendors and I purchased a t-shirt that was a bit unusual. From there we went to Lahaina for lunch and a walk about. We had lunch over looking the ocean at the Hard Rock and watched whales playing between the islands. The lunch was good and the Margs were very large. Freddi had the largest Club I have seen..... well maybe not as large as the one at the Wagon Wheel in Winnipeg last week. We then walked the streets and looked into the various art shops, clothing stores and some jewellery stores. I picked up a picture for Gray and Bree and hope to be able to get it back to the mainland in one piece. The town was not busy and there were many storefronts that were closed up. The economy is showing its effects in many parts of the island.

We drove back to the condo and got ready for dinner. We were going to Mama’s for our anniversary dinner. We drove to Paia and had a short walk about there but all of their stores were closed for the day. We drove on and went to Mama’s early where they settled us in the bar area for a short wait. Once settled, our server, a surfer, chatted us up and helped us decide on a special meal. Freddi ordered a pork loin dish and I ordered a stuffed Mahimahi with crab and lobster. We also ordered a bottle on Chardonnay from California to compliment the meal. All was great and we shared a dessert that was a banana crumble with vanilla bean ice cream. Rich and decadent for sure!

The drive home was through a clear evening with stars and spotted lights all over the volcano base as we circled around Haleakala. A very nice easy vacation day for sure.

A couple of days .... relaxing

Day 3 Jan 30, 2011

The day started out very early as the singing birds started at 5:30 am. There is one guy who lives outside our window and he is very vocal. The sky was mostly clear and the promise of a sunny day was in the air.

I got up early and did my morning ritual and spent far too much time sorting out a blog issue when in the end it was simply an error on my part where I used a / instead of a period in the address. What a pain but it got worked out and life went on from there. We enjoyed a nice Sunday breakfast complete with bacon and eggs and some of the Guava jam I have always enjoyed. My homemade Chai tea is not yet perfected in this environment as making do with other people’s equipment doesn’t bode well. However enjoyed it and sat and read on the lanai for a while. I have started an exercise routine that is showing how out of shape I am as my muscles are hurting but I will endure that to get back into some sort of shape.

Around 11 we ventured out and drove to Big Beach. It is a beach that is past Mekena and it had been a secluded beach when we found it many years ago. There is a smaller one next to it called Little beach (creative eh!) and it has always been the local nudist beach. Big beach today is now identified as part of a State Park and there is a huge lifeguard stand there equipped with a large beach buggy and all the necessary equipment to stage Pamela Anderson life guard scene. Along with this new equipment and identity comes a much larger contingent of sun worshippers as the once empty beach was lined with towels, chairs and umbrellas from one end to the other. It stretches for about 2 miles along the shore and has a pretty vicious breaker at the shoreline. That stopped many people once upon a time but not today. We found a spot and sank into our new chairs to feel the warmth and read/sleep and rest for a while. It was nice and we managed to stay for a couple of hours. That was probably too long for a first day but it felt so good. I managed to walk up to the newly parked JAWZ truck to get some drinks but other than that no energy was expended.

At around 2 PM we walked back to the car and went for a drive to the Wailea Centre to do some window shopping. After a couple of hours we left there with some small bags of things we probably didn’t realize we needed when we arrived there. It was fun chatting with the staff of the shops and getting a fix on their interest in the local tourists. We drove to Foodland and picked up some dinner makings and returned to the condo. The balance of the afternoon (not much time) was spent watching the seniors play golf at (Kapalui at the other end of the island). These are the big guys and they were playing a skins game and we could see the weather turn in that part of the island. It got windy and it started to rain heavily just as they were finishing. In our area the same weather followed very shortly after that and we watch the heavy rain calm the very rough seas. While we were watching we could see whales out frolicking in the ocean from our lanai. While I was using the binoculars one whale did a full breach and landed with a huge splash right in front of us. Granted they were quite a ways away but it is fun to watch none-the-less.

Just before dinner we skyped (now that is a new verb) with Bree and Gray and ended up being at the end of the dinner table as they were having dinner with Tara-Lee, Jamie and Tanya. It was fun to see and talk to them and hear about their activities. Bree showed us the ultrasound pictures of Thordier and we saw her tummy in its growing state. Tanya showed us hers too as she is due a couple of months after Bree. It will be fun for them to bring up their kids as they will be so close in age. We even saw Scout but he was not interested in our presence. Good chat and it was fun o see them happy and together.

