Feb. 8, Sunday:
 
It was another morning of waking up early (for me).  Was able to watch the sunrise from our dining room in our new OF room.  The other room was nice being on the 2nd floor, but this one has a much more expansive view.

 It's also just steps to the beach, so I took a walk along the beach.  There's a shelf of shallow water by the resort.  Not sure what this couple was spearing for---octopus?  lobster?

 View north from that shelf of shallow water.

 Another view of this shallow area.  It's usually a good place to wade around in.  Kind of our own "baby beach".

 I liked how the moon was peeking out.

 Breakfast was at Olympic Cafe today.  Food and service were great as usual, as were the entertaining views from our open windowside table.

 I noticed the Kauai bus go by while we were eating.  I was surprised to see it's a large bus now.  I presume their service is getting more regular now?  We saw another one by Port Allen later in the day.

After breakfast, we decided to try and find an alternate route around Kapaa since the bypass route was closed for emergency sewer work.  We rode around for probably about an hour.  I was surprised how far inland the roads go here on the East side.  Loved the new views. 

 Saw  some interesting houses.  Wonder if I could afford this?

 Saw some interesting plants

 Saw some goats pretending they were mountain  goats

 Eventually we ended up by the Arboretum near Wailua.  Saw a bunch of these by the road --- look like papyrus to me?

 Now that we knew where we were, we headed back to the main highway and headed south to Lawai to try out my new snorkel mask.  It did acceptable, I think.  It did fog up a little half way through our snorkeling, but maybe I needed to add more defogger.  At least it kept water out.
First time I've seen a Hawaiian hogfish at Lawai.

 One of my favorites---the Moorish Idol.

 a wrasse

 This guy was tiny and marked like none I've seen before, but I'm presuming it's a juvenile yellow tail coris?

 Even saw this urchin skeletin

 One of the many cleaning stations here at Lawai

 Don't often see these multiband butterflyfish around Kauai.

 Usually see a turtle of 2 here and today was no exception.

 I love the little garden by the outdoor shower across the street from Lawai Beach.  Today there were a bunch of water lillies blooming.

 About 5 we decided it was time to go in search of food again.  So we headed west to the Kauai Island Brewing Company.  On the way, we stopped at the canyon overlook.. Beautiful as ever!

 Another view of the canyon

 noticed this new sign there.  Seems everyone is protesting these days!

 On to Kauai Island brewery.  We didn't know they had happy hour on Sunday, too, so were surprised to find out they did.  Took advantage of that and had a $4 Fonz IPAaaaaaa----loved it.  Plus we had a couple appetizer specials for dinner---the mini kalua pork nachos and some chicken wings---all were great.

 On the way out, I loved the lighting on this hybiscus

 Ken wanted to check out what he thought he saw from the highway---another solar field which was by Glass Beach.  We saw another solar field in our ride around the inner east side earlier, too.  Solar sure has taken off here.
Since we were so close to Glass Beach, we headed down there and up the hill to the Japanese Cemetery.  I find the old stones fascinating.  It also seems like it would be a good place to see some whales, but we still haven't seen any this trip.

 Back at Glass Beach, we were joined by this fellow.

 We took a ride around Port Allen. Noticed the sun won't set over the ocean here, so decided to head back to the south side.

 But had to stop and take a picture of these pretty plumerias.  We don't often see them blooming this time of the year.

 Made it back to the Koloa Landing area just before sunset.

 Even saw the green flash!

 Headed straight back to our condo on the East side from there.  Another beautiful day on Kauai.  It was a bit windier today, but it was also a little warmer.  The surf on the south shore was a bit rough, but I think there's still a surge on the north shore.  Hopefully they'll update the surf reports earlier the next few days so we can decide where to go before leaving the condo.