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Kauai, second day. Very flat. Photo and tourist day for sure. It was very very small. I found a little
hideaway, surfers will know what that means, but it did not provide any waves, either. But it was cool
finding the hideaway on my own. Also drove through some cool tree "tunnels" and saw a few historic
"cannons" along the coast as well, but nothing of note, and definitely too small for what I was looking
for. Although the drive along the north/nortwest coast was quite interesting on the one lane roads,
stopping to let traffic by along one lane bridges, etc.
In the afternoon after my photo ops, I thought it would be a good chance to edit the photos in the
late afternoon heat, write this entry, and do my first post where I can find a wifi outlet. I feel
naked not posting. Plus, the next few days I think are going to be very busy for me. A one day bump
in swell is happening Monday, followed by a much larger one late Tuesday, all day Wednesday and
all day Thursday, my last day here. So I'll be focusing much more energy on surfing than photos
and writing I think.
It's good to have a down day to drive around. I'm still pretty tired from the trip and the first
surf. I really wanted to surf today and thought this area of the island with a lot of pine trees
would be an option. But it was an SUP and longboard day everywhere, and those types of boards
were flying all over the highway on everyone's vehicle, and paddling out to the lineups. I almost
went out at one of the above mentioned spots, but thought it would be a risk in smaller surf
and very shallow conditions. I don't think the shallowness will change per se with larger surf,
however, I thought maybe I didn't really want to risk anything in the small stuff. I'm willing
to risk it with new swell on the way, though. I think that makes sense. If I'm going to get bounced
or lacerated, I want to at least say I pulled into a macker and got beaten down to the bottom,
and not say, oh, well, I cut my foot on a 1 foot day and now I'll have problems for the rest
of the week.
The weather on the east side seems to be clear and sunny all the time, but once you get to Hanalei,
it seems to get cloudy and cooler. The north and northwest coast offered open window driving with
no AC and stuff, so it wasn't overwhelmingly hot or bright, even though I covered myself in
sunscreen before I left the hotel.
Photography is difficult, but I think I got some cool shots today. It's tough pulling off and stopping
and taking shots and doing it over and over again. On Oahu and Maui, it was so hot that it was murder
doing that and hiking around and stuff. Over here, at least there's a breeze and some cloud cover and it's
pretty nice. The surf spots are just too far offshore and today were too small to give anyone an idea
of what it is like. There are no deepwater spots, as far as I know, and each of the breaks is a live
coral, volcanic rock outcropping that looks menacing even from 500 yards away. I think this has got to be
the shallowest of anywhere I've seen or surfed. And it always is on your mind. It really wasn't that
way for me on Oahu or Maui, not to this extent.
I think most of the photos are self explanatory for the most part. The fields are Hanalei Valley, there's some
stock shots of the hotel, especially the one of the luxury accomodations and the ultra-modern computer
setup in the room with a can a guava juice as an ashtray in a smoking room. Seems like the hotel desk gives
you a smoking room, but no ashtrays. So that's pretty funny. The boards of course are happy and content
in their respective places. I can feel DP asking to be taken out of the room and put in the back of the SUV
and put back in Hawaiian water, which it was made for. I'll take both boards with me back to Hanalei tomorrow
because it's supposed to come up, and DP will be a great paddling and outside takeoff board. Can't
wait for that.
I think Tuesday is going to be a HUGE day for me. What I would like to do is go to the SW side to see if
one particular break, a long, long left, offers up some rides. It's a hike in with a few obstacles that
will be fun to write about if I go there. I would also like to combine this with going to to some
central view points about 2 hours away on that side of the island as well. From photos I've seen, I want to
see the "Kauai Grand Canyon" and think photo ops over there will be much better than over here. Then if there's
time, come back to Hanalei (and energy, looong drives) and see if something else is coming in late on Tues, effectively
surfing two sides of the islands in one day. If I pull that off it will be a miracle. Going to the peaks
and valleys and sightseeing on the W/SW side is almost an all day affair, and it will take getting up early
and going to do that. A really full day. So we'll see. I really do want to go over to the other side to see
what it is like.
I still remember my little barrel from yesterday, which bummed me out not going surfing today. It was small
enough today to just keep me out of the water everywhere. It was all tourists, SUPs and longboards, kayaks
and stuff. Things can change here quite quickly. Today was a nice break. It's off to the wifi area
to upload, check the forecast, have something cool to drink, find some local food for dinner,
and then to bed early expecting surf tomrrow.
Actually, I have a confession to make. This is really only my second "real" surf trip of my life, you
know? I've waited so long to do these types of things and stuff, and doing it near middle age
is quite different than doing it in your 20s, or even 30s. Sure I've made up for it with a lot of local
travel and travel to Baja and stuff, but it's not the same as this. While I was driving around today
I felt a bit lonely, I guess because no one else is here that I know, and it's the second time,
and there's no one to share all this with, really. I do have a little something here to keep me
company, possibly leading me over to the NW/SW side of the island to take care of some personal
business, per se, but maybe we'll talk about that a little later. It is a bit nerve wracking
finding your way around, doing everything yourself...in some ways it is good to not have to coordinate
with someone else or others, and in other ways you wish you could have someone along with you
to share everything with. Like I might have paddled out at one of the places up north if someone
else had said, "yeah, let's go check it out for an hour." That kind of thing. But overall I'm happy
to be here with a once in a lifetime opportunity I think. When I come home, I think I'll have
a very complete feeling about my two Hawaii trips.
- Cliff
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