Kauai, Hawaii - continued, Days 7 - 9

Link to Days 1 & 2
Link to Days 3 & 4
Link to Days 5 & 6

Day 7 - Canyon Hike and Rental Car trouble. "Spoon or die" became the token phrase that day referring to the cold night in the tent. After some pancakes for breakfast, we agreed to go to the top of Kalalau lookout again then hike some of the canyon and swamp trails. Unfortunately, the rental cars started showing their age again. After packing up during the morning, it appeared that leaving the trunk open too long drained the battery in the Corolla. Joel was more than 30 miles away and probably wouldn't be in a hurry to rush to our rescue. Thankfully, Jason and Art are quite handy. Naturally, there are no jumper cables nor tools in the car or in our backpacks. So, the boys set out to impress the girls--much like MacGyver. The process went something like this:

1. Find Dave's Leatherman tool (which has pliers).
2. Take dead battery out of Corolla.
3. Start the Hyundai.
4. Take live battery out of Hyundai and put in Corolla.
5. Start Corolla.
6. Take live battery out of Corolla and put in Hyundai.
7. Put dead battery back in Corolla.

It works! And these steps were repeated the next day when it happened again. Someone finally unscrewed the trunk light.

We were now on our way to view Kalalau Valley again, this time with better results as we arrived before the clouds did:

We also hiked the trails from this vista and around the wettest place on Earth, Alakai Swamp. This region receives, on average, more than 460 inches of rain every year compared to the southwestern part of the island that receives around 20. The views were gorgeous!

We receded to Salt Ponds for camping on the beach. What another great day! And let it be known that we saw ZERO chickens on the swamp trail. However, at this point we were taking bets on who could guess the closest time in the a.m. that we would hear cock-a-doodle-doo.

Day 8 - More snorkeling! We headed to the calm waters of Poipu beach and rented some snorkel gear. The shop informed us of a tsunami advisory for the area, but we learned through our cool, new iphones that it had since been cancelled. I poured on the sunscreen and explored the ocean floor!

We also saw our first monk seal, an endangered species. They like to catch some zzz's on the beach then return to sea. With it being so common, the beaches have stakes and caution tape to envelop the creature and protect it from curious tourists.

No camping this night--or the next 3. We headed to the Mango Shack for some "comfort." Alas! A real bed. Our group rented this place to take a break from therma-rests and perhaps some more pleasant amenities. Oddly, I didn't notice chickens right away; rather, my attention was on mosquitoes. For the next 3 days, I would be covered in DEET to minimize the number of bites on my legs. They were thick! With the mild weather, the shack didn't have windows but screens. Screens with holes that allowed mosquitoes in. Among the amenities was a shower. While it was outside and fairly open to the world, it did have hot water. ahhhhh. Since no one was renting the shack next door, we took the liberty of using that shower as well.

Day 9 - More snorkeling! Today was Dave's birthday and we let him dictate the events. More snorkeling awaited us. We rented some more gear and headed to a nearby place called Larsen's beach. Much to our surprise, we stumbled upon some nudists. Much to the guys' dismay, they were all dudes. We didn't strike up any conversations, but Jason had a close encounter when someone decided to swim right by him when his face was in the water. We're wondering if it was a coincidence that everyone else had retreated to shore to rest for a while. Being a mature group, we chided him when he returned to see if he was able to spot a Unicorn Fish. I spent most of the time under a tree to minimize exposure to the sun. I was lucky so far in not getting burned to a crisp.

After grilling dinner, Art decided to surprise Dave with a cake. We scoffed at his idea to cook it dutch oven style in the grill as the shack didn't have a stove. However, after supper, he presented Dave with a fully cooked, perfect chocolate cake. We were in awe. What a terrific end to a terrific day.

Link to Days 10 - end