Join Thor and me for highlights of a quick trip to the island of Kauai.
NOTE: After way too many months without travel, Thor insisted on an R&R escape to Hawaii this April. He’d been keeping on eye on the very careful Covid-19 precautions in the islands, and the testing required before flying there. And now that we’re both fully vaccinated, we took the plunge – literally, for some snorkeling in the healing sea, as well as exploring the Big Island and Kauai. After this detour (series started April 24), I promise I’ll finish up my Virtual Italy Vacation series soon!
After Thor and I left the Big Island, we enjoyed a brief stay on the beautifully lush island of Kauai. Since I was still challenged with my hip injury, I couldn’t hike, which meant missing a big part of what the island offers in natural beauty, but we managed a few snorkeling outings and revisited the rim of the impressive Waimea Canyon.
It’s hard to capture the grandeur and serenity of this magical place. Except for the occasional tourist helicopter (boo-hiss), we heard only the wind and birdcalls. It’s especially magical to watch the white tropicbirds gliding along the walls.
Sometimes called “the Grand Canyon of the Pacific,” the steep gorges empty into the nearby ocean.
In 2018, Thor and I celebrated his teaching retirement with our first visit to Kauai, and we hiked down into the canyon for a full experience of this natural wonder.
Beautiful beaches are enjoyed by humans and seals alike.
I really wanted to be able to hike through the dense forest and climb the towers to repeat our ziplining adventure, but will have to resort to memories for now:
These hills were a setting for the original “Jurassic Park” movie, so….
If you get a chance, visit the amazing Allerton National Botanical Gardens.
The stream behind me in this photo of a huge wild fig in the gardens was another setting for the “Jurassic Park” film:
Another wonderful experience was a boat tour and dolphin snorkel along the steep and uninhabited cliffs of the north end.
We’re hoping the pandemic situation will allow us to return to the Greek islands in September for more exploring and swimming in those clear purple-blue seas, but meanwhile I’ll return via blogging next week to our interrupted Virtual Italy Vacation series. Florence, home of the arts!
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You will find The Rambling Writer’s blog posts here every Saturday. Sara’s latest novel from Book View Cafe is available in print and ebook: The Ariadne Connection. It’s a near-future thriller set in the Greek islands. “Technology triggers a deadly new plague. Can a healer find the cure?” The novel has received the Chanticleer Global Thriller Grand Prize and the Cygnus Award for Speculative Fiction. Sara has recently returned from another research trip in Greece and is back at work on the sequel, The Ariadne Disconnect. Sign up for her quarterly email newsletter at www.sarastamey.com
It probably says something about my childhood that I’d be as interested in seeing the parts of Kauai that appeared in the opening credits of “Fantasy Island” as I would the parts that appeared in “Jurassic Park.”
Thanks, Gary — I didn’t know about that location. Where?