Wednesday, Day 6

Whew! You thought (or were hoping, perhaps) that I forgot to finish my Hawaii trip blog, didn’t you? Wednesday, we got up with the plan of all of us (except one) driving to the North Shore and having a picnic on Tunnels Beach, snorkel, hang out, and see where the day took us. We were planning this trip for Thursday, but predictions of a swell that day (causing the snorkeling bad, not to mention dangerous) caused us to move it up a day. The day ended up being very low key. I nearly fell asleep on the beach (in the shade), snorkeled briefly, ate lunch on the beach, watched the birds that landed on the beach, watched crabs scuttle back and forth, observed a dog and it’s owner playing in the water, and then I got antsy. Part of the group was ready to head out and do some other things, so I went along with them, and went shopping and got some appetizers and drinks. If you like coconut, the lava flow drinks are wonderful.

Tuesday, Day 5, Adventure 2

After lunch, we pulled up to a business that offered guided hiking, kayaking, ziplining, horse-back riding, and I don’t know what else. We had a reservation to hike/kayak/and zipline. After signing our lives away, and promising that if we were injured, we wouldn’t sue the company (nor would our family, whether born or unborn) we all piled into a truck and headed down the road about 10 minutes, where we came to a stop and were told that this is where the hike started.

The guides, David and Joshua pointed out certain plants, some being native to the island, but most having been brought from other places in the world. We climbed a hill and rounded a corner to see a beautiful view. I thought about bursting into song, “Theeeee hiiiiiillllls are aliiiiiiiiive with the sound of muuuuuusiiiiic.” But I refrained. I wasn’t sure I could pull it off without laughing, and I didn’t know whether I should sing “The Sound of Music” version or the “Moulin Rouge” version. Now I’m thinking I should have done it. Oh well. The thought still makes me laugh. Eh-hem.

We started down a staircase towards a river. I was nervous about this next part because I’ve never kayaked before, and my grid of rivers is Idaho white water. (My last experience in Idaho white water, I fell out of the raft on the Staircase in a hole called “The Big Nasty” (See blog titled “The Big Nasty”.)) The guides quickly taught us how to paddle the kayaks, and said that if we fell out, yell, get someone’s attention (which was the startled thing to do), then stand up. We would be in 2 feet of water. Next, they started helping us into our kayaks. What I observed of this river was that there wasn’t a ripple in it until someone’s boat hit the water. When we all got in the water, we started paddling and what I saw took my breath away. We floated through a tunnel of trees, making the river nice and nice and cool, with dappled sunlight filtering through. Then, we noticed flowers, the size of my fist, floating in the water. We also floated past a couple of flowers that were suspended from the trees, hanging down at eye level. Finally the water became too shallow that we couldn’t paddle any longer, so we tied up our kayaks and started hiking again. We crossed the river about 5 times and ended up on a path that was bordered by, “The Fern of Death.”

Our guides told us that “The Fern of Death” is the second most deadly plant on the island. The reason is because this fern grows on dead, rotting vegetation. Then it grows up and there is really no solid shelf under it. So, if you step off the path, into “The Fern of Death” a person can literally plummet to their death. Ok. Avoid that one. (The most deadly plant is the coconut tree. Sitting under one runs the risk of getting beaned on the head with a coconut.)

Next, we arrived at a zipline. We got in our harnesses and the guides asked, “Who’s first?” The group decided that Paul should go first so that he could take pictures as the rest of the group came across. Once Paul got across, no one moved. Well, I probably only gave them 2 seconds before I started up the steps to the platform. Having zipped before, I knew what to expect. As I was “flying”, I looked down and saw a pretty pool with water falls, a river that fed the pool and a little picnic area. Landing on the other side, I waited for everyone to come over to the “other” side. Then, one of the guides said that Paul should stand there and take pictures while someone ran off this next platform…backwards. I jumped right up there, got hooked in and took off backwards, giving a little yelp and giggle. Something about ziplining just makes me laugh.

