We began this day with a swim in the
pacific, a short distance from our condo, after having relented and purchasing
a cheap underwater camera. The fish life
is amazing, although we did not see any of the sea turtles that populate the
local waters. Several of them were out
sunning on the rocks across the little waterway behind our unit. You might enjoy a couple of the photos from
the snorkeling trip:
Tropical fish in the
Pacific aquarium
We then drove back to Lihue, where Jack
Harter Helicopters took us on a one hour aerial tour of the island in a
helicopter without doors.
Ready to board a no-door helicopter
It was an amazing tour, as we flew low
over the ridges of Waimea Canyon, hovered over beautiful waterfalls, and swept
along the length of the Na Pali Coast.
Flying toward Waimea
Canyon
The canyon itself
The first waterfall was featured in the
opening scene of Jurassic Park, as the pilot explained how, although there is
no road access to the place, the magic of film making made it appear the
characters in a Jeep were near the base of the falls. By the way, Kauai was the location for scenes
in more than 70 movies, including South Pacific, Raiders of the Lost Arc,
Donovan’s Reef, King Kong (1976 version),
The Descendants, Pirates of the Caribbean, and even the Elvis movie,
Paradise, Hawaiian Style. See—we are not
neglecting the arts in our visit to the islands.
Jurassic Park waterfall
Our second waterfall is one that will
bring back memories for some—remember Tatoo, shouting, “The plane, the
plane”? Here’s the waterfall from the
opening scene of the TV series Fantasy Island:
Fantasy Island
waterfall
This is claimed to be the wettest place on earth, with more waterfalls than you can count.
As we flew along the Na Pali coast, we
nearly melted the camera from pressing the shutter button and making
movies. As with all natural majestic
wonders, photos can’t do the place justice.
But here are a couple of our attempts:
Along the Na
Pali Coast
Your own private beach
After the flight, Tricia had discovered
a place with the word national in its title that was actually open, so we
embarked on a 2.5 hour walking tour of the Allerton Gardens portion of National Tropical Botanical
Gardens just west of Poipu. This
tropical delight is located on lands granted to James Young Kanehoa, the son of
an adviser to the great king, Kamehameha I, in 1848. Kanehoa and his wife gave the land to his niece, Queen
Emma, wife of King Kamehameha IV (more about her tomorrow). After his death, she planted rose apples,
Alexandrian laurel, mangoes, bamboo, pandanus, ferns, and bougainvillea on the
valley cliffs, some of which survive here even today. After passing through several hands, the
property was purchased by Robert Allerton in 1938, who immediately began the
design of the gardens. Today there are
huge numbers of native and exotic plants and trees covering the property. It was a most interesting afternoon.
Flowers in
Allerton
The only proper way to end this
wonderful day was with a small cup of caramel cashew turtle cluster. We wonder how we can ever top the events
of today on this trip.
Charlie and
Tricia
©2013
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