The adventures and misadventures of living on the Hawaiian island of Kauai

April 24, 2011

2011-05-03T11:08:00.000-07:00

Over the past weekend, I was invited (along with my car) to go to Koke'e with some friends. Unfortunately, my car didn't want to go up toward Waimea Canyon and started to overheat. With the heater cranked (I believe it didn't do any good) we drove to Polihale instead. I really love it out there. Maya found a Japanese fishing glass ball, used as a float on fishing nets. I found my first piece of a sunrise shell, which just makes me want to search even more for a whole shell.

Unfortunately, my newly made hammock got stolen while I was out there. Around the same time I noticed, it was stolen, I saw a six pack of beer sitting on a log. Yay, free beer, but not as nice as a hammock.

We had the most amazing pancakes for breakfast. Claire likes to add trail mix (with chocolate in it) into pancakes along with bananas. We used coconut oil and some Vermont maple syrup (from a happy customer of mine) as well. Cooked over a fire on an iron skillet too!

On the way back I took my first dive off Kipu Falls. Not the biggest jump I've done, but a nice one.

The whole trip (once my car started acting up) was agonizing because of my car, but I still had fun. I can't wait for it to be fixed.

Thursday, April 22, 2011

2011-04-21T11:28:00.000-07:00

Aside from last weekend, I've taken some day hikes to the Hanakapiai Valley on the north edge of the Napali Coast on the weekends. The Hanakapiai Falls is absolutely breathtaking, over a thousand feet high! The beach is rather small, due to the huge cliffs on both sides of you, and the fact that the beach gets washed away by the winter swells. There's all these kirins people have placed which makes a cool site to see as well. Its very peaceful being at a small beach two miles from the nearest car. When I'm out there it makes me want to head to even more remote beaches and sip on some coconut water while staring into the Pacific.

I've been spending a lot of time with Valarie, which means going out to eat and drink, relaxing on the beach and sleeping in. I abuse my body much more than most people. Earlier this week I took her to the airport again, this time for her to be gone to Colorado for three weeks. I plan on fully wearing myself out on my three day weekends.

Stay tuned!

Sunday 3/13/11

2011-03-15T02:21:00.000-07:00

I love Sundays in Kauai. Particularly the last two I've had with Valarie. The 'aina has really taken care of me. After all, Malama ka 'aina. This means take care of the earth and the earth will take care of you. Last Sunday we had an amazing time at Secrets. When we were sitting on the rocks together, feeling the warmth from them and being entirely captured in the moment we couldn't help but giggle about how perfect the setting was and how amazing everything is right then at that point. Not too long after, a wave comes and water rushes all around us through the cracks in the rocks. The best romance novels don't write experiences like this!

This past Sunday our day started off with a trip to Queen's Bath. The best part was away from where everyone was hanging out, looking around. Valarie and I almost immediately wanted to explore. The two of us having only been hanging out for a brief amount of time, sort of have the same style when it comes to a lot of things. The both of us wanted to explore and didn't have to say anything to one another. We just kind of did it. Our main drive was to find a tide pool to chill out in, but we found so much more. There's this one cut in the lava rocks where water slowly rushes in and out. The water depth changed so much you could feel the power of all the water movement as you stood beside it. The movement felt like the heartbeat of the ocean, filling up and emptying with every wave that comes to shore.

There were a couple of fresh streams and waterfalls which we came across. One cascaded into a tide pool where there were lots of tropical fish. On the other side of this tide pool there was a smaller one, just far enough away from the ocean to be safe but big enough to soak in. The water in it felt like it just came from the ocean so it was quite refreshing. Crossing the larger tide pool could have been pretty tricky, but we decided to wade through rather than hop across rocks. As soon as we crossed on the way back, a large wave came that could have given us quite the startle.

We decide to head to my house for lunch and shortly afterwards sitting on the beach at secrets drinking beer and smoking pakalolo sounded like the right thing to do. I turn my waterproof bag into a cooler and sling it over my shoulder with some rope. After a couple mile hike to the end of the third beach we sun bathe and shell hunt while sipping on Coronas. For awhile there we felt like we should be hired to market this tasty beverage. As the beer gets finished, we don't want to leave and the sun starts setting. We decide to stay and watch the sunset. A bonfire was in order. Valarie is really good at starting fires. That makes her even sexier. Well, we watched all the sunset and then stared at the stars. It may have been 9 or 10 before we decide to pack up to leave. Well, actually, we didn't decide to, the surf washed away our bonfire.

On our walk back with each other in our arms, we look straight up staring at the sky. Little did we know, we passed the beach where the path to our car is. We start climbing over rocks, thinking the tide must of came way up. At one point, Valarie got drenched by a wave that smashed on a rock that she was standing next to. I only had the chance to say, "this is going to be interesting." If it weren't for that boulder, I would have lost her. Seeing a wave completely engulf someone like that is very scary.

