2009-March 4: Lawai, Waimea Canyon, Saltpond

Today started out just like most of the rest of the days this trip----cloudy and rainy on the east side. No breaks of blue sky, though.

First we headed towards Kapaa. The surf on the east side was still above advisory levels, as it has been the whole time we've been here. At least the winds were down---not gone, but down. We stopped by Lydgate to see how it looked. It actually looked pretty good considering the high surf, but we weren't ready to go snorkeling yet.

We went up to the lookout just north of Kapaa in hopes of seeing whales, but no such luck. The whale viewing hasn't been as good as it's been for us in the past years. Don't they like wind?!

We decided to stop at the Kapaa craft market. Wandered around for awhile, but didn't get anything.

I can't come to Kauai without getting some Hamura's lilikoi chiffon pie. So we drove by there and got a piece of pie to go. As I recall, a piece of pie was $2.85 plus tax.

Now we were in search of sun. It was a sustained rain lasting longer today then it had any other time since we've been here this trip, so we headed south.

It wasn't raining at Lawai beach---at least not at that time, although it was totally overcast---so we decided to do a little snorkeling. At least the surf on the south shore has been a consistant 1-2 feet the whole time we've been here. Doesn't look too hopeful for snorkeling on the north shore this trip, unfortunately.

Snorkeling has been really good at Lawai, as it usually is.
One of the plentiful Moorish Idols

 and and Orange bar surgeonfish

Here I got a picture of a female bird wrasse.

Here's the male bird wrasse.

A school of racoon butterflyfish

Unfortunately my waterproof housing sprung a leak. Another camera bites the dust.
Here's my last picture with that underwater set up of my Nikon S-5 and housing.

And, again, there was a monk seal there.

When it started raining, we packed up and headed farther south/west. We thought Saltpond might be sunny, but it wasn't. I did get a kick out of this sign there! I certainly hope planes aren't flying so low as to bother people on the ground!

Since we were still in search of sun, we headed farther south. When we got to Waimea, we noticed the canyon wasn't fogged in, so we headed up the canyon.

Not sure what these things are, but they look like they belong in a Dr. Seuss book! They were all over the canyon ride, as well as other places around Kauai.

By the time we got up to the first lookout, it was almost 5:30. The light was fading fast and clouds were shroading the top of the canyon.

The road up the canyon reminds me a bit of Maui's Road to Hana.

Just past the first big lookout are a couple great pullouts with great views.

And more great views of the canyon. By now it was almost sunset, but it was another dud of a sunset with the heavy cloud cover.
We raced up to the end of the road hoping to have a bit of a clearing and sunset view over the ocean, but it was socked in with fog. The total mileage up the canyon is about 12 miles and rises to about 4000 ft. The temperature at the top was about 52 degrees. When we got back down to sea level, the temps were back to about 71 (at about 7pm).
We made it down the canyon before it got totally dark and found our way to Wrangler's Steak House for dinner. Our dinners were very good---my pepper steak and Ken's Ahi fish. It was rather expensive ($25 for my steak), but it was our one splurge on dinner this trip. They also have a small salad bar which was very good---love the papaya seed salad dressing!
Back at the condo, time to hit the computer and catch the TopChef reunion.

Just another day in Paradise.