Next, we hiked down to the picnic spot that I had seen from the air and David and Josh set up lunch for us. There were tubes so that we could put them in the water and go swim. Everyone jumped off a small cliff into the water. Everyone, that is, except me. And I’m ok with that.

After lunch, we hiked back to our kayaks, returned down the river in the kayaks and hiked back to the vehicles

Cory didn’t go on this adventure with us, but had an adventure of his own. When he came to pick up Becky, Karin and me, he drove us to a bay (I think it was Hanalei Bay). I noticed a man with long grey hair pulled back in a ponytail, and his long grey beard, was also tied. I won’t go into what he was wearing because I’m not sure you want the visual. I stopped to watch what he was doing and talk with him about the different boards that he had on the rack of his truck. He said, “Oh, you probably don’t see these in Idaho, do you?” and then kindly told me how they were different and how you use each one. One was a lay down paddleboard (you lay on it and paddle with your hands). He mentioned that the sensation of this paddleboard is really cool as your face is so close to the water. There is a 32-mile(?) race from one island to another that people come from Australia, New Zealand, and different surfing communities to participate in. This type of boarding is a good way for surfers to keep in shape during the off surf months. After talking for a little longer, he proceeded to load his kayak and we parted ways.

Day 5: Tuesday, Sept 6th, 2011: Adventure 1

The whole lot of us went to the North Shore for a couple of adventures. Several of us wanted to see Queens Bath, a pool that is ringed with lava rock and has an area that opens up to the ocean. We parked the cars and unloaded, found the little trail to take us down to the ocean (which wasn’t difficult, there were several people coming up the trail that had just been down there) and started our hike. The path was beautiful, and not too difficult. We followed a stream and saw a small waterfall. Rounding a corner, we saw the ocean smashing into a “beach” of hardened lava.

As we were making our way across the lava, I couldn’t help but think about what the area looked like before the volcano erupted. It is a striking contrast between the blue ocean, white ocean spray and black, porous rock. My thoughts were interrupted by someone telling us where to stop and watch sea turtles. Making our way over to the spot, it took a little while to find them, but there they were. It looked as though they were getting pounded into the rocks, they were so close to shore, but they just kept hanging out there. To me, watching the turtles was like watching a fire. It’s mesmerizing. They are graceful and aren’t in a hurry to get anywhere. A flipper would roll up out of the water, then a head, then the turtle would go underwater and

swim for awhile, then repeat the process, sometimes in the same place, sometimes in a different spot. After turtle watching, I continued on my quest to find Queens Bath (and to catch up to the rest of the group).

Upon spotting the pool, I sat down to observe. I could see the bottom from where I sat. The tide appeared to be low, but every so often, a wave would splash on the side of the lava rock and make its way into the pool. Fish were in the pool, being observed by snorkelers, being observed by me. I felt that I could sit there a good portion of the day without getting tired of the view. But the time came that we should start on our next adventure, so we got up and headed out.

Day 4: Sept 5th, 2011

Monday, Day 4, the plan was to Scuba Dive. Before I left home, I did a discovery dive in a pool, and must admit that I did not love it. I mentioned that to a certified diving friend of mine, and she said that she didn’t love it in the pool either, but once she got in the open water, there was so much to look at that she immediately fell in love with diving. Knowing that part of our group was certified and wanted to dive, and there were some uncertified who wanted to try it. I decided to try it.

We had to be at the site by 7:30, and were told that the “biggest, baddest truck” down there would be the one that we were looking for. We got to the site, and sure enough, what made me think of a bread truck was sitting there, waiting for us. When I saw the guide, the first thing I wondered was, “If my life needs saving, can he save it?” I could not answer positively. My second question was, “Do I trust him to save my life if necessary?” I did answer ‘no’ to that question.

All the gear was out, and our guide guessed who everyone was, correctly, except for Becky and me. He got us mixed up. We sat through the presentation, put our wet suits on, put on the vest with tanks and went to get in the water. We swam out a little way and held on to a life ring. The certified divers went out a little farther to wait while the uncertified group went through a couple of exercises.

