Jan. 31, 2014 ---Finally!-snorkel Tunnels!


I'd been checking the surf report daily with no luck for snorkeling the north shore.  But today it was below advisory and with a wave height of 2-5' and good visibility.  So I was anxious to head north.  I don't think Ken was as anxious, but he went.  After eating up the last of our eggs and bacon (move day again tomorrow), we got ready and headed out for the maybe hour ride to Tunnels.  Didn't get there until after 11.  I was surprised to see the sun was shining and the beach probably had more sand on it since the 50' surge then it had before.

 

Jan. 22, 2014- Wed--Big waves on the North Shore


Every since we heard about the big waves arriving today --- up to 50', I've been anxious to shoot them.   So we were up early today.  Had breakfast in the condo---more eggs and the last of the pancakes from Olympic cafe.  About 10 am we headed off to the North Shore---equipped with both my cameras and all 3 of my lenses.  Only used the dslr and 2 lenses, mostly the 18-200mm zoom.  If it looks like we're in the surf, we aren't, it's the advantage of having a long zoom lens.  We made several stops throughout the day.
These were taken from the road near the path to Lumahai (I think).  We've  never taken the trail down, but I think that's where it goes.

close up of the rocks that are normally above water.

  

March 1, 2012: Tunnels, again

The weather forecast wasn't too promising for today, either, but I was pleasantly surprised when I looked outside and saw shadows!

 No McDonald's today.  Instead we had breakfast in our condo----eggs, toasts, and spam.  Yep, we actually like Spam!  After breakfast, I spent a little time on the internet checking out the forecasts again.  The surf was suppose to be even lower then yesterday up north, so even though I had planned on spending our last 2 days south, we headed north one last time.

On our way north, we stopped at Banana Joe's for a smoothie.  I was disappointed that they were out of them and it wasn't even noon.  This is the 2nd time we've stopped and they've been out. 

 While we were there, I went over and checked out the putt-putt golf course landscaping.  It has matured a lot since last year!  It looks great.  I was happy to see quite a few people there playing miniature golf.  I hope it does really well.

 We've been marvelling at these flat-topped trees that we've been seeing all over the place.  I wonder what they are.  (was told they're fast growing weak Albizia trees.) These ones are behind the putt putt course.

 As we were about to leave, I noticed this bunch of bananas growing in the putt putt area.  Hope they don't go to waste.

 In the early afternoon we finally reached tunnels.  It wasn't suppose to be low tide for about 3 more hours, but it sure was low already! 

 It was also very calm.  More like a lake then an ocean!  And the sun was even shining!  Weather.com was wrong again!---this time in a good way.

 We snorkeled Tunnels for almost 4 hours.  It was a very busy day there.  There were so many people swimming in the deep water that I even ventured out there a lot more.  It was another great day for snorkeling the north shore!

 Look closely at the reddish blob in the crevis---it is an octopus!  This was 1 of the 2 I saw here today!  I've seen them a couple times in the past, but have never been able to get a picture.  The other octopus I saw today was actually swimming in deep water.  I got a picture of it, but it was too far away to be very clear. 

 Here is a pair of whitesaddle goatfish.  Now I've seen them at Anini, Lydgate and Tunnels.

 Here's another guy I didn't have a picture of until now---short body blenny?

 Hard to see here, but there were schools of tiny fish with blue heads and yellow bodies.  I thought they might be young cleaner wrasses, but they have yellow heads and blue bodies. 

 This trevelley followed me for quite a distance. 

 Also in the deep water was this eel.  I'm surprised photo editing made it this clear!

 Another new critter.  I assume it's a type of bleney.  (wrong, it's an arc eye hawkfish)

 And this one.  Don't recall seeing it before, either  (juvenile saddle wrasse?).

 Did find my triggerfish buddy again and found there are actually at least 3 of them here.