I used the nearby BBQ and cooked up some nice steaks for Sunday dinner and discussed what we might do with the rest of the week here. I am not sure what we concluded but we shall see as the week unfolds.

Day 4 – Jan 31, 2011 (Monday)

The day started slowly with the sun shining and it was a tad windy. After morning exercises, routines and a light breakfast we set off to the beach. A return visit to Big Beach was the choice to see if the crowds we experienced the day before were just weekend traffic. It turns out that the beach has much more favour with the tourists this year and we found many people there. We stayed for a couple of uneventful hours even though we watched the whales parade by in numbers. The wind was high enough that the sand was blowing in our faces and that tends to detract from the whole experience.

Somewhere around 1 pm we decided to go to Fred’s for some Mexican food and a Margarita. We shared a quesadilla with large chunks of chicken inside and enjoyed the food and beverages. We then decided to take a drive on one of the interior roads (there are not many) that would take us to the Southern most point of the island. We found good roads along the way and passed through Pukalani, Pulehu, Waiakoa and then Kula. The road through these towns afforded a view of the lower island area as we were continuously climbing the side of the Haleakala Volcano but noy going to the crater. When we got to Ulupalakua we passed the Tedeschi Vineyards Maui Winery. We noted that for a stop on our return.
Shortly there after the road narrowed considerably and most of the traffic coming toward us was small tourist buses form either ships or hotels. This route actually connects with Hana but along the S coast. There are two sections on the island where rental cars are without agreements with their providers. This is one of them and there seemed to be quite a few rentals out there. We continued until we got to the shore of the South side of the island. The land varied form farm land to desert to large treed forest to ground covered lava fields right down to the lava shore line. The different areas are so starkly varied that they make one feel that they are fast forwarding through many agricultural regions. It was interesting and somewhat scary as we pushed along the narrow winding road heading for the next curve and dip. Once at the shore we walked about and shot some pictures of the rugged coastline with the lava rock everywhere.

Our return trip was quite quick as I was now familiar with the curves and dips and had some fun driving this narrow road. We stopped at the winery and tasted four wines and a champagne. The first one was a pineapple wine (sweet) but very tasty. We purchased one of those for summertime consumption at Lake Bernard. The other wines were fruit and grape wines from their 23 acres down the highway. They were tasty but noy well finished in my view. The only red was similar to a light Pinot Noir but it was very acidic. Nice little spot with some frisky ladies who worked the tourists. They were fun to listen to. Approx 30 small buses stop there every day.

We returned to the lowlands and picked up some pasta dinner and we cooked at home. I BBQ’d some sausages along with a group of 49 partiers form Cornwall Ont as they gathered for dinner around the BBQ as a meet and greet for two families involved in a wedding on Maui. Our next door neighbours here are John and Lynn with their son and they live in Kingston ON. It is just too small a world. That was the end of an easy day but enjoyable

none-the-less.

