Tag Archives: Kauai

Taking off for Hawaii

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Left office early to ride the Shinkansen back to Tokyo. Met Chie and we rode NEX together to Narita.

Once checked in and passed the security (yeah, my new passport worked like a charm) we headed for the Delta lounge. There I took a shower, just to discover that they left me there without towels.

So what do you do, naked, wet and with a deadline? You improvise. Used paper napkins and a hair dryer (note, I thought of calling Chie, but this seemed to make a better story) 😉

When leaving the lounge we asked if they changed the policy and that we from now on have to bring out own towels. They had not, but they thought I took the towels :O

2 Lazy Monk Seals

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And I’m not talking about Chie and me 🙂

Actually we saw 3 different Monk Seals at the Poipu beach today. When we were on our way to Kiahuna beach in the morning we saw something was going on at Poipu beach so we stopped there. Lucky for us. A young Monk seal was playing in the water a few meters from the beach. In the evening we found out that it most likely from the Nihau island because it could not be recognized (no ID tag and no marks).

Once we had satisfied our Monk seal interest we continued to Kiahuna beach where we spent the rest of the day, playing in the waves, eating, reading and relaxing.

On our way back home we stopped at Poipu beach again to check the Monk seal. It turned out the 1 seal had turned into 2… Different ones. They had stranded on a strip of beach together and was doing what Chie and I had done most of the day, resting.

On Our Way to Kauai

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After very busy day I managed to complete my work, submit time report and be out of the office by 16:05. I ran to the Futakotamagawa train station, ran to change train in Jiyugaoka and ran 500 m to reach the Narita Express platform at the Musashi-Kosugi station 4 min before departure. Phew. That was close.

Chie join me on Narita Express from Shinagawa station. So now we are both on our way to Kauai.

Boat to Na Pali Coast

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On Friday we made an impulsive decision to take a boat trip to the Na Pali coast. We picked the Blue Dolphins cruisers since we’ve been in contact with Naiya and Roy before, and they helped us get booked for a morning trip were Roy was captain.

So today we woke up early, got to. Port Allen and got on the boat. First we made a brief stop to snorkel. The water was clear and I did some dives to the bottom 6-10 meters below but had really big problems with my ears. Very painful. So I got out of the water and rested on the boat. Unfortunately for me was that as soon as I was out of the water a big sea turtle showed up. Chie could have a close look but I saw just a bunch of snorkelers from the boat 🙁

Halfway to the Na Pali coast we were joined by a large pod of spinner dolphins. The cruised along in front of the boat for a while and then left us. We all enjoyed their company a lot.


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On our way back from the Na Pali coast we saw something rare. A Hawaiian Monk Seal at the surface, eating an octopus. It is rare because there are only 1100 of them (one of the most endangered species on earth) and only about 35 of them around Kauai. And they are nocturnal. But not this one, or at least not today. We spent around 10 minutes watching him eat, and then we had to continue our trip back to Port Allen.


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Afterwards we went back to Kiahuna where we ended the day by relaxing on the beach and playing in the waves.

Halftime…

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Today we got a note on our door, halftime cleaning 🙁 Not to the cleaning but to it already being halftime. Well, can’t be negative… Just enjoy the time here 🙂

Today we spent the morning at Salt Pond. For some reason it was cloudy, and somewhat windy. The temperature was a bit too cool to get into the water, but it was perfect for a nap. I slept deeply for an hour or so.


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At around 1:30 pm we drove to Kiahuna. There the sun was shining. We played in the waves (yeah, you can still play in the waves even at 45 and beyond).

In the evening we had crab cream sauce pasta at “home” and it was delicious.