About 4, the clouds started rolling in and we thought we might be rained on, so we packed up and headed to Wyndham Bali Hai to sit in the jacuzzi a bit, then change.  Then we continued on our way back to the east side.   Although it's at least an hour drive to the end of the road from our Wyndham on the East side, the ride doesn't seem bad with all the beautiful views---such as this one.

 And this one.  I have hundreds more, too.

 Being Thursday, it was Brick Oven Pizza buffet night, so we got our last fix of Brick Oven for this trip. 

 Did I mention I LOVE palm trees?!  don't see any of them in St. Louis---except for the fake ones by Hooters!

 We were done eatting before sunset, so we stopped at Lydgate park on our way to our resort.  OK, I added some color to the shot, but mother nature's been a bit disappointing in the sunset department lately!

Hard to believe we only have 24 hours left!  Maybe not the perfect tropical paradise vacation, but not far from it!  Tomorrow we'll definately spend one last day south.

Feb. 29, 2012---Leap day! Tunnels and Kee

We decided to attend our resort's owner's meeting bright and early this morning.  Forgot about it last Wed. and had company then, so it worked out well to get to it today.  So at 8:30 we were listening to the manager talk about all the "upcoming" improvements.  Now we're being told all the "soft" materials in the condos will be replaced within 3 years and then on a 6 year turn over basis.  That will be nice if that happens.   The carpeting in our current unit is certainly overdue replacement!!!

Back in the condo, I hit the internet to figure out where to go today.  According to weather.com, it was suppose to be 78 in Lawai and 85 in Hanalei.  Weather.com also said it was going to be partly sunny both places.  Kauaiexlorer.com said the waves in Lawai were 1-3 feet and only 3-5 in Haena and that Haena was the only one with a "good" visibility rating for the water .  The north surge was down, too.  According to weather.com, Hanalei is going to be socked in with clouds the next few days.  So I begged Ken to travel north one last time and hoped for some snorkeling at Tunnels and Kee.  So by 10 we were on our way.

First stop was breakfast.   No pancakes and eggs today!  We went straight to Mc Donald's and got our junk food fix (I actually had a yogurt, fruit and granola cup, too, along with my Mcdouble---very good!)  I got a big kick out of their pie ad!   Thought of giving it a try---then gained my senses!

Traffic moved well today and we were at Tunnels about 40 minutes later.  We did hit a little rain along the way and wondered where the sun was, but held out hope that it would come out.   Didn't find the temps rising to 85, either!  I think it was about 72 most of the day.  I'm not even sure kauaiexplorer was right!  When we got to Tunnels, it was almost flat!  Low tide was also going to be 2:30 today and I find the surf usually calms down more around low tide.  So I was stoked!  All that was missing was a little sunshine---and a fully charged underwater camera battery!  No sooner did I get in the water when my camera warning "charge battery soon" came on!   It did last a lot longer then I expected it to, though.

 Alluring and scary is the sudden drop off near so near to the shoreline.  It goes from shallow and crystal clear to deep blue and poor visibility.  What's out there --- besides the shark that startled me last year?!

 As I recall, this is a female Hawaii hogfish.  I've seen them at Anini, but it was much clearer here at Tunnels.

 I wonder if this is the juvenile blackside hawkfish?  The tail looks like the ones I've seen at Lawai, but those had black heads.  This is the first one I've seen with the speckled head.

 I was really excited when I saw this triggerfish.  I remembered seeing one of these 11 years ago on the Big Island.  This is the first time I've seen one of these vibrant triggerfish on Kauai.

 Here's the triggerfish that we see all over Kauai.

 As I was slowly floating along the edge, suddenly a VERY large turtle popped up from below so close to me that it really startled me.  Sure glad it wasn't a shark!  Here it is after I backed away.

 After about 2 hours of non-stop snorkeling, we decided to get out and warm up a bit.  Of course, it started raining.  So we packed up and figured we'd head to Kee.  By the time we found a parking spot, it had stopped raining (for a little while), so we jumped into that calm pool of water.

