Out and about on Kauai

A friend once told me that she loves awakening in the early hours and hearing the wind riffling through palm fronds.

“That’s how I know, when the first hints of consciousness intrude, that I am somewhere nice.”

Palm trees are nice, and the nicest of all are the coconut palms, for they are truly tropical and will not thrive in any spot that gets a hint of frigidity during the 365 days of the year. Other palms are tougher; hell, I even have a rather handsome one growing in my front garden.

But, coconuts tell tales of the South Seas and their rustling fronds are unique. They’re tough trees, too. They handily withstand hurricanes. All the fronds can be blown off, but they’ll rejuvenate.

When we’re on Kauai we live in an area known as the Coconut Coast. There are coconut palms galore, and there are even the remaining sad vestiges of the Coco Palms Resort. If you’re past a certain age, you’ll recall the Coco Palms for it was where the wedding took place in the film Blue Hawaii. In those days it was all tiki torches and serene lagoons. Now it is a shattered, tumbledown remnant of its glory days. It has remained untouched since it was devastated by Hurricane Iniki in 1992, and is victim to an ongoing insurance war. Sadly, it just needs to be torn down.

Kauai is, for me, a facet of my collective consciousness. It is the ‘other’ place where I live in my soul. I know that, for from the moment I arrive (I hadn’t been there since 2004) it is as if I have never been away. I know my way about the place and virtually everything is familiar.

This time around (as our stay was too limited for either of our likings) we vowed to not overextend ourselves. We set a loose itinerary which included swimming down in front of our condo complex, Swimming again at the little bit of paradise known as Kealia Beach (a few miles north), and then to take at least one trip up through Hanalei to Tunnels Beach – our snorkelling lagoon. The view of the Hanalei Valley from the promontory at Princeville is one of the most photographed in the world.

Hanalei is great. It is jungle and a winding road with one-lane bridges, and the village still boasts a few of the vestigial ‘pakalolo’ inhaling hippies that once infiltrated the area. Tunnels, with its reef and lagoon is snorkelling and diving central on Kauai. Unfortunately, we were a little late in the season. The water was murky, the currents were disconcertingly strong, and the fish were not as plentiful as they were in high season. So, it wasn’t the best. But, we didn’t care. Sitting on the beach and gazing at Bali Hai in the distance made it all worthwhile.
Now, this is getting rambly and I shall close this chapter. I have some later thoughts about air travel (yech!) and the fallacy of basing an economy on tourism.

But, in closing, I must tell you about our rental car. We had booked an economy-sized car before heading off to Kauai. When we got to the rental place they had no small vehicles left. So, for the same price we were asked if we’d consider a Dodge Magnum. I had no idea what a Magnum was, so I said OK, if it’s for the same price. The car was a behemoth sort of station wagon thing with tinted little slitty windows. Wendy immediately hated it and referred to it as the ‘gangster car’, as it gave her visions of a machine gun stuck out the back window. I actually quite liked it. I hadn’t driven a ‘big’ car in years. But, it held the road beautifully and was very smooth and comfortable to drive, so I had no complaints. Wendy grudgingly accepted that it was comfortable, but she never warmed to it.

More to come.