Day two in Maui

Downtown Waikiki never sleeps as the late night revellers sing their way back to their accommodations and happy people laugh uproariously outside on the streets all through the night. It is a fun place to be on vacation and to share times with your friends. I on the other hand was trying to sleep and get my body into this time zone. I found that my body wanted to start the day at something like 4 am. That is the usual impact of a 5 hour move in time zones. So I read....
Early morning brought some warm sun and brightness into the life of Waikiki. We ventured out onto the streets and walked about until we settled into a balcony at the Weston Hotel overlooking the beach. There offered a huge menu of breakfast items or the buffet which included several salmon dishes, eggs, sausages, bacon, omelettes, French toast, waffles, eggs Benedict etc. Whatever else could be on the menu? We settled on one menu item for Freddi and the vastness of the buffet for me. We enjoyed the breakfast and wandered along the streets for a while. Once the shops opened we walked into the Lik Gallery where I chatted with Rick the sales guy inside. He explained Lik’s technique of making such beautiful prints in large scale and intense colour. His photographs were very impressive and real as we stared into a shot of NY Central Park that felt as if you were there. His web site is pretty impressive and can be accessed at http://www.peterlik.com and some of his photographs are on display there. Nice chat and good experience.
We sauntered along with our Chai Tea from Starbucks and ended up back at the hotel around 10:30. We finished our packing, checked out and headed to the airport. A young lady, Irene, asked if we wanted to share a cab to the airport. We agreed and had a great conversation as she was in Hawaii on business as a Org Dev person working with a crisis in her client site. It was fun talking to her and found out that she is newly married and she and her husband have a hobby photograph business and they publish kids books with their photographs. She is a very charming lady and the whole time was a very good experience with lots of good dialogue.
Once at the airport we found our way to the gate after going through the routine checks and sub-checks. Generally people were in good moods and happy. I guess being on vacation does that. We sat in the open air atrium for a while and boarded when called. The brief flight was without incident and we enjoyed the passion fruit drinks they handed out. Once on land again we found our bags and made our way to the Avis counter and a brand new Impala. Once loaded up we set out for Costco to pick up some necessities and were amazed at how busy the store was. Forgetting that it is Saturday morning/afternoon in a U.S. town and that Costco could well be the centre of the universe for many of these folks, we foolishly expected to be able to navigate the store, select our items, pay and be on our way. No such luck! We abandoned the idea after a short while as there were just too many people and some of the things on our list were not for a family of four. We ventured to Walmart in search of beach chairs (we have purchased them there before) and were stumped their too. So we decided to drive to the Condo check-in spot where we did the check-in without incident but received a bunch of discount coupons/tags or offers. One was for Foodland which we were familiar with so off we went. We found everything there in one place and 20% discount to boot. Groceries, beach chairs, beer, wine .... whatever else does one need? So much for the big box stores.
Once we arrived at our condo at Kamaole Sands in Kehei, we unpacked the car and settled into a unit that is on the outside of the perimeter. Our balcony looks over the next property and our entrance is easily accessible from the parking lot. All was good and once again familiar as we have been here three time before. We spent a couple of hours unpacking, setting up the kitchen, reading, and basically cooling our heals. Then it was time for the late afternoon sunset watch movement to the beach. We walked across the road and selected a spot to sit and watch the sun dip into the ocean. It is always a tranquil time as we sip our cocktails and click our pictures. There is always a collection of families there to do the same thing and yesterday was no exception. We enjoyed trying to take nice photographs and we enjoyed a peaceful time of day. On the trek back to our condo we found a 60 year old man covered in tattoos playing with his electric racing car. It was a remote control vehicle that zoomed around the large park area. In chatting with him I found out that his hobby started in San Francisco with remote control boats and when he retired he sold them and bought this car. It was about 18 inches long and 10 inches across with great suspension and he has had it up to 60 mph on the highway beside his car. He had a young lad running after the car in the park and he drove it around him, up to him, backed it away just as he closed in and set him off on a new chase. It was fun to watch and the young lad was so happy as was his mother as he was entertained for a period. It was another fun encounter with people of the world. It is funny as it would have been so easy to walk on by and not learn about this man.
We decided to go to a rib joint for dinner. We were not let down as the one we selected was indeed a joint with a very nice hostess/waitress. We selected our food, ordered a drink but decided to make our order take out as the place had no redeeming qualities and it would be nice to enjoy our meal with a movie/news/or sports broadcast on TV. It was a nice quiet evening at home and early to be try to regulate our bodies. Tomorrow would be a new day and we would find some time to feel the sun and the beach and to relax like we have never done before.

Jan 28, 2011 - Hawaii Vacation

Freddi and I have planned a short vacation in Hawaii since early summer last year. It was shaped as a family vacation and over time it has changed slightly but retained the family format with some small changes. As a result we are currently on our way to maui for a week and then a week in Kauai where we will be joined by Tara-Lee and my sister Lucy. The following few entries are a record of some of the things we will do on our vacation and in some cases some opinions of how it vacationing in this well known paradise. Read on if you wish or sign out and go about your day. Feel free to comment and add your pown perspectives should you feel so inclined. I welcome the interaction.
Paul Jan 29, 2011.

