Lihue, Salt Ponds and Waimea Canyon on Kaua’i

After our 5 hour flight from Vancouver direct to Lihue, the capital of Kaua’i, we were picked up by a most friendly taxi driver and taken somewhat indirectly to our Airbnb/motel the Kaua’i Palms Hotel. Ian and I were directed to a cabin A on the corner (they insisted we book 2 rooms). Since we arrived at 10:45 pm we needed a room, and this was our least expensive option even at $131/night. We were to learn that Kaua’i residents consider themselves very lucky to live in this paradise and huwele’s (foreigner’s) are lucky to come. There were many sounds in this semi-industrial/residential area including freight trucks, but the most common sound is the cock-a-doodle doodling of the ever present roosters of Kaua’i! Morning came with the waning of the moon and lovely light.

Our 1985 VW van affectionately named “Janie” arrived to Liz’s delight. She is brown with new body work and her share of the usual quirks and famous VW camper engineering. She included a tent and bedding and many thoughtful touches. Perhaps her only drawback is not being able to go on rough roads to Polihale campsite recommended by our taxi-driver. First stop, was finding the county office to obtain camping permits. This was no mean process. They don’t make it easy to camp on Kaua’i if one doesn’t reserve on-line (and that isn’t easy either). Finally, with some warnings and many directions, we succeeded and even had permits in duplicate.

Next, on Liz’s prompting we made our first visit to Costco Kaua’i. I grew suspicious when we had to walk around a queen sized mattress on the giant shopping trolley! If it wasn’t after passing every electronic you ever wanted (or didn’t), couches, appliances, clothes or gadget piled high to the roof, then the myriad of stuff surely would give me pause to consider how all these consumer goods got to this island and who would buy all this stuff? However, even when we arrived at the grocery section, everything was in such gigenormous quantities that we couldn’t find much that met our needs of limited capacity. I was about to tear out of store without anything, but Liz found some cheap raincoats as in spots Kaua’i rainfall exceeds 2 metres annually.

There was more shopping for supplies and then we finally arrived at our destination of Salt Pond Park. Salt Pond is a County Park on the south shore, noted for good swimming, sunsets and good camping. Indeed a beautiful spot with a jagged reef of pillow lava that protects a pool with aqualine water. Snorkelling here was fine with pipefish, angelfish, tangs and lots of fish unknown feeding amongst the coral and reef. A local favourite hangout too! Humpbacks frolic offshore and everyone watches for the beautiful sunset. Salt pond is named for the local Hawaiian family business of harvesting salt from the flats (only once every ten years) . It is flanked by old sugar cane fields (now a runway), palm and a rugged coast line. Chickens, Red-crested Cardinals, Zebra Doves and a Dottrel forage around the campground. After all that shopping, swimming and settling we were all ready for bed at about 10pm. The stars were amazing . Liz settled happily into Janie and Ian and I settled into our tent to the sound of surf.

Just before dawn I sneaked out of the tent for a lovely walk to the east along the shore path/road . The sun rose with gorgeous reds and orange. Was that a Western Meadowlark I heard in the coastal scrub? I was to learn that most of the birds in Kaua’i are introduced and that most native birds were decimated by avian cholera brought by settlers.

Back at the van, Ian and Liz were preparing coffee when a lovely man named Rayland offered jabon to us and some other German girls. This great giant fruit, otherwise known as a pomelo was so delicious and sweet! In truly a Hawaiian way he loved sharing with all of us and told us of the Waimea celebrations which included a rodeo and an Ice-cream eating contest on Saturday! Liz and Ian were all in. Liz called it “research”!

Off we set for an adventure up to beautiful Waimea Canyon. While I read about all the hikes I wanted to go on, Liz drove and likely Ian[s knee grimaced. What gorgeous views we had from the many viewpoints. Despite higher elevations having the highest rainfall (over 423 inches annually) in the world, we were there on the driest day of the year, so had amazing views of the red layer canyon, waterfalls and over the Nepali Coast with humpbacks and the jagged ridges. Liz spotted an Apane which is a beautiful red native honeycreeper. At the Kalalau viewpoint, Liz and I set off on our hike on P trail towards the Alakai Swamp. Ian got a couple of hundred feet declared that “it was surely the worst it would get!} Not quite . . . Up and down red mud step slopes, hanging on to roots , bracing and being careful not to slip in the mud pretty much describes the scene. Except that the vegetation, views through the mist were sublime. We met some Hawaiians who showed us the Shaka gesture (thumb and pinkie up) which means “hang loose” and a few other things. It was pretty beautiful. When Liz and I returned to Janie, Ian was contentedly reading and then we set him to one more viewpoint and trail en route down the steep Kokee Canyon road.

Waimea was a good day and we returned to lovely Salt Pond for a sunset swim, cool shower and a socail pu pu shared with Rowan, Justin and Jamela from Whitehorse. They had rented a wreck for a month and were no cook camping due to the problem of the stove on flights here.

It is Friday night, so the music in the campground is booming! Liz and I are blogging to our own tunes, while Ian has retreated to the tent. Still its a pretty chill vibe in Salt Flats!

Po’ipu and the Maha ulepu Trail

Saturday morning dawned with billowing clouds above and pink sky at the Salt Ponds campground. Lots of roosters about and cockaldoodle doing. Breakfast outside is one of the joys of camping. Ian drove Janie today and thought he was exceeding the speed limit of 45 when Janie was actually straining at 40 MPH! We made our way to the ritzy village of Po’ipu and the Hyatt Hotel. This seemed like an unlikely place to start a trail, but the Maha ulepu trail is one of the longest seaside trails on public land in Kaua’i. We all started out but soon a limestone bluff, Makahu ena Point deterred Ian. Makahu ena Point is the southern most point in Kaua’i and its height makes it ideal for humpback watching. Indeed, there were 3 pairs of whale-watchers observing and recording number of humpback Whales and their blows, dives, breaches and pectoral flipper behaviour. Liz and I walked along the limestone bluffs and followed old dune trails through casuarina trees. Views were stunning overlooking the azure sea with crashing surf and red cliffs in the distance. Along the trail there were Heiau rock walls of Hawaiian cultural significance. These walls formed garden boundaries in some cases and there were also ponds where Hawaiians raised fish (aquaculture).

At one point the trail adjoined the Po’ipu Golf Course. The contrast between the manicured course and our rather chaotic and wild hiking area was palpable.

After about a half hour there were more warning signs. . . Distraction coming up.

We joined a group gazing up from the bottom of a sinkhole . We were at the bottom of Makauwahi Cave with its collapsed roof. The cave itself is a huge fossil, formed in the heart of an ancient sand dune that turned to stone 400,000 years ago. Jerry enthusiastically discussed cave formation processes, the blind troglodytes that live in these areas of perpetual darkness so are blind and colourless and the restoration work his non profit group was conducting. The cave had remains of ancient fossils that gave scientists clues to the species on Kaua’i before colonizing. Also it had artifacts from all stage of human habitation. The information gathered was used to select native plants for restoration of the area. The society was using giant Mauritius Tortoises to eat some of the very invasive grasses and plant in the understory of the native trees. Grove Farm that owned the land was originally going to quarry the limestone, so it was very fortunate patrons stepped into protect, research the site and share this with locals and visitors