Wet and Windy Kauai

The weather forecast for Kauai this week in NOT encouraging. They are predicting 80 - 90% chance of rain each day this week. Today, it was light, intermittent rain. You had to turn on the windshield wipers to see, but didn't need them a few minutes later. The clouds are low and heavier over the mountains than the sea. Not sure if I'll be able to get much in the way of photos of the mountains, but I'll try.

Today we signed up for a few activities (optimistically including an airplane ride later in the week), then drove around Princeville to get oriented. The brochures say that Princeville is named for the young son of one of the Hawaiian kings. I think it means you have to have a Prince's ransom to be here for any length of time. The St Regis Hotel is at the end of the street, so we thought we would check it out. However, there was no place to park a car without a code from the hotel. By law, anyone can have access to the water, but it is often only a dirt track between two buildings. On Kauai, there aren't as many lava rocks, just nice sandy beaches. The brochures talk about the best beaches, but don't say how you are supposed to access them. Hmmm. The beach in Hanalei is long and sandy with plenty of parking space, but because of the high surf warnings, it was closed for swimming.

Wow! Watch the spray coming in the air as the waves crest and come crashing down! Lightweight windbreakers let us walk around and stay mostly dry, while my camera and binoculars could snuggle in the dry under the jacket.

The Hanalei National Wildlife Reserve is just over a one-lane bridge going into town. We hope to explore it and another botanical garden while we are here. If we can find a place to park the car, of course.

Two new birds today - this Red-crested Cardinal is surprisingly melodic and afraid of nothing.

The little cinamon and black Chestnut Munia plucks small seeds off the grass...

...while the roosters crow non-stop. The buildings are constructed with a small space underneath, and I think all the chicken use that area for roosting.