Saturday 3/12/11

2011-03-15T01:48:00.000-07:00

I don't know exactly what it is (its probably a multitude of things), but I've been doing some rather serious sleeping in lately. Valarie and I head out for breakfast around lunchtime only to find out that nobody on the north shore likes to eat breakfast after 12 o'clock.

side note. the apostrophe doesn't get used in the English language much except for contractions and the possessive form of words. o'clock is a rare word where the apostrophe is at the front of a word. after reading and pronouncing so much Hawaiian I've grown to appreciate the apostrophe as a matter of fact.

Anyway, I digress. Lets get back to it.

On our way, with 12 pack in hand. Wait a second. Here I am talking about being on my way to breakfast, at noon, with a 12 pack of beer. How did we get to this point? Well, we pulled up next to a couple of guys with a 90 pound boar strapped to their truck. Tourists were taking pictures (and so was Valarie) and I noticed they were having a beer and decided that it was a good idea to have some beer. We were on our way to Kapaa because there's a place called Kountry Kitchen, that must serve breakfast at lunchtime. Well, we didn't make it that far because I remembered brunch at Common Ground's restaurant The Garden. Not exactly the greasy eggs and bacon we were after, but we really enjoyed dining there. Valarie's first time there was a delight for her. I was delighted to have brought her to Common Ground. I just really love that place...its my favorite place to eat on the island. I actually try to bring as many people there as possible.

ooh, more digressing! Back to breakfast. Actually, Valarie had this garlic tuna entree and I had the steak wrap. This is my third time eating the steak wrap. Its that good!

After lunch we head to Kalihiwai to work on the rest of our 12 pack and and our sun tans. Valarie was hoping for a nap on the beach, but good conversation and playing in the ocean won her over.

After the beer was gone and our bellies telling us its dinner time, I felt like a bottle of wine from the Kilauea Town Market and Deli was in order. Their prices are quite modest and their selection is superb. Before our dinner plans could go much further, I remembered Valarie wanted to try the Kilauea Fish Market. After scarfing down a couple of Andy Irons Burritos while listening to a guy (whom I've met before but cannot remember his name) play some Hawaiian music.

We finished off the bottle of wine while watching the sunset down Kilauea Road toward the lighthouse. It was really great just chilling there enjoying the beautiful evening with Valarie.

Friday 3/11/11

2011-03-15T01:09:00.000-07:00

Thursday night I had my first tsunami warning from the earthquake in Japan. It actually had some people a little freaked out. First thing I did was check the elevation of where I live in Kilauea. 300 feet above sea level and 1 mile inland is sufficiently safe, I'd say. Just after I started talking with Valarie about the tsunami warning, the sirens went off. And, wow, they are loud. Unfortunately, the sirens went off practically hourly. Valarie, who lives in Haena (only 15 feet above sea level) evacuated to my room. We had the misfortune of being woken by the sirens and then afterwards by our cell phones. Thank you to all who care about us and wants us to be safe. We are sleepy because of you.

During the day Friday work was rather slow and the mail didn't come to the island so it was kind of a free day. Get paid to hang out and listen to music. I'd rather be at the beach, but I got some projects done and enjoyed doing them while not under pressure.

After work, I met up with Valarie to have a picnic on the beach with a bottle of wine. I've developed a habit of putting my wine bottles in my cup holder on my scooter. I actually had some tourists take pictures of it!

Unfortunately, it rained regularly so the picnic didn't happen. Fortunately, we wound up at Tahiti Nui and ate spicy Hawaiian pizza...think Hawaiian pizza with jalapenos....such a wonderful addition! We also enjoyed a couple Lilikoi (Passion Fruit) Margaritas that were delightful.

In between Lilikoi Margaritas, we went to the beach to drink our wine. Lucky for us, we saw a catamaran not far from where we walked onto the beach and sat on it whilst we drank our wine. It was really nice chilling on the beach with Valarie, watching the water glisten and gazing at the massive silhouette of the mountains to the west.

