February 4th onward Because we crossed the International Date Line we departed
Auckland at 10 AM on Saturday the 4th and arrived in Honolulu at 8:30 PM on Friday the 3rd. It is
incredibly easy and civilized to go through immigration and customs in Honolulu! Totally unlike
what we are put through in places like LA, New York and Miami among others. At any rate we
stayed at the Ohana Honolulu Airport Hotel which was much nicer that we expected. After
breakfast we took the hotel's shuttle back to the airport and caught our flight to Lihue, once
again marveling at how much nicer it is to deal with the TSA in Hawaii. They are thorough, but
polite and courteous.
This was the fourth year in a row we stayed in Kauai, and as in the past rented our unit through
the Parrish Collection. We can highly recommend renting though this company if you are
planning a stay in Kauai. Their description and photos of the units are not exaggerated, and all of
the personnel a pleasure to deal with.
This year the weather started out perfect, but unfortunately turned rainy and cool by the end of
February, and we ended up with three weeks of wind and rain. In the northern part of the island
it has been particularly onerous with a four feet of "liquid sunshine"! Many of the bridges were
closed and roads impassable. I'm sure that people visiting Kauai for the first time confronting
this type of weather must be disappointed.
My luck finally ran out and I had a hard disk failure on my laptop. I have been reasonably
consistent in keeping my critical files backed up. I used the stretch of bad weather to set up a
replacement computer I purchased at the Kauai Costco. It is a tedious procedure to install all of
my replacement photographic and financial programs.
The unit we are renting this year is spacious (1600 sq ft) with two full bedrooms and baths. It is a
third floor unit with a wonderful lanai (balcony) and view. Because we have now stayed in Kauai
cumulatively for something on the order of 5 months it is becoming like a second home and we
don't feel the need to be out exploring every inch of the island. We had enough good weather to
return to some of our favorite spots and to take a cruise along the Na Pali Coast for the first time.
We did it with Captain Andy which exceeded our expectations and we felt was well worth a bit
more than all of the other cruise options available here. We have yet to do a helicopter tour, and
don't really have a desire to do so.
I have been reading an interesting book on the history of Koloa. The area we stay in is called
Poipu, but it is really part of Koloa. While the book concentrates on Koloa, it is really an
interesting history of the development of Hawaii going back to the arrival of the Polynesians and
subsequent "discovery" by Captain Cook.
If tourism is any indication of how the economy is doing, it is booming! Kauai is much busier than
in the past three years. I have seen several articles claiming it is up 12% from last year.
March 12th After three weeks we finally had a sunny day, but with high winds. We leave for
home tomorrow and not surprisingly, the weather forecast is for the kind of weather we had
come to expect in Hawaii.
My Kauai album is a compendium of photos I have taken over the past four years. The other
three are new this year.
Photo Links
Kauai
Na Pali Coast
Waimea Canyon
Hanepepe