Saturday, February 11, 2017

Not Like It Used To Be

I’m either getting old or we’ve been to Kauai so many times, it’s become common place. Consider this. When we first came to the Garden Island, we were given directions to our resort. The lady said” Go to the traffic light and turn left, follow the signs for Poipu until you reach the gas station, turn left and travel about 2 ½ miles.

Well, it’s not that way anymore. There are countless gas stations, traffic lights and shopping areas. Hundreds of thousands more people come to sample this little gem in the Pacific bringing with them traffic jams, pollution and the inevitable trash along the roadside. The song says “They paved paradise and put up a parking lot” and that’s just what they’ve done in a manor of speaking.

Anyway, the northern end of the road is a mere 30 miles from where we are staying and the beach there is a beauty, photographically speaking. So, we picked a day that was sunny but with a high surf warning on the north shore. After two hours of red lights and slow lanes, we were still only about half way. At this rate, with the narrow roads and one lane bridges ahead of us, we wouldn’t return home until well after dark. It was at this point I suggested we head back to the unit.

On the right was an interesting looking Botanical Garden, named Na Aina Kai so we decided to stop. We were greeted but then told unless we had a reservation for a tour there would be no way to view the grounds. They gave tours Tuesday through Thursday and the tours were full for this week. We wandered through the gift shop, beautiful in it’s own way and then left through a lovely courtyard manicured with all sorts of flowering plants and lush greenery. If that was a sample of what we missed, we missed something truly beautiful. So I mentally added this stop for another visit to the rapidly crowding island.

Tomorrow Carl will be going fishing even though he’s come down with a cold while I pack the suitcases. After lunch we’ll be moving from Lihue, near the Cruise Ship Harbor, to the south side of the island and our time share unit we own at Lawaii Beach Resort.

On Monday, we’ll be headed out on a snorkel / sightseeing trip to an island called Niihau, which is privately owned and only native Hawaiians and their invited guests are allowed there. It’s called the forbidden island and that makes it all the more desirable to go there. The reefs are pristine and the snorkeling and fishing is said to be second to none. We’ll spend the day watching for whales, taking photos of Na Pali coastline and avoiding a sunburn during the 7 hour trip.

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