Sunday 3/6/2011

2011-03-08T21:05:00.000-08:00

After multiple weekends of having fun on the north shore in spite of the weather, there was very light rain and a little sunshine on Saturday and a beautiful afternoon on Sunday. The plan was to go to Turtle Cave, but with it being so wet after a heavy rain Friday night, I decided to meet Valarie at yoga. Afterward we went to Rock Quarries as planned, but most people who were to meet us there didn't come because of the rain. It was really nice hanging out on the beach drinking beer with her. A few friends stopped by and hung out for a bit. Nubia joined us and the three of us hung out together for the duration of the evening. I decided we needed to have a bonfire since it wasn't raining. I chose to break dead limbs off of some pine trees to make sure the wood was dry. Some logs were a little hard to break. At one point Nubia and Valarie were sitting on a log bouncing on it while I held it in the air. Not the easiest or safest way to break firewood, but effective. Another branch I tried to break by climbing up it and hanging from it. Unable to crack it, I got Valarie to hold onto me. For a moment she was off the ground holding onto me while I held the branch. After Valarie and myself finished off a 12 pack, we ordered pizza at the Kilauea Bakery and had a couple Jack and Pepsi drinks. Nubia as designated driver, we went into Lihue to Cafe Portofino to dance. Its not too often when there's an opportunity to be out dancing and partying 'till 2am on Kauai, so we all really enjoyed the night. To add to the fun, there was a dance team who used some pretty awesome led setups including batons and hula hoops. There also was this one girl who used a long cloth hanging from the rafters to do some really crazy spinning in really flexible positions. Valarie was interested in having another drink and was going to buy me one, however, the bartender couldn't handle how busy it was, so we opted not to. It was a good thing because we had a lot to drink anyway.

After finally getting moving on Sunday sometime early in the afternoon, Valarie and I tried to get some ice cream at my favorite place, Kilauea Ice Cream and Video, only to find out they weren't open for another hour. Deciding to hold out and have ice cream instead of something else, we head to Secrets Beach. It was really nice to be in the ocean, with the sun out at the most amazing beach I've ever been to. Valarie had never been there and had a really good time. Some really fun things happened, I'll have to admit. We had a hermit crab race, looked for shells (unsuccessfully due to the tide), walked the full length of the beach and climbed on the rocks all the way at the other end. This was were we had the hermit crab race. At a tide pool up on the rocks there were some small fish the same coloring as the rocks and some hermit crabs of all sizes with really impressive shells around their bodies. We also, sat on some rocks where at one point a wave came up and water rushed in between the rocks beneath us. Such a magical moment!

Monday 2/28/2011

2011-02-28T09:45:00.000-08:00

This past weekend I shared an amazing one night stay at Polihale State Park over on the other side of the island. The scenery is as awesome as it gets here in Kauai. There were about 15 of us who were camping. Up until the last minute there were going to be four of us going in Sandy's truck and then Matt called and asked to join along.

After Sandy and I picked up the food for the weekend we spent at least 30 minutes stuck in Kapaa traffic. I thought we'd zip right up to pick up the rest of our passengers so I threw the ice in the bed of the truck. After a couple minutes of not going anywhere in traffic, I climbed into the bed and loaded a large cooler with beer and ice. I got big smiles from the taxi driver behind me as I kept on grabbing another 12 pack and emptying it into the cooler. The ride from Kapaa to Polihale took a little over an hour. Matt and I rode in the back of the pick up with our stuff. There wasn't much room, but after a couple beers we were fine. Well, that is until we got to the dirt road. Five miles down a not so smooth and in some places a muddy road with Sandy behind the wheel, fully obliging to our requests to just simply keep going since momentum was our best chance of not getting stuck. It was a very rattling experience for us in the back.

After not even 30 minutes there, the five of us committed to coming back regularly. After some relaxation and swimming and beer some of the rest of the group started to show up. A very smart 11 year old started the fire and not long after I started cooking hot dogs. I tried to use the campfire and a piece of a grill I found but spilled the hot dogs in the fire after they cooked awhile. Nesli helped me clean them with beer and we served everyone! They were a hit, and for the second batch I scooped some coals into the grill we brought to cook the remainder. A much easier way.

The sunset was absolutely perfect, slowly dipping into the ocean and shining bright colors into the sky in all its splendor. I love the sunsets here on Kauai and camping on the beach to see the sunset is even better.

As the night wore on some of the heavy drinkers passed out, some of the non drinkers went to sleep and the crazy people played a game with animal sounds.

Matt mentioned that there's a beach as you walk along the rocks to the north thats a 15 minute kayak away. Unfortunately, as I later find out the beach is only there during the summer, when the ocean is calmer. I walked passed where the beach would be, I believe.

There were 4 girls that Loren, the leader of the Kauai Adventure Club encouraged to head down the nasty 5 mile dirt/mud/holey road who camped with us. These girls are some of the crazy people previously mentioned. I tried to get a bunch of people to head for the beach Matt was talking about, but didn't have much luck aside from these girls.

The 5 of us were wandering quite a bit, heading up dry and rocky river beds, crawling into caves, scoping out amazing vistas. At one point I was all alone, but determined to find the beach, but could not go any further because the cliff and ocean were too close for comfort. On my way back I stumble into Chella and after hanging a bit we head up the canyon behind us (where two of her friends came from) and then up the side of the canyon to a really nice spot to gaze out into the ocean and watch the whales. Sometimes we'd get 3 and 4 whales doing their thing at the same time! Out in our view were two Cairns where the canyon curved a bit. They made a spectacular presence because of their location and made our spot so much more incredible.

