Aloha Friends,

Humans are not the only ones who like to visit Hawaii in the winter. Every year thousands of whales come down from Alaska to Hawaii in December. They give birth and hang out in the warm tropical water for a few months. Then they all head back in March.

Having a clear sunny day, we thought it would be a time to go looking for whales. It’s nice to pack a lunch, grab a couple beers and head out for a day at the beach. We barely got our beach chairs onto the sand before we saw the first one. There’s no mistaking a whale when you see one, they’re big! They like to play and breach, making huge whale belly flops! They’re very silly and a lot of fun to watch. Quite entertaining!

My husband and I ended up seeing quite a few whales sitting on this little beach. It’s just north of Kapaa Beach Park and is nearly always deserted even though it’s in town. I think it’s because you can’t see the beach from the road, people don’t realize it’s there. Be sure to check it out if you’re on Kauai, especially if the whales are here. It’s a perfect place to watch them from.

Thanks for reading my diary! Aloha!

PS The beach is close to the Tamba surf shop if you’d like to pick up a cap like the one I’m wearing.

Aloha!

It was a warm, still day on Kauai. Pretty muggy actually. We beat the heat by spending the afternoon at Kalapaki bay. For those who are curious the Christmas sand sculpture still stands. Here’s a photo I took just before we packed up and headed home. Can you see the humidity?

Hey friends!

Wanted to wish you and yours a very merry Christmas! We went down to Kalapaki bay this afternoon to see the sand sculpture...it made front page news in our paper yesterday! The sculpture held up well despite the 2” of rain we had last night. Here’s hoping that you all held up just as well through the Christmas craziness! Mele Kalikimaka friends!

Aloha Friends,

We had an awful storm blow through Kauai last month. On April 14 we got over 2 feet of rain! The thunder was so strong it shook our windows! All of this rain caused flash flooding and mudslides. The north side of the island got the brunt of it. Hanalei was nearly under water, cars were washed away and homes were flooded. Kuhio highway was completely blocked by a huge landslide. Amazingly no one was killed or seriously injured.

The weather was either rainy or overcast for what seemed like forever. When the sun finally made an appearance we put our home renovations aside and headed to the beach. It was a beautiful day for a picnic.

Lydgate beach is a family favorite. Weeks after the storm the ponds are nearly unrecognizable. The area is littered with fallen trees and debris. It was sad to see it that way but, clean up has started and the baby pond is almost free of wood. Despite the lack of swimming, people have been making the best of it...we’ve seen some awesome structures built.

My husband grilled carne asada (beef) on our hibachi. Yummy tacos to celebrate a sunny day!

Thank you for reading my diary!

Merry Christmas friends!

I hope that you all are enjoying the day with those you love! Here on Kauai the weather warmed up just in time for us to have a Christmas eve picnic  on the beach. We went over to Foodland for sushi, poi and fried chicken then headed over to Lydgate beach. I know it sounds like a strange food combination but, it was tasty! Lydgate beach was full of visitors soaking up the sunshine and playing in the water. The sun felt so nice!

 As I was lounging on the sand I looked up towards the horizon and saw whales! They were doing giant whale belly flops, making huge splashes as they landed on the water! The whales got a lot of attention as they are so much fun to watch. It felt like an early Christmas present!

Here's our little tree....a live Norfolk pine. We wrapped the pot in Hawaiian print fabric and decorated the tree with colorful glass balls, vintage ornaments that belonged to my grandmother and tinsel. It's a happy tree!

Wishing you and yours the happiest of holidays!
Thank you for reading my diary!

Aloha Friends,
My hubby and I recently celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary! Surely a honeymoon to Kauai was in order! We had a great time on our little honeymoon. It was short and sweet, just 4 nights. Perfect getaway with my sweetheart.

As I was looking through our photos I noticed a lot of them were of food! LOL.You can tell we like to eat! I do enjoy cooking at the condo. The photo of the fancy looking tuna steak was from a dinner we had at the Hukilau Lanai. It was delicious. The grove of coconut palms is across from the condo on the mauka (mountain side). You can't see them too well in the photo but, there's a heard of tiny goats that graze there. They're pretty cute. All the beach photos were taken at Waipouli beach in front of the condo. We love that beautiful beach! Oh, and we saw whales breaching from there! Apparently whales love Kauai too!

Aloha and thanks for reading my diary!

Aloha Friends!

Here's a few more photos from our family vacation to Kauai...

As you can see we really took it easy on this trip to Kauai. On the last 5 days we went to Lydgate Beach again, it's a family favorite. The guys can fish (outside of the ponds), snorkeling and swimming is safe and it's lifeguarded! We did a little shopping at the brand new ABC store at the Coconut Marketplace, it's a short walk from the condo. There's also a Famer's Market there were we picked up more fruit and veggies. The rest of our time was spent on the beach directly in front of the condo...just relaxing. On our last morning we went to breakfast at the Tip Top Café in Lihue and had a delicious local style meal. We ordered Oxtail Soup, Loco Moco and 3 Grand Slams with Macadamia Nut Pancakes. You can't go wrong here friends...everything was great, the staff was friendly and the portions were ample!

With full bellies we headed to the airport with my son's live betta fish in tow. The TSA guys were super cool and joking about the fish. We had a pleasant flight home to San Diego on Alaska Air. The fish arrived safe and sound :).

Thanks again for reading my diary!

These photos were from our first four days on the island. We spent an afternoon relaxing on the beach in front of the condo, went to the Farmer's Market at Kauai Community College, had fun at the Kamalani Bridge Playground and enjoyed a day snorkeling and swimming at Lydgate Beach park.

I'll share more photos with you in a few days.
Aloha Friends!

Aloha Friends!

We're enjoying a trip to Kauai with all the kiddos. The little ones especially look forward to our visits. They love Kauai. Happiness is spending time at the beach with family! And having a beautiful beach 200 yards away is awesome!

Having the ocean so close does put us at a higher risk of damage from hurricanes and tropical storms.. Thankfully tropical storm Darby mellowed out before she reached Kauai. Big waves, cloudy skies and some rain. Not too exciting, which is a good thing! The overcast weather gave us an excuse to do some work around the condo. Installed new window blinds and touched up the paint so far this trip. Little things make a big difference in keeping the condo looking fresh. It's important we keep everything up since we rent our place out to guests.

We're off to spend another day at the beach. As you can see from the above photo...the weather can change rapidly here!

Thanks for reading my diary! :)

Kauai's royal coconut coast...

Every day was spent at the beach.. We packed a picnic and a few beers. One of our favorites Kona Brewing Company...the Wailua. It's only sold in Hawaii (sad Face). It's a light beer with a very subtle passion fruit flavor.

The hours slowly passed at the uncrowded beach in front of our condo.

Kapaa evening...
Aloha!