 At one point, I spotted these 2 lobsters.  It appeared that they were placed here---for use later--or already had their tails town off?  They were pretty far down, so I didn't investigate too much, but I doubt they lay around upside down on their own!

We were really surprised to see so much sand washed up against the reef .  We were just here last week and I'm sure there wasn't that much sand!  I wonder where it all came from!?

We spent about 2 hours snorkeling here, too, mostly on the left side of the "pool" where there is usually a current pulling out to sea.  Today it was totally calm.  Even came across this pretty snowflake eel.

 And another eel---not sure what kind.  It was brown and white and a lot more agressive.  But, of course, this is when my camera's battery decided it was done.

Shortly after that, I even saw a baracuda.  Could have gotten really clear pictures of it---unlike the ones I've gotten at Poipu in the churned up sandy area.  About 2 hours into our snorkeling here, it started raining, no---pouring!  We tried to sit in the water and wait it out since the rain was cold, but we finally gave in and got out.   We grabbed our stuff and headed to the car.  No 85 degrees today, but it was a GREAT day!

We headed back to our condo.  Traffic moved well again.  Got back and spent some time in the jacuzzi.  At 7, we decided it was time for more junk food---so off to Taco Bell! 

Another great day----even with all the rain!

2011-Feb. 24: East Kauai, Kee, Tunnels, Kilauea Light house, Shark!

It was a beautiful morning on the east side. But all the rain the day before washed lots of dirt into the ocean by the river mouths. There is a drainage ditch next to KBV, so lots of dirt was washed into the water by our condo.

The north shore was suppose to be the place to be still, so we decided to head north. On our way, we stopped by Lydgate to check out the red dirt washed into the ocean from the Wailua River. It was pretty daunting.

We continued up the East side.  This is near Kealia

 Love stopping and checking out the view from the lighthouse lookout.

Love this section of road through Kilauea on our way from the lighthouse look out.

Decided to check Anini out.   I was surprised to see the water calm and clear here and wondered if it would be as clear farther North.

  Found a guy playing a keyboard there at Anini.  He was really good! But we didn't stay long since now I was wanting to check out Kee or Tunnels.

 a north beach along our drive.

When we got to Kee, the ocean was calm and clear. We spent several hours here. First I walked down the beach marveling at the calm water and reflection of the clouds in it.

The rocky shelf by Kee.

 While snorkeling, we came across another eel we had never seen before. I believe it is a magnificent snake eel.

Also saw several more coronet fish, but this is the first one I've seen at Kauai with the intricate markings (had seen them in the Caymans before).

This is another new guy to me---a Hawaiian knife fish.

With the calmness of the water we were able to get way out by the opening in the reef. There is where I found this large school or Moi fish.

And another look of the Napali with it's reflection in the calm water.

We left Kee in hopes of getting a parking spot at Tunnels and catching a sunset there. We did get a parking spot.

Here's another new encounter! Fortunately I didn't see it coming or I probably would have flipped out. I was actually standing in the water taking the picture above of Bali Hai when it came up from behind me. When I went back into the water, this white tipped reef shark was about 10' off to the side of me and vearing away towards the deep water. Since it was going away, I took this picture, then I went the opposite direction and figured I'd had enough snorkeling for one day. Knowing things look a lot bigger under water, we figured it was probably only about 4 or 5 feet long even though it looked like it was Jaws at the time!  I even tried to warn another couple about my shark sighting and their response was, "You're not from here, are you?"  Then they took off to the exact spot where I saw it.

Still hoping for a nice sunset, I wandered around the beach for awhile.

Not the prettiest of sunsets, but not too bad.

When we were leaving the beach, I was looking for the hummingbird that I had seen the last time we were there. It showed up, along with a couple friends. As I was taking pictures of it, I realized it had antennae and therefore couldn't be a hummingbird, even though it was the same size and had the same hovering and darting motions. Someone later told me it's a hummingbird moth. Definately an interesting insect.