Saturday February 12 2011

2011-02-13T20:21:00.000-08:00

Supposed to have a beach party with the Kauai Adventure Club. it rained all day. There was another meetup from the group at the other side of Hanalei Bay. We combined forces to have a showing of 5 people. There were supposed to be about 20. After beer and horseshoes in the rain we have more beer and play volleyball. Afterwards we head to a jacuzzi and drink some cocktails. Bill, a bartender from Vegas makes some kickass mojitos, pomegranate mojitos, and maitais. The best rainy day you can have!

The greatest thing about playing volleyball at the beach is strangers are always welcome to join. Are there any other team sports where its customary to just join in?

February 4th, 2011

2011-02-04T01:45:00.000-08:00

Last night I went for a ride to have a little pakalolo and wind up hanging with a rather eclectic Hawaiian dude who was riding a crf250. I wound up having a lot of pakalolo and we raced around on dirt roads and some asphalt twisties. He didn't have a headlight, and I have bald tires. Only in Hawaii do you go out to have a little after work chill time and wind up racing a guy on a dirt bike.

Last weekend I hiked up river to Makaleha Falls. There was more rock climbing than hiking. My legs hurt for 2 days afterwards. Imagine spending 4 hours maneuvering around a jungle gym...lots of lifting yourself up with your arms, then lowering yourself back down over and over again. The whole trek is absolutely beautiful as are the waterfalls.

The next day I planned on doing an 11 mile hike but decided not to for the sake of my legs while at work.

. . .

Recently at work I:

Saw Laird Hamilton

Boxed up a chain saw and a 80 pound wooden tiki in the same day

Was told I'd make a good hammock salesman

(and he's going to keep me in mind if/when my services are needed)

Had three Katies come in to work IN A ROW to use our computers

. . .

I'd like to just take the time to recognize that I regularly share a case of beer with friends on the beach like on Saturday after our hike. There was no pressure to be anywhere and all of us were entirely in the moment. Nobody wanted to move actually. The beer comforted our sore legs and feet. Oh, I forgot to mention...my hike that consisted of a really long jungle gym made of rocks was done barefoot.

. . .

This whole triple dot thing makes me feel like I'm writing a column in a newspaper. Anyway, I have a 4 day weekend, there's surf, I have scooter parts to install and I want to do yoga. Oh yeah, and there's a rock/soul/jam band I want to see. Good night.

Michael Franti and Spearhead

2011-01-22T00:45:00.000-08:00

wise folks count their blessings,

fools count their problems!

http://www.archive.org/download/michaelfranti2010-09-30.ccm4.flac16/michaelfranti2010-09-30t05.ogg

January 21, 2011

2011-01-22T00:27:00.000-08:00

I've settled in nicely to my new job. I work 4 days a week, 7.5 hour days. This is a HUGE difference than when I was living in Florida. Before work I go to the beach and have breakfast or go surfing. After work I watch the sunset or go surfing. I bought 10 yoga classes that I will go to over the next two months. I haven't gone up until recently for about a month. I've missed it.

Tuesday night I went to Kealia for a full moon bonfire. There were about 25 people. The Kauai Adventure Club from www.meetup.com inspired the party. The people were great, we had champagne, hot dogs and marshmallows. Chris, a guy I met on Saturday found some Opihi (limpets) which we steamed over the fire as well. They were a nice treat. Chris and I gathered most of the firewood by using two larger logs and stacking smaller ones across them. I'm such a boy scout! The moon was bright and beautiful. It was really neat seeing it come out of the ocean. its not very common to have a clear horizon on a full moon. A lot of people there saw it for the first time. A while after the moon came up, it was glistening on the waves as they were breaking, almost looking like liquid metal rushing by as the waves break. So incredible!

While I'm showing pictures, the other day I smoked out on the beach with some friends who just happened to see me ride my scooter through Hanalei. We hung out for hours and saw the best sunset I think I've ever seen!

Thursday, January 6, 2011

2011-01-07T00:55:00.000-08:00

I love hearing the ocean at night. Its a mile away.

My day to day life has tempered down to somewhat ordinary. Aside from that, in a bit of an ironic fashion, I've had some two wheel transportation troubles. Other than my Ruckus motor blowing up, Kauai's finest took my bicycle as evidence because I left it outside a restaurant that was robbed the same night. That day was pretty fun. I met with Alida and at Rock Quarries and walked with her (and my bike) to Kilauea Falls for a swim. It was a very beautiful journey and destination. After 3 weeks of hassling the cops to give me my bike back, I finally win. Days later I get my scooter back. Yesterday I get a phone call from Indy, one of my roommates. He leaves a voicemail saying that he broke a little boy's bicycle and since I'm MacGyver and all (apparently) I get to fix the bike. Mind you, I'm delighted to whip together some ingenuity to fix a 3 year old's bicycle. The rear wheel was FUBAR! Well, here's how I fixed it.

