1:40PM  77.  Sunny.  Hazy.  Some surf, but not, according to the ocean safety folks, much of a hazard.  The surf breaks maybe 150-200 feet from shore; it hits a coral reef.  Further in toward Kapaa there is a life-guard protected beach where there are many surfers today.  These are not the beginners I saw on Maui’s west shore.  These folks know what they’re doing.

In fact, I started the day driving all the way to Hanalei and beyond, hunting for the Pinetree Surfboard competition, but it appears the surf didn’t meet championship standards.  Or, something, anyhow I couldn’t find it.

It rained the whole way there and back.  On the road I learned the one-way bridge etiquette.  One goes from one side, then one from another until both lines have no more cars.  Some mainlanders rush in and aggressively take space.  It’s easy to see why this is not liked.  It does not receive the two finger wave that means, “Great.  Thanks.  Aloha.”

One trip over here, a few years back now, I brought my commuterman driving style with me.  Commuterman goes with the flow, but does not, ever yield.  In two-fisted rush hour driving this has some logic, though not much else, to commend it.  In this case I confronted a guy on a one-way bridge, asserted myself like the Dodge Charger ahead of me did today.  A young Hawai’ian got out and, totally without the Aloha spirit, told me what he thought of my driving, tourists and tourism in general.  I fought back.

Today I see the stupidity and the unnecessary nature of that conflict.  Wish I could find him and say, sorry, I’m a more polite guy now.

Mario suggested the Ono-Char Burger stand just beyond Aliomanu Road on the way to Kapaa.  I stopped there today. He was right. This is one great burger.   Get on a plane, land in Lihue, drive north on 50, go past the 13 mile marker and pay attention on the right.  Duane will make sure you get a good one.

Went grocery shopping.  Two half pints of blueberries: $8.  Microwave ready bacon: 8.19.  And so on.  Hawai’i has twice the inflation rate of the mainland and one run through the grocery store and a stop for $3.67 a gallon gas will tell you why. 

Also noticed here in the Da Fish Shack the corrosive power of salt spray.  All the exposed metal has oxidized and looks poorly maintained when it may be almost new.

Had my snack, now to try a nap.

8:28AM  70 degrees (which feels cool to this spoiled Minnesotan)  Anahola Bay (east shore of Kauai) 

Cloudy and gray.  Spitting rain rated 90% likely to tip over into heavy rain.  Feels like I’ve moved to a different place entirely.  The gray ocean out the front door of Da Fish Shack looks like Lake Superior in November.  Though the palm tree and African Tulip (think Minnesota Buckthorn) between me and the ocean suggest a different locale (think Kauai).

Cool last night.  Cool enough that I got up and found a new blanket to add to the light cover on the bed when I came.  A little trouble sleeping at first with the ocean so close and constant, new bed but woke up at 8 AM feeling refreshed.

Now I have to consider what to do on a rainy day.  I have to do some grocery shopping and I want to try the Ono Char Burgers for lunch.  Mario said they were among the best on the planet, so burgers it is for the midday meal.

My inclination right now, based on the pattern set by the last couple of weeks, is to go slow and lay low.  Tuesday before 2PM I’m gonna be in Hanalei for the farmer’s market, which an article says is a great place to meet locals and sample locally produced food.  Must be popular since they ring a bell at 2pm, drop a rope, then, let the shopping begin!

Kate’s on her way back or already home, so this leaves me in solo traveler mode.  I tend to be more introspective when alone, though I’m plenty that way in a group or with Kate, too.  A week to focus on Taoism, the ocean, the island and read a book Kate found at the Lihue Borders,  Honor Killing.  It is the true story of a sensational crime and trial in 1930’s Hawai’i that, the author David Stannard claims ,changed Hawai’i from an oligarchic, plantation-based fascist state to the modern, liberal democracy and multicultural phenom it is today.  A big premise and looks like an interesting read.  Thanks, Kate.

Over the Pacific in several directions by byte and out.

8:24 PM, February 23rd, Anahola Bay, Da Fish Shack

There are three entries here.  This is because the ever vigilant Hyatt server cut me out at exactly 4:34PM yesterday.  I reverted to an older habit, travel journal entries in Word that I would then paste into my blog when I returned from a trip.  That’s where the ones below were made.