When it came time for me to do my exercises, I told the guide that I decided I really did not want to do this, and to please take me back to shore. He asked me why, and I told him that I couldn’t relax, and that when I put air in my vest, I was starting to hear a hissing sound. He responded, “You need to communicate these things to me right away.” I said, “I am right now. I just noticed it.” What I didn’t say was: “when am I supposed to communicate this to you? You were under water with my new friends and I can’t talk to you with my face in the water, a regulator in my mouth, making everything from my mouth past my esophagus, into my lungs dry from the canned air. Take me back to shore thank you very much!” He did.

I was feeling frustrated with myself and sat in one of the chairs for a few minutes. A lady from another dive group came over to check on me. She asked if I was ok, and I said yes, that I just chickened out. She said that she had only been certified for 3 weeks and had been a little nervous for her first dive of the morning, but seemed ok at that point.

I left the dive site and went back to the hotel. I sat out on the balcony, looking over the ocean and called my Mom. We talked for a while and she was encouraging. After our conversation and still sitting there, trying to sort through my feelings I decided to email my brother. I didn’t expect a reply since I thought he would be out fishing, but got one within just a few minutes. The words that he said to me really encouraged me. I don’t know why. They just did. He reminded me that it’s ok to not do something that I’m not comfortable with, then encouraged me by saying that he felt he saw more snorkeling than by diving. Go get out there and snorkel. I replied, then texted Kathie, asking where she, Corrina, and Liann were. Kathie texted back a few minutes later and said that they were snorkeling across the road. So, I gathered up my stuff and headed on over.

I found Kathie-she was resting, but Corrina and Liann were still in the water. Kathie and I talked for a little while and Corrina and Liann came back to shore. Pretty soon, Kathie and I got up to go snorkeling. I wasn’t prepared to see what I saw under the water. The last time I snorkeled was in Salinas, Ecuador-which also happened to be my first time

in an ocean. The scenery there was NOTHING like what I saw off of Po’i Pu beach. I saw pink and purple anemones (that word always makes me think of “Finding Nemo” where the teacher fish says, “Don’t hurt yourself, Kid.” As Nemo tries to say where he lives.) I saw the coolest white fish with skinny black stripes down their sides. There were angel fish, fish with neon purple stripes on their backs, fish with yellow and pink squares on their sides, totally AMAZING!

About 12:30, we decided to head back to the timeshare and get lunch. The divers were back by now, and Cory, Karin, and Becky were discussing what to do next. We ate and headed off to the North Shore.

It took us 2 hours to get as far as the paved road would take us on the North Shore. The road ended at Ke’e Beach, and the water was really smooth. We all got in the water with our snorkels and masks and started swimming around. I followed Karin around, and at one point, she got my attention and pointed up. We put our heads up out of the water and she asked me if I had seen the thing that looked like string down on the rock. I said yes, that it looked like white silly string. She said, “Watch this.” Down she dove, and gently grabbed a piece of the string, and let it go. It slowly retracted itself. Karin and I put our heads out of the water and she let me know that was something she learned at the dive that day. I thought it was so cool that even though I “chickened out,” I was still able to see something that they had experienced.

Next, I turned and saw a school of tiny fish, all swimming as one. There was a huge group of them. I don’t know if there were two schools or if it was just one. I remember thinking they looked like diamonds the way the sun glinted off of them. I moved my hand and all of the “diamonds” moved, very suddenly as one, away from me. Then, they were right up next to me.

As soon as I moved my hand, they “flew” away from me again. I tried to laugh with the snorkel in my mouth but it didn’t work well, which made me laugh even more.

From there, we went to find Tunnels Beach. We were done snorkeling and really just wanted to walk down the beach for a while. I was amazed to find that the sand that I had experienced on the south shore was so much more fine and soft than the sand here. This sand felt like tiny little pebbles, mixed with broken shell. We sat down and watched a kayaker in the sunset before heading back to the car to find some food and head back to the Timeshare.