I finished it this morning and later on I receive word that someone knocked over my Ruckus. The fall broke a mirror and my windscreen. How hard is it to have a interesting and simple life? Too add to my two wheel troubles, Jim asks me to help him fix an electric scooter he has. I've tinkered with it and haven't gone into full disassembly of the thing to figure things out. I'll get going with that in a couple days.

Tuesday, 11/30/10

2010-12-01T22:25:00.000-08:00

Kauai is such a wonderful place. Its very nice to have a simple life and share it with some of the nicest strangers. Actually, the people I run into are simply friends I haven't met yet. Once I say hi to someone and see them somewhere later on, they're always pleased to share a moment.

I ran into Ben, Melia's boyfriend, and Ian at the spot on the lighthouse road where you can watch the sunset. We hang out a bit, just like we've done it a hundred times. I tried to get Alida to join, but she was meditating during that time.

Monday, 11/29/10

2010-12-01T22:21:00.000-08:00

This afternoon Alida and I went for a walk to Rock Quarries after yoga. She forgot her camera again. It was a beautiful afternoon as we played in the ocean. Gave her some pointers with body surfing and all around holding her own in the ocean. As we were walking down the beach after we got out Alida found some Oakley sunglasses that look virtually brand new. They're a guys style and she gives them to me. $180 sunglasses and I lost mine a couple days ago. Sweetness!

Sunday 11/28/10

2010-12-01T22:05:00.000-08:00

Went to Hanalei with Alida for some more Yoga. The owner of the studio taught the class. There definitely was a different level of intensity. The details were not explained in as much detail. It proved to be quite the challenge for me. After Yoga we went to lunch at the Hanalei Dolphin. Expecting sushi, unfortunately the sushi bar is open only for dinner. Alida did a 180 and had fish and chips. I had sashimi, which is one of my favorites. So happens, her cousin, Melia, was there with a friend dropping off her boyfriend at work. They sat down and had lunch with us. Ian and Melia were fun to hang out with. Later, Melia, Alida, and I went to the beach hoping for nice weather. We wound up with off and on drizzling rain, determined to have a good day at the beach. Not long after we decided volleyball would be fun, we see a guy walking in our direction with a bag of volleyballs. Alida says, "I wonder if he'd like to play volleyball with us. At the same moment, he says, "Would you like to play?" Turns out he's a riot, very good at volleyball, and loves playing it with girls in bikinis. Who doesn't? A couple of his friends show up and we play 4 or 5 games. It was such a blast, we're going to meet next Sunday to do it again. We got a ride home from Melia, I left my flipflops in her car (which I didn't realize for two days), and used my only towel to dry off. When we got home, I put my towel in the dryer and had Alida bring me the towel straight out of the dryer. The water wasn't as hot as it could of been (solar water heater) so the towel was wonderful. Alida and I bundle up and watch a movie on my tiny laptop.

Saturday 11/27/10

2010-11-27T23:08:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I went to Lihue with Alida to drop off her friend Julie's rental car. We left anticipating ridiculous traffic. Our entire day was totally relaxed, no time pressure, everything seemed to fall in place. It took 5 minutes once we dropped off the car for us to get to Walmart. We waited for the bus for only 5 minutes to go to Kapa'a. We had a leisurely lunch, hung out on the beach, picked up my bamboo chair, did some browsing in a couple stores and then met up with Julie, who got off work early, to go to Bikram Yoga. WOW. Ridiculously hot room temperature and holding your body in weird contorted positions for extended periods. The after-effects was really rewarding, I just don't know if I can put myself through that kind of agony on a regular basis.

On Thanksgiving I ate pbnj sandwiches and went surfing. I hitched to Hanalei in the rain, using my surfboard to block the rain. Didn't have much trouble getting a ride fortunately. People in the water were really chill. There was a lot of people out. For a little while, the crowd wasn't all that bad. More and more people came out and it got to a point where there were so many people I had to turn off the wave and not hit somebody. So many people don't know how to get out of the way. As the wind picked up and the crowds got thicker, I decided to go in.

2010-11-21T23:50:00.000-08:00

here's a video of the firedancers at the homegrown festival I was at last month. i sat in the front and absolutely loved the show. video doesn't serve this justice, but at least you can see the show! There's some pretty nice hula-hooping around 9 minutes in!

