2011-FEb. 23: Lawai, Shipwreck Rock, Moir Gardens

Looked like it was going to be a gorgeous day. So we decided to head south again. We headed straight to Lawai beach and into the ocean.

Here's the usual managerie of fish greeting every new entry in hopes of a treat. We never feed them, but many people do, so they are not afraid of humans at all.

Lawai is noted for it's many "cleaning stations", as well as the best place to find turtles. At this particular cleaning station, an unusual goat fish showed up for a cleaning. I've never seen any of these blue goatfish before.

Also don't remember seeing these Black stripe Hawkfish before either, but saw a few of them at Lawai this year.

 a file fish

 the not so common saddle butterflyfish along with a rock mover wrasse

 male bird wrasse

 christmas wrasse

 black triggerfish

 we can almost always find turtles here.

 female redlip parrotfish

 blue stripe snapper

 orange bar surgeonfish

 general wide view at Lawai

 After a couple hours snorkeling, we started hearing thunder. Then came the lightening, so we got out. Everyone else in the water also got out. Then a tour group actually entered---lightening and all!  They were probably a group from the cruise ship trying to enjoy their one day on Kauai. 

The rain quickly followed. Hoping to wait out the rain, we decided to hang around the south shore awhile. So to kill time, I happily wandered through another garden---the free Moir orchid and cactus garden at Kiahuna Plantation resort while Ken waited in the car.

 This is a little gem.  It's actually the landscaped yard of a resort, but it was started years and years ago by the original owner of this plantation home now restaurant on property.  And it's free!

 I did get caught in some rain, but I had my underwater camera, so didn't care.

 Half the garden was orchids, the other half was cacti.

 oil and rain on the pavement---looks like a heart to me.

Then we went to Shipwreck Beach and walked up to the top of it to get a better vantage point for viewing whales. Saw some whales spouting in the distance, but not much breeching.

one of Hawaii's notorious rainbows.

 view from the top

 The clouds continues to build and more rain started, so we headed back down the rock.

 At the bottom, we saw a few people gathered around a young lady laying motionless on the beach. That particular area is a very popular boggie boarding area because of it's rough surf.

Don't know what happened, but a fire truck and ambulance were arriving as we left. There are always some accidents that happen while we're out there on vacation. One year 2 touring helicopters crashed within 3 or 4 days of each other. One time a surfer was attacked by a shark. One time a family vacationing there was knocked off Lumahai Rock(called lumadie by many) and the father and mother were killed, their son lived. Another time there was an ocean kayak that disappeared and the lifeless boaters were found in the ocean a few days later. There have been a few other drownings and many near drownings when we've been there, too. Then this year a glider plane crashed into the ocean and the dead instructor and student were found in the ocean a day or 2 later. It may be paradise, but it is a deadly paradise.

When it rains, a trip to Na Hoku jewelers is a logical expedition to me! So we headed to Na Hoku. I'm getting quite the nice collection of jewelry from there. This time I liked the uniqueness of a reversable palm tree/rainbow sterling silver pendant and necklace. Ken was more infatuated with the inlaid koi pendant and sterling necklace---so he got me both!

We'd also heard rave reviews of Keoki's Paradise, so we decided to give it's happy hour a try. Can't believe we had never gone there before! It was very nice. The early bird dinner looked really great, too, but we settled for appetisers this time---fish and chips, and edamames, and a beer.

No sunset, just more rain.