Day 3. 9/4/11 Marathon Relay

At the finish line

Day 3 was marathon relay day. I was comparing how I felt on this day with how I felt before my century ride in Tahoe. No comparison. In Tahoe, I was a bundle of nerves. It was wet and cold and I had crazy butterflies in my stomach. This day, I was calm, quiet, and collected-and also not quite awake, but having a good night’s sleep behind me, I was ready to go. I having run for only 5 weeks up to this point, I hadn’t yet decided if I love running or not. We loaded in the two Jeeps and headed out to the starting line. It was still dark, in fact, it was only dawn when the race started.

10 minutes after the race started, Paul and I had to get to the shuttle that would take us to the 1^st to 2^nd leg hand off. When we got to our starting point, we waited for awhile, watched several National Guard runners come through, laughed as the water stop volunteers competed against each other by trying to get the runners to take the drink that they were offering (water or ultima) rather than another volunteers water down the line a little way.

Paul, being 6’4” had a slight advantage. He can walk a 10-minute mile. When I do intervals of 2 minutes running, 2 minutes walking, my mile tends to be 14-16 minute miles. This day, I felt as though I was much slower. I didn’t time myself because I couldn’t be bothered. I was there to have fun and see the sights that I wouldn’t have gotten to see without this event.

Paul and I spotted Cory and Karin and got into position to be tagged by them so we could start. I had a hard time not running because of the amount of energy that the 750 participants exuded. Paul and I started running, but then I told him I needed to walk to warm up. My left calf was angry, as was my right ankle, but as I warmed up, then stopped to stretch, they both quieted down and settled in for the journey.

Our 5.6 mile leg consisted of two hills that didn’t look so steep when we were driving the course the day before. We ran/walked through neighborhoods-where residents sat out on their front lawns cheering us on. I was feeling really warm when I looked up and saw someone on the front lawn (or was it a shop?) with a hose. He had a nozzle on the hose that made the water come out like a nice refreshing rain. I decided to skirt around it a little bit, but not stay completely out of it. It appeared that Paul decided to run right through it. The person holding the hose said, “That’s gonna cause some chaffing somewhere,” and laughs. We each grabbed a cup of water and kept going.

The next attraction that we saw, we heard before we could see it. There were 8-10 drummers, drumming out a beat, distracting the running participants from any pain they might be feeling. They were drumming on a nice shady corner, and I wanted to applaud and watch them as I ran by, but it came out as clapping and running to the beat. I smiled and kept my head turned towards the drummers, and caught one percussionists eye, and they smiled back-I was still running and clapping in time.

The final attraction (besides the scenery) was a tent with hula dancers. I can’t remember exactly where the hula dancers were in conjunction with the first hill. I did pretty well doing the walk/run intervals up that first one. But at one point, Paul was running along beside me, then next thing I know, I was still running and Paul was walking, right next to me. When I noticed that he was walking and I was jogging, he said, “Don’t worry, I will stay with you.” I had to laugh. I knew I was slow, but REALLY? =-)

The second hill…Uugh! I walked the majority of that one. But I soon realized that as soon as I got to the top, there was not much of our leg left to go. I decided to run, partially to catch up with Paul, which I eventually did, and partially because I had been bad at the running part of the run/walk intervals. I intended on running the next solid 2 minutes, but ended up running the remainder of our leg, which was all downhill (probably 6-8 minutes). Rounding the corner, we saw the tag line for the third leg, and Paul and I both picked up the pace. I didn’t come to a full on sprint, but I did finish strong.

The 3^rd relay leg met the 4^th relay leg in this same spot, so Paul and I hung out to watch the next tag, then 4 of us caught the shuttle that took us back to the finish line while 3 continued on. While we were waiting for the shuttle to leave, I fell asleep-which is typical for me after a long ride or run.

After everyone re-assembled at the finish line, we went back to the timeshare and took naps. After the naps, Becky, Cory, Karin and I went to Shipwreck Beach to just hang out. It was a lovely way to spend time recovering from an event.

While I sat on the beach, I watched a couple get married, listened to and watched the water hit the shore, then make the rocks clack as it receded. I was asked to take a picture of a couple who appeared to be there on their honeymoon, carried on a conversation with another marathon runner (we recognized each other by the shirts we were wearing), and I just sat, taking in the gorgeous scenery.