Sunday 11/21/10

2010-11-21T22:59:00.000-08:00

Woke up this morning kind of slowly. Started making my ritual pbnj breakfast and remembered I bought a mango! Mangoes are the best kind of breakfast. An hour later I had my pbnj anyway. I got invited to go to yoga class with Alida. I mentioned to her before that I think I should try it. We hitched a ride into Hanalei. I bought a two week pass for $50. One session is $15, so if I go 4 times in 2 weeks, its worth it. I think I'll go 4 times this week. On top of that, it'll be a great way to get into Hanalei regularly and do some job hunting. Alida invited me to join her on the 930 bus to go to yoga tomorrow as well.

Yoga was great for me, it took all the tension (that I can tell) out of my body. Our yoga instructor mentioned the stress in our minds exist in our body as well since they are connected. With yoga we relieve the tension in our bodies and remove the issues from our tissues. It made me smile. During the hour and a half class I could feel myself releasing my stress and tension. The rest of the day was wonderful because of the class. I will do yoga a lot from here on out.

After class we had lunch and hitched to Anini Beach for a friend's kid's birthday party. The park is at the end of the road which goes along the beach for about a mile. We hung out for about an hour. It was really nice there, watching the kids play and being at such a beautiful spot in perfect weather.

When Alida and I got back we had ice cream at my favorite spot near home. I'm officially addicted. After ice cream, we played Scrabble. Just as we finished, Indy stuck his head in the door and said, "Are you ready?" But he was just messing around. I then quickly jumped up and said the full moon and scooted out the door. Alida followed because of our excitement. Indy's just because he's always excited and mine because I knew it would be a beautiful night. We biked up to the top of the hill at the bird sanctuary near the Kilauea Lighthouse. The evening sky was magical. Alida led us in a chant which was to the moon so that we could harness the energy from it. Life is good.

Saturday 11/20/10

2010-11-21T22:25:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I knew my bike wasn't sounding right so I have been taking the bus to work until I have time to work on it. The bus is every other hour on Saturdays and I didn't check to see if it came by at 930, when I was supposed to head to Kapaa for work. SO, to avoid being incredibly late for work, I decide to give my scooter a try. I break down 9 miles from home. The thing is, its not the thing I thought was wrong. My drive belt has been sounding like its flapping and hitting the casing, but the engine died. It sort of feels like I don't have any compression. Bill says it could be related to the timing chain.

I get picked up by the guy, I now at this point, used to work for. Used to, as in his wife drove me nuts today trying to talk to me during the middle of our lunch rush. She's quite demanding and not polite at all. On top of that, she's unorganized and not proactive in making sure we have what is needed to prepare food. I told her that I've been working my ass off and can't talk on the phone because orders need to be handled and then hung up on her. She would have talked to me for 5 minutes. At the end of the day she calls and talks to me, yells at me for talking to her the way I hear her husband talk to her. She explains that I need to listen to her and do as she says if I want to work there. I told her that I don't want to work for her and she can find someone else to. Later on, I get asked why I quit and to not get into details I said that the reason why is there's no aloha where I worked.

I take the bus home and have plans for ice cream and ganja and sunset and moonrise. None of that happened. My roommate, Alida, made us Indian food. It was good. Alida is from British Colombia. She'll be here a month and is on her way to New Zealand!

Thursday 11/11/10

2010-11-11T22:51:00.000-08:00

What a day I've had. Went back to the same spot I surfed yesterday. There was one guy out surfing already when I got there around 730. I decided to surf a different wave than he was, since its a big ocean and all. The spot I picked was barreling real nicely. I couldn't believe I was actually surfing big hollow waves. Well, I tried to surf big hollow waves. The first wave I caught was kind of wimpy, I got a big fast drop then the wave got weak. I spent about 30 minutes trying to find the best spot. I paddled after about 6 waves, missing half and chickening out on half. I then got caught too far in after trying real hard for a wave and had to duck dive. Fortunately, I saw it coming and paddled real hard and didn't have any problem. After seeing how nice this larger set was, I set up for the next time some that size rolled through. I'd say the sets were 6 or 7 feet Hawaiian Scale (double the # for everyone else). I went after the next wave that came for the spot I was in, didn't like the drop I was going to have to take and didn't take it. I should have taken it.

When I was surfing in Costa Rica with Wes, I repeatedly went after a big wave, got a little wide-eyed looking down the face of the waves and wouldn't go for it. I had to force myself to just go and if I fall, deal with the long time holding my breath (getting taken into shore getting tossed like a rag doll) and the long paddle back out. In Florida when the waves are this big and you have a huge drop in front of you, the wave usually closes out. That means you have a lot of paddling ahead of you without the gratification of catching a wave. Consequently, you wind up going further in than if you rode a wave. For beach breaks, you have to catch the very edge of the wave and not the very peak. I've been doing this for a real long time.

