We are returned from a nearly perfect trip to Kauai. The only nonperfect thing was how it started out. We got to the airport at 6 for a 7:30 flight. We had trouble getting our bags up to the American kiosks because we had two golf bags filled with clubs, snorkels etc and a boogie board, so we wouldn't fit in the elevator. So that took fifteen minutes or so. Joe was leaving the car so I wasn't going to check in for him. The woman monitoring the checkins said I should but I said we had an hour....but we didn't because American had changed the schedule and I had not gotten the message. By the time Courtney, Jon's girlfriend swiped her card it was 6:32, and it rejected her because presumable there wouldn't be time to check her luggage. Panic. They gave her a boarding pass anyway, and told her to carry on her bag. Which had medicines, cleansers, and a VERY expensive bottle of champagne to celebrate Jon's birthday. Jon made it thru security but they held her up. I found her a large baggie for her medicines and she tossed the cleansers and we gave the champagne to the American lady who had helped us. Then I waited for Joe who ambled in at 6:50 for a 7 am flight. Off we ran thru security and of course our gate was way at the end. Jon had tried unsuccessfully to hold the flight. They were calling our names and Joe ran for the flight, and they waited for me.
We connected in LA for a direct flight to Kauai. An hour before landing the pilot announced that there had been a 6.5 earthquake in Hawaii and power was out everywhere except....Kauai. So we landed without incident and went to our condo on the east shore. If we had been routed thru Honolulu we would have been stranded for days. We loved the condo--oceanfront on a sandy beach with no development on one side and close to a state park with a nice snorkeling beach. We have lots of photos of sunrise on this beach. We spent the next two days exploring the north shore, with its rain forests and lush vegetation and lovely beaches.
On the fourth day we played golf a very scenic course on the south side and then moved to a very luxurious condo ocean front, with a pool that is suspended over the water. We saw lots of sea turtles, and a rare Hawaiian monk seal on the rocks. Joe set up his telescope and we had awesome star shows, as the sky over the ocean was quite dark. Every night we were in Kauai we barbecued fresh fish, mostly ahi tuna, and what you might call wahoo, a swordfish.
We were in walking distance of good surfing beaches and an excellent snorkeling beach at Poipu State Park. Several times Joe and Jon played 9 holes of golf after a full day of beach and pool. Courtney played golf and really enjoyed the snorkeling, both of which were new to her. She grew up going to Nantucket with family and family friends every summer, so she is a beach person but had never been to Hawaii.
We celebrated Jon's birthday while we were there with a lovely dinner in Lihue, the main town on the island. On our last day we snorkeled until 5 pm, drove into town for one more fish dinner and mai tais, and then went to the airport for a 10 pm flight. Yesterday was rough, as we didn't sleep much on the flight, but today things are getting back to normal.
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