One thing I neglected (forgot) to mention is that the day before, I got really sunburned. I did wear sunscreen, but didn’t re-apply (Yes, I know better-but didn’t realize how long I’d been in the water.) I discovered on event day that sunburns and sports bras do NOT play nicely together.

Day 2. Saturday, 9/3/11.

The plan for this day was to go to the beach and hang out until Liann and Corrina flew in. Then we would meet up with everyone for lunch and head out to get our event packets for the marathon relay the following day. Before we left, and as we put on sunscreen, I told Cory, Becky, and Karin that today was going to be my 2^nd time EVER in the ocean. I’ve spent time ON the ocean commercial fishing with my brother, but not IN it. Once they picked their jaws up from the floor, we headed out the door towards Gillin’s Beach.

After driving paved road, turning onto a red, dirt road with a few potholes, and coming out in a clearing, Cory parked the jeep and we got out. (Barb joined us for this excursion.) There were a couple of paths that could be taken and so we did. The trail was short, and didn’t disappoint when we found ourselves on a beach, with some shade and lots of ocean. Becky and Cory quickly donned their snorkel gear and swam off. Karin hung back with me, and Barb pulled her book out and relaxed.

Karin showed me some things that I should be aware of about where we were and off we went to float in the water. It took me a good hour to relax and get the hang of floating in the ocean and letting it push me in towards shore. I would laugh every time a larger wave would lift me up and push me to shore. It was a wonderful gliding sensation. For some reason, on this beach, the rocks in the surf and I were attracted to each other. When we got out of the ocean, I had a few scrapes on the top of my foot from getting too close to the rocks.

The time came to load up and head back to the timeshare. When we got back, we found that Liann and Corrina had joined our group, so now the whole group was present and accounted for.

Next was lunch and then we all headed out to pick up our event packets for the marathon relay that we were signed up for. This was the 3^rd annual Kaua’i marathon, and the first year they had a relay. I was assigned the 5.6 mile leg (at my request since I had only run 5.25 miles up to that point, and it felt like I was dying later on in the day). Picking up the packets didn’t take long, and then we drove the marathon course. The hills that I had to run didn’t look bad. After that, we headed back to the timeshare and started a pasta dinner.

Pasta dinner eaten and cleaned up, it was now time to head to bed for an early morning the next day. (The marathon started at 6:00am.)

Kaua'i Sept 2-9, 2011

On Sept 2^nd, I embarked on a trip that would include several “first times” for me. My dad picked me up and took me to the airport at 5:00am. (Thank you, Dad!). When I got there, the line through security was incredibly busy, not to mention mostly colored in blue and orange. The majority of the travelers were headed to Atlanta for the BSU game. Though it would have been fun to be headed towards Atlanta for the game, I was happy and excited to be headed to the island of Kaua’i.

Standing in that blue and orange line, I overheard someone ask, “Do you see Karin or anyone?” I looked to my right, thinking, “I know the name Karin,” and saw Paul and Barb in the line immediately next to me. I verbalized, “Hey! I know you!” (I had met them once, in a meeting about this trip.) I jumped over into their line and we went through security together. We all went to Becky’s gate and greeted her, then Paul and Barb went to their gate. Pretty soon, here comes Kathie. We left Becky at her gate because it was getting close to boarding time, and Kathie and I headed off to our gate.

2 hours later, Kathie and I land in Phoenix. How Phoenix is on the way to Kauai, you got me. After 7 hours, the 4^th Pirates of the Caribbean movie, And “Just Wright”, we landed on Kauai.

2:00pm Kauai time (6:00pm Boise time): First order of business-locate Paul and Barb. They were off getting the rental car (Jeep). Next order of business, get to the timeshare, see if we can check in early, and drop our luggage off. Next, off to the shops to get groceries. This ended in the early evening, and we came back and put groceries away. After that, the evening was a blur (and no, not because of yummy umbrella drinks). I think we all sat around and talked for a little while, planning the schedule for Saturday, then went to bed. (The sun comes up about 6:00 or 6:30am there and goes down at 6:30pm.)