Anyway, back to Hawaii. I didn't go on the wave because I'm used to not making that kind of drop. Its easier here, believe it or not. Well, I now have a wonderful reminder to take the wave I go after. I have to be decisive and not miss. Why? Because when you duck dive a wave the size of a building you don't make it. You get tossed like a rag doll all the way in. I was ready for the surface so I gave a nice big kick to swim to the surface. Its real shallow where I was surfing. Remember the nice hollow waves I was talking about? Yeah, its hollow because of the sharp reef below those waves.

I cut my foot open with that kick. It hurts. A lot. I've cleaned it and cleaned it and bandaged it and it hurts. A lot.

And now to add insult to injury. Literally!

Just when I get home to clean myself up, I get a phone call. I was hoping it was a friend who wanted to smoke me out. That would have been a great way to deal with my experience. Instead, its the owner of the restaurant I work at. They'd like me to come in because they got an order of 12 lunches to be catered. Do I say no, I cut my foot on the reef, I should stay off it. NO! I'm a dumb ass, always willing to help, no matter if I shouldn't be on my feet. I clean and bandage my foot, I'm not home for 15 minutes and I get picked up and we go to the store to prepare the food. After we drop off the luncheons, we go to their daughter's birthday party. I don't get to go home. After the party, I get to go to their house because in an hour, they have to pick up someone from the airport whose staying with them and their house isn't clean. SO, I sit on their couch and finally get home around 5:30.

Some day off, eh?

On top of that I'll be working by myself tomorrow and Saturday because they have a Shaman who is doing a ceremony from 9pm-9am Friday and Saturday night. I can't wait!

Thursday 11/11/10

2010-11-11T08:50:00.000-08:00

this is from astronomy picture of the day. for those who haven't heard of it, here's a link to the page. I'd check out past days if you like, or bookmark it and visit regularly. http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
Two Views, Two Crescents
Credit & Copyright: Left - Stefano De Rosa, Right - Babak Tafreshi (TWAN)

Explanation: Venus rose in a glowing dawn sky on November 5th, just before the Sun. For early morning risers, its brilliant crescent phase was best appreciated with binoculars or a small telescope. On that day the crescent Venus also appeared in close conjunction with another lovely crescent that hugs the eastern horizon in planet Earth's morning skies, the waning crescent Moon. The celestial photo-op is captured here from two locations. Left, separated by less than a degree, the two crescents hover above a sea of clouds. The picture was recorded from an Alpine mountain pass not far from Turin, Italy. On the right is a sharp telephoto view taken before an earlier sunrise, farther east in the Alborz Mountains of Iran. In steady skies the slender Moon is still sliding toward Venus, the bright planet's compact crescent just clearing the mountainous horizon. For now, the crescent phase of Venus remains easy to enjoy with binoculars in November's dawn skies. The first observations of the phases of Venus, made by Galileo with his telescope in 1610, agreed with the predictions of the heliocentric Copernican model of the Solar System.

Here's a link to a large version of the picture, definitely worth viewing!

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/1011/APOD2010-11-10.jpg

Wednesday 11/10/10

2010-11-10T22:20:00.000-08:00

went this morning to a new surf spot.. i've been watching it since my third day here...waiting for the right swell. it was inconsistent today, yesterday went and watched about a dozen people surf 3 different waves. today i was there alone. it was kinda punchy (breaks real hard and fast then lingers with an occasional burst). i only had 40 minutes before i had to leave for work. i caught one good wave, fell on two and had one crappy wave. they were head high. small for hawaii. i still laugh at myself when i say head high waves are small. its amazing how quick i've forgotten my decades of knee high surfing.

i'm off tomorrow, i'm going to the same spot and going to try and get better acquainted with how it breaks.

Sunday, 11/7/10

2010-11-07T23:13:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I went to my second Hanalei Board Swap and got a 7'6" gun/thruster hybrid. It has a bit more volume to it than a regular gun (its wider basically) and has a tapered tail so it can turn like a smaller board. Its the largest maneuverable board I've owned. I got it so I can surf the break closest to home, Rock Quarries. When I've surfed there before, I wouldn't have enough speed. This is my $100 answer for that.

I went to surf Rock Quarries this morning, but there's no swell left. I came across a bit of a rude awakening as well...Its been raining a bit more lately, and the road to Rock Quarries is not paved. Toward the end, the road gets pretty bad. The holes I usually meander around. Well, now they're puddles and there's mud everywhere. Taking the Ruckus around these puddles with muddy slopes is going to take some skill. I am certain a time will come when I wind up going in or through one of these puddles. I elected to not go all the way to the break since I could see it from the road and it would have been a challenge going around the puddles.