Kate and I ate our last supper together here at a strange Japanese restaurant in Hanumalu.  The front was set up for a group event.  There were long tables with white table cloths and no menus, no wait person, no bartender.  When the bartender arrived, Kate asked about the sushi bar.  Oh, right this way.  In the way back there was a sushi bar, a traditional Japanese style dining set up with tables low to the floor, then a raised platform with tables and chairs (where Kate and I chose to sit).  Later, I discovered another set of rooms in another area.   These had the traditional sliding doors with rice paper and again, low tables.  To this occidental mind it was difficult to follow the organization, but it made perfect sense to everybody else.

It was sad to see Kate go.  She felt two weeks was as long as she could be gone.  We hugged and kissed, then she took off with her carry-ons and checked baggage.  I made my way back here in the dark.

Da Fish Shack, glory be, has an excellent wireless router, actually a superior connection to the one I got for my $15.00 a day at the Hyatt.  To add insult to injury, when I first opened my browser here, the #$%!@ Hyatt website kept coming up and wouldn’t let me load anything.

The no light pollution sky sings over the Pacific here in Anahola Bay.  The ocean comes, comes, comes but does not quite arrive. It comes and recedes, but it leaves crushed sand, shells and the certainty it will return. 

You will hear from me later.  Aloha.

8:05 AM February 23^rd, 2008

Watched the resort wake up again this morning.  A woman lifted up a large green door near one of the pools and crawled inside.  Two men with stone working materials in a small motorized garden cart got stuck negotiating a narrow turn and skidded along the walk rail.  A few bleary eyed tourists just off the plane wandered the grounds, trying to get oriented, both to time and place.

Meditated.  I have much to learn about how Taoists meditate.  It is a forgetting of the surroundings, a gradual extinguishing of sensory input.  I find this more difficult than the type of centering meditation I have used in the past, but I suspect that’s because I don’t understand the methods well at all.  That will come in the next course I’m taking from my teacher.

In reading Alan Watts the other morning I had a familiar, and welcome, feeling.  As I read, my body grew quiet and the world around faded out, my senses began to sink in toward the mid-point of my chest.  This is the feeling I get when some new knowledge or perspective has begun to “sink in.”

Taoism feels right, feels true.  Something I’ve sought for years, maybe my whole life.  A lot more to learn, but my body has already told me a long search has come to an end.

As they say in another tradition, hallelujah.

We check out here this morning.  This afternoon at 1pm we have our tour of the Allerton Gardens.  At 3 I can check in to Da Fish Shack.  Kate’s plane doesn’t leave until 8 or so tonight, so we might head over to Hanalei for the Pinetrees Surf Contest.

Travel Journey:  Kauai,  6:47 PM, February, 22, 2008

The internet service here went down one week after I purchased it, about 2 hours ago.  This entry is in Word, which I will paste into the blog the next time I find a computer friendly environment.

Whales spouted, breached and slapped their flukes in the bay.  Put together whales, volcanoes, sunny warm days, the aloha spirit of the native Hawai’ians and a botanical diversity that gladdens the eye and the heart, then you have a recipe for an unusual time.  

These winter months bring the whales to breed and give birth.  The volcanoes are ever present, from the very much alive Kilauea and Mauna Loa on the Big Island, to the long extinct like the ancient shield volcano that created Kauai.  On the windward side of all the islands there can be rain, but sun shine is only a few minutes away by car.

Though there is the hostile sovereignty movement, in general the Hawai’ians whom I’ve encountered seem genuine and warm.  Much like, in fact, the way many people see Minnesotans.

Here ginger, o’hia, antherium, plumeria, gardenia, coconut and royal palms, ferns and more ferns, philodendron, ti, acacia (koa), banyan, cactuses, orchids, and bromeliads all thrive in the soil made from eroded lava and deteriorated plant matter. 

All this mixes together into an ineffable tonic, one that brings an involuntary smile, even a giggle to your soul.

I’ve been many places, but for sheer refreshment and relaxation, Hawai’i beats them all.