The Garden Isle

The sign of a successful vacation: losing track of the time of day and even the day of the week.  (I think it might be Sunday and, since it's pitch-black, it must be after 7 pm.)  I type this from a wicker chair in the center of a cement-floored cottage on the Garden Isle, more popularly known as Kauai, the northernmost of the major Hawaiian islands.  LJ and I have had a relaxing few days here with lazy days on the beach, beautiful hikes through the mountains,plenty of sleep, and lots of yummy local seafood and other eats.

Rain is an ever-present threat in Hawaii this time of year, especially on the rainy island of Kauai, but we've been pretty lucky so far.  Other than a downpour on the night we arrived and a few showers while hiking one day, we haven't seen too much rain.  Without any major storms on the horizon, the ocean has been pretty safe to swim in on the more protected east and south sides of the island. Which is a fantastic thing, because the ocean is where you can find.... sea turtles!  (For those of you who don't know, sea turtles are one of my favorite things to see in the ocean.  Any dive trip where I can see some sea turtles is automatically a wonderful trip.)  I spent many happy minutes floating over a sleeping sea turtle in the reef-protected waters at Ke'e beach.  While at the beach, we also saw a resting monk seal on the beach.  Just seeing those two animals made my trip worth it.  But they are not the only animals on the island.  Geckos can be found all over the place, including inside the house.  And then there are the chickens.

Kauai is known for its ridiculous number of feral chickens, with roosters and chickens all over the island.  These roosters are as time-challenged as the ones that lived in our garden in Kumasi, crowing at all times of day and night.  The other day on Ke'e beach, there were two roosters that seemed to be having a crowing contest or a conversation, I'm not sure which.  They were less than enthused by the appearance of an energetic, happy dog, which caused them to demonstrate their limited flying skills to escape the dog.

My holiday spirit made an appearance at the Festival of Lights parade on Friday night.  I was conflicted about whether or not we should fight the potential crowds but it seems that only a few thousand of the 60K+ locals and tourists decided to show up to watch the parade.  Maybe that's because the rest of them were in it.  Practically every organization on Kauai, from government to churches to youth groups, had a float or a group in the parade.  Even random local people got in on it by decorating baby carriages and shopping carts with lights and decorations.  One of the many Santas in the parade announced to us spectators how he was different from all the rest: "I'm a young, skinny, versatile Santa."  With that sort of entertainment, who won't get in the holiday spirit?