Friday 11/5/2010

2010-11-06T00:22:00.000-07:00

Just got home from my first happy hour in Kilauea. Met a couple of interesting bar flies. I talked with a guy who saw me in the water at Kaliahiwai, a pretty heavy surf spot near my house. For the rest of the world, outside Hawaii, its REALLY heavy. The waves were small. 5 foot Hawaiian. That means the backs of the waves are only 5 feet tall. OR you can consider the waves to be double the height of what the measurement is. I only had an hour to surf before work, so I knew there was a chance I wouldn't catch any waves. I went after 5. caught 2 and got slammed. There's a lot to this wave. My roommate told me about this wave. I took him seriously and only went out after I watched the swell several times. To be honest, I watched the early stages of the swell and the peak of it. As it was diminishing, I decided to give it a shot. from the shore it didn't look so bad, so I figured I'd be able to get a wave in before work. NO CHANCE. This fucker has power. A LOT of power!

The thing is I'm goofy footed, that means my left foot is on the back of the board. The other way the guy in the picture is surfing. Its a lot harder to surf a powerful wave this way. I spent a lot of time cussing while getting pummeled by the wave as it sends me closer to the shore and its nearby cliff. No big deal, the current sends you away from the cliff as you get closer and all you have to do is get on your board when the ride is over and paddle the fuck out of there. Typical surfing.

Anyway, I want to master this wave. It looks like a lot of fun. Today, the guys surfing at Kalihiwai were encouraging me. Come to find out, they were encouraging me to ride the closeouts. It didn't seem right when I'd look at a wave and would not like the way it'd look and they'd say, "Go, go go!" I never bit on their encouragement. They just knew I was new and wanted me to get pounded so I wouldn't surf there. I feel like trying tomorrow but the board swap in Hanalei is tomorrow and I really want some more surfboards.

I took some pretty aggressive drops and didn't make it. I want a full day at Kalihiwai without having to jockey for position and I'll be able to catch this wave. Unfortunately, thats now how it works here. All good breaks are very popular. Fortunately, the same guys surf these waves all the time and eventually they'll get to recognize me. If they like my style I'll be allowed to catch waves. If they don't I'll have to get faster boards and drop in closer to the peak of the wave and rule these waves. This takes skill. I have the nerve to obtain this skill. Unfortunately, these waves get REALLY big. We're talking triple of what I've surfed so far. I told the guy I talked to at the bar today that I expect to spend a year learning how the different spots break and pick it up in the next year. He says it will take ten.

To be continued...

Aside from the topic of surfing, I took my first ride home from work today in the rain. Not just a sprinkle, but a real rainstorm. 30 mph winds and at least an inch of rain. I anticipate 12 inches during my ride home at some point in the future. But that's another story (when it happens, I'll tell a story about it). In the meantime, my homemade windscreen (rainscreen?) worked nicely. My arms got wet, oh well. I want to lower my seat and install foot pegs so its easier to stay out of the weather. I've ordered a piece of diamond plate that will bolt to the floor of m scooter to strengthen it, but thats unrelated to me staying out of the weather. Next time I'm at Walmart, I'll get some footpegs.

This morning I made coffee and put it in my water bottle to go in my holder on my Ruckus. I rode to Kalihiwai, froze on the way in the rain, drank my coffee, did some stretches and paddled out. Much better than paddling out freezing cold from my scooter ride. Ironically, to the guy I talked to at the bar, I was the guy without the wetsuit.

Holy cow, this is my third addition to my Friday edition to my blog....

At work today, I got to take the owner of the restaurant I work at to the hospital. This is on my way to Costco. Unfortunately, her husband didn't buy any gas with the money I loaned them two days ago (the drawer was short on cash after going to the farmer's market, so I elected to give them some of my daily pay to buy gas. I would get the money back the next day. Her husband didn't buy gas! SO, on our way, I forgot to buy gas because we went around town and didn't see a gas station on our way AND we ran out of gas! He says it was MY fault! HAHAHAHA!!!! Whatever, doesn't bother me. We'll see how this plays out. When we ran out of gas, I ran to the nearest gas station (approx. 1 mile away) and filled a 32 ounce Gatorade jug with dino juice. Put it in the gas tank and dropped a bit in the intake. Start her up and get a less than stellar performance from their 1999 Dodge Caravan. After come encouragement from Janet, I try to get her going and just drive! Well we get to a spot in the road where there's an armco barrier on our side of the road and BLOCK TRAFFIC! Minutes later the DOT and shortly thereafter, the police arrive. TO OUR RESCUE! They push us out of the road to a nearby apron on the opposite side of the road. AAA comes and puts more than a quart of gas in the van and gets it off the road.

BTW this is the Reader's Digest version. Its too much to blog all the crazy details..... =)

Wednesday, 11/3/10

2010-11-03T12:21:00.000-07:00

Just found out local pro surfer Andy Irons died yesterday. The world of surfing has lost one of its best. He called the north shore of Kauai his home. His wife of three years is pregnant with their first child which is due in December. Please keep him in your thought and prayers.

I saw a local surf movie two weeks ago with Andy in it. He was a class act. Such a loss.