Day one
Stage one of vacation is now behind us and I am pleased about that. Stage one is always hard as it is met with full enthusiasm as you finish the vacation prep but the reality of the travel inconvenience becomes very evident, very quickly. The rush to get to the airport a good deal of time in advance followed by the queues to get your boarding pass, the queue to surrender your luggage for its incredible journey, the ever growing queue to get your official pat down and be herded by the Transport Canada contracted staff as they go about their security routines all contribute to the stress of the first vacation day. Once through that set of stalls the “cattle” seem to breath a sigh of relief and then settle into the flight loading process and eagerly await “the wheels up” feeling of getting away from whatever they are getting away from. In Canada, of course, your plane has to be sprayed by some chemical to ensure that the overnight, frost, rain, snow or whatever doesn’t overload the wings or the plane and bring it down in some ravine nearby. All worth the short visit to the spray station I might add. All that to say, that we made the early morning flight and were out of Ottawa at 7:30 am to arrive in Honolulu for an overnight at about midnight EST.
I am sick with a cold that I picked up during my travels for business over the last few weeks. No surprise as we were in many provinces, with many different climatic happenstances, met with many folks in board rooms, stayed in many hotels and of course shared the stale air in aircraft with many other people – some of whom were as sick as I am now – Huh!. So I have a cold. That meant that I had to control my coughing and blowing with the miracle drugs of the day. That sort of worked out but I found that I was restless and not very impatient with some of the people mentioned in the above paragraph. Freddi reminded me that it was not a good idea to talk back to Transport Canada’s contracted staff of dubious qualifications. They had their job to do and regardless of my opinion about how they were doing it I should not engage those people in banter – enough said on that one.
So in this drug induced state of mind I managed to read about a third of a book but it was torture and I should probably start over! On the first flight to Vancouver I managed to watch two movies on the personal TV sets and certainly will have to watch at least one of them again as I flipped in and out of sleep. The run to Vancouver was without incident or even any noteworthy comment as the AC staff did an incredible job and even enjoyed what they were doing. The trek through the Vancouver airport was easy and ended with an official inspection and processing through U.S.Customs. I must add here that we were exposed to the new “baggage identity” system at customs and I was greatly impressed. The agent scanned our boarding passes and photographs of our bags being held hostage in some ramp somewhere were displayed for all to see. We were asked if we recognized these bags and the affirmative response allowed us to proceed and released the bags unharmed to the next flight. I wonder what would have happened if we had said NO. Not to be thought about now .....
We sauntered down to the Lounge for some soup and small glass of wine as we waited for the departure of our next flight. We were early so we had the pick of the spots and assumed a small fortress in the middle of the space. We stayed there until our bums were numb and decided to walk about until our flight departed and take advantage of the great offerings that were duty free. We bought nothing.
On this flight I listened to music a good deal of the second flight as we were on a 767-300 that must have been pulled from the desert as it had the three large screens on the walls – one for each area – and they played some very odd movies – fantasy fighting movies – that were quite inappropriate or even current. I have no idea what they were thinking and the resolution was terrible as it come from a single beam with three colours all of which were totally unsynchronized. The AC staff refered to the aircraft as an "antigue" in the post boarding address to the passengers.
The arrival was on-time and it was just dusk in Honolulu. The amazing thing about arriving in Hawaii is that you leave an air conditioned plane and walk down a gangplank of sorts and end up in an open air corridor that leads to the open air terminal building and the temperature is summer-like and the air itself is fragrant and moist. It is always a nice feeling as we migrate from the cold Canadian climate. We walked the length of the terminal and found the baggage collection area and eagerly awaited the confirmation that in fact the bags were released to the same travel itinerary that we were on. We managed to get our bags and out of there in about 30 minutes and 15 minutes later we were in our room at the Marriott Courtyard. The van we hitched onto dropped us first and that was a godsend as there were some weird folks on that van – including the driver. The hotel is OK – not great but OK – and it is a bit run down. However it is clean and the bed was very comfortable for a one night stand. Clean and comfortable are requirements for one nighters.
We went out for some Thai food which was delicious and just enough. We then walked Kalakalua Ave where all manner of life forms can be found. It lead us to the International Market which is a good place to buy gold and silver jewellery and t-shirts with anything written on them. It is a tourist Mecca and I found myself very uninterested in bantering with the overly aggressive sales people. I also noticed a marked increase in the fake generation – tats, push-ups, stilettos, short shorts and iPhones – walking about. There were also way more folks from Brooklyn and the Bronx than I have ever seen here with the normal abundance of Orientals looking to spend money and traveling in large groups. We were part of the usual grey heads that saunter, stumble, and creep along the sidewalks of Waikiki. We walked a few blocks and then returned to our hotel as we were very tired after a long day of travel.
Note: while re-reading this post I get the impression that we only met weird types but I do have to mention that we chatted with some very nice folks and happy families with lots of kids from different parts of Canada who were looking to enjoy their first vacation in Hawaii. There were many happy people on vacation and I do not want to leave you with only my jaundiced view of travel.
Today we are going to the beach breakfast in Waikiki and then to the airport again. This time it is for a short jaunt to Maui where we will pick up our car and drive to Kihei and settle into our condo for the next 6 days. We are very familiar with this routine and I look forward to just settling back and enjoying the warm weather, the sunsets, the beaches, the occasional shopping excursion and of course the BBQs and some visits to the local restaurants. I think I am in need of this vacation at this time.
Mahalo and enjoy your day ahead .......