Kauai - Day 7 - Snorkel, Surf & Turf
This morning we started our day with a Hawaiian breakfast of spam and eggs. Sliced thin and fried, it's actually pretty good. Maybe I ought to add some to our food storage! :)
We spent the morning swimming at the pool (the kids love hopping between the 104 degree hot tub and the 75 degree pool. After an hour or so we rented snorkel gear and walked down to beach in front our condos to snorkel. We weren't sure what we would find but it ended up being pretty great snorkeling. The reef was beautiful with winding paths like a maze through it. If you stayed in the channels, it was probably 8-12 feet deep. It was low tide so it was hard to snorkel over the reef. But I think the edges with the winding tunnels and caves are more interesting anyway. All of the kids loved it. Mikey and Avery stayed at the pool with Tom. It would have been too hard for them. The rest of the kids got the hang of it really fast. Kate and Isaac were a little scared. It's easy to freak yourself out and start thinking about sharks, etc. But I held their hands and snorkeled around in the reef with them. I forgot to put on sunscreen so I got totally burned. (I should know better!!) Garrett and I saw a huge school of hundreds of fish. We watched them for a while. It's fun to watch them move as a group and be so close you can watch each fish snacking on the reef. Calvin found an eel and we all go to watch it for a while. Scott and Calvin saw a seahorse.
We headed back to the pool for more swimming and hot tub. I had fun talking with Kate in the hot tub and climbing the waterfall and jumping off the rocks with the kids. Jeff brought grilled cheese sandwiches to the pool for everyone for lunch. It was a pretty awesome morning!
Later Jeff and I left for our date and the Tillmans watched our kids. We had been dying to try surfing again so we went back to Hanalei bay and rented a surfboard and surfed for a few hours. The waves were small but on the 11' board and with a little push from each other we were able to catch dozens of 2' - 3' waves. It was so much fun!!! Even in the pouring rain we surfed! The rain cleared the beach and we practically had the place to ourselves. As the rain let up and the sun shone through the clouds on the Napali coast cliffs, it was truly breathtaking! And I felt like by the end of it we were really starting to get the hang of catching those little waves and standing up and balancing on the board. I could easily get hooked on that. I'm sure it would take me a LONG time to really learn but it is an amazing full body workout and so, so much fun! Best date ever!!
The only bummer surfing was when the leash got caught on my neck while Jeff was surfing and I was trying to give him a little push. It ripped one of my earrings out and ripped the shell off the other one and cut my ear as it slid up my neck and over my head. It hurt like crazy! There was blood on my hand and in the water. I suddenly remembered every shark week show I've ever seen and was scared that there was a shark out there who could smell that drop of blood from a mile away or whatever it is! Ha ha ha! But seriously, I was scared. A little. But we still surfed for another half hour.
We headed home for a quick shower and passed the kids playing tennis on the courts in the pouring rain. They were having a great time hitting balls and playing with the squeegee rollers. We drove to Kapaa to eat dinner at the Bull Shed since we'd heard good reviews about it. It was "waterfront" but our view was more of the boat ramp. But the food was delicious: porterhouse steak cooked to perfection and mixed seafood grill. I got the surf. Jeff got the turf. We talked uninterrupted on our dark, winding, rainy drive home. Such a fun night! I am definitely not ready for snow in 36 hours.
We spent the morning swimming at the pool (the kids love hopping between the 104 degree hot tub and the 75 degree pool. After an hour or so we rented snorkel gear and walked down to beach in front our condos to snorkel. We weren't sure what we would find but it ended up being pretty great snorkeling. The reef was beautiful with winding paths like a maze through it. If you stayed in the channels, it was probably 8-12 feet deep. It was low tide so it was hard to snorkel over the reef. But I think the edges with the winding tunnels and caves are more interesting anyway. All of the kids loved it. Mikey and Avery stayed at the pool with Tom. It would have been too hard for them. The rest of the kids got the hang of it really fast. Kate and Isaac were a little scared. It's easy to freak yourself out and start thinking about sharks, etc. But I held their hands and snorkeled around in the reef with them. I forgot to put on sunscreen so I got totally burned. (I should know better!!) Garrett and I saw a huge school of hundreds of fish. We watched them for a while. It's fun to watch them move as a group and be so close you can watch each fish snacking on the reef. Calvin found an eel and we all go to watch it for a while. Scott and Calvin saw a seahorse.
We headed back to the pool for more swimming and hot tub. I had fun talking with Kate in the hot tub and climbing the waterfall and jumping off the rocks with the kids. Jeff brought grilled cheese sandwiches to the pool for everyone for lunch. It was a pretty awesome morning!
Later Jeff and I left for our date and the Tillmans watched our kids. We had been dying to try surfing again so we went back to Hanalei bay and rented a surfboard and surfed for a few hours. The waves were small but on the 11' board and with a little push from each other we were able to catch dozens of 2' - 3' waves. It was so much fun!!! Even in the pouring rain we surfed! The rain cleared the beach and we practically had the place to ourselves. As the rain let up and the sun shone through the clouds on the Napali coast cliffs, it was truly breathtaking! And I felt like by the end of it we were really starting to get the hang of catching those little waves and standing up and balancing on the board. I could easily get hooked on that. I'm sure it would take me a LONG time to really learn but it is an amazing full body workout and so, so much fun! Best date ever!!
The only bummer surfing was when the leash got caught on my neck while Jeff was surfing and I was trying to give him a little push. It ripped one of my earrings out and ripped the shell off the other one and cut my ear as it slid up my neck and over my head. It hurt like crazy! There was blood on my hand and in the water. I suddenly remembered every shark week show I've ever seen and was scared that there was a shark out there who could smell that drop of blood from a mile away or whatever it is! Ha ha ha! But seriously, I was scared. A little. But we still surfed for another half hour.
We headed home for a quick shower and passed the kids playing tennis on the courts in the pouring rain. They were having a great time hitting balls and playing with the squeegee rollers. We drove to Kapaa to eat dinner at the Bull Shed since we'd heard good reviews about it. It was "waterfront" but our view was more of the boat ramp. But the food was delicious: porterhouse steak cooked to perfection and mixed seafood grill. I got the surf. Jeff got the turf. We talked uninterrupted on our dark, winding, rainy drive home. Such a fun night! I am definitely not ready for snow in 36 hours.
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