Visiting the South Shore
Here we are, coming to the end of Day 2 in Kaua'i. We are beat. Strange to feel tired when we slept in and are supposed to be on vacation, "relaxing." It's only 6:30pm Hawaii time, and I think we'll be staying in our room for the rest of the night.
After breakfast in our room & a morning workout in the fitness room, we headed out for the South Shore, which is supposed to be the sunniest place on Kaua'i. I guess it was a good thing we went there, because it was raining everywhere else today. Our main goal for the day was: snorkeling!
Before arriving at the snorkel destination (Po'ipu Beach), we took a detour by the Spouting Horn. This is a blowhole, where the waves go under a lava shelf, and water spouts out of this hole, making kind of a hollow moaning sound. For those of you who have been to La Bufadora near Ensenada, Mexico, this is a similar phenomena (although La Bufadora is about 10 times a big as what we saw today).
After that excitement, we rented some snorkel gear for the week and hit the beach. Unfortunately, it was pretty cloudy and windy at the beach, and the last thing I wanted to do was to get into the water! My husband bravely went in first (I wanted to make sure there were enough fish to make it worth my effort), and I eventually followed. There were lots of tropical fish, and it's always so cool to get in there with them and swim around. They came right up to us (hoping for fish food, I'm sure). After 30 mins, we decided to get out--we were cold! All those notions of warm, tropical Hawaiian waters were not realized today! Brrrrr! We huddled up on our mats & towels to get warm. Then we watched a Hawaiian Monk Seal literally hop (waddle?) up out of the water and lay down on the sand about 200 feet from where we were laying. I guess they like to sunbathe on Po'ipu Beach too!
When we finally couldn't take the goosebumps anymore, we changed clothes and went for my second goal of the day: eating a Puka Dog.
Our friend Julie was the first to mention this place to us, and since then we've heard it reviewed by others (Anthony Bourdain, of the Travel channel, even visited this place!). Imagine a polish sausage wrapped in a hawaiian sweet bread roll, then injected with garlic lemon sauce, your choice of fruit relish and your choice of mustard. (We chose the mango relish and the lilikoi mustard.) 
It sounds kind of stomach-turning but it really was good!
Needing to walk the Puka Dog off, we drove up to Old Koloa Town, the major port of entry to Kaua'i in the 1800's and the birthplace of the sugar industry in Hawai'i. The town has carefully preserved many of the historical buildings, and they are used today (mostly as tourist shops). It had a lot of charm, and we enjoyed walking around. There was also a nice monument built to honor all of the ethnic groups who contributed to the sugar industry, many of them Asian immigrants.
'Nuff said! I'm going to go lay down and relax!!!
After breakfast in our room & a morning workout in the fitness room, we headed out for the South Shore, which is supposed to be the sunniest place on Kaua'i. I guess it was a good thing we went there, because it was raining everywhere else today. Our main goal for the day was: snorkeling!
Before arriving at the snorkel destination (Po'ipu Beach), we took a detour by the Spouting Horn. This is a blowhole, where the waves go under a lava shelf, and water spouts out of this hole, making kind of a hollow moaning sound. For those of you who have been to La Bufadora near Ensenada, Mexico, this is a similar phenomena (although La Bufadora is about 10 times a big as what we saw today).
After that excitement, we rented some snorkel gear for the week and hit the beach. Unfortunately, it was pretty cloudy and windy at the beach, and the last thing I wanted to do was to get into the water! My husband bravely went in first (I wanted to make sure there were enough fish to make it worth my effort), and I eventually followed. There were lots of tropical fish, and it's always so cool to get in there with them and swim around. They came right up to us (hoping for fish food, I'm sure). After 30 mins, we decided to get out--we were cold! All those notions of warm, tropical Hawaiian waters were not realized today! Brrrrr! We huddled up on our mats & towels to get warm. Then we watched a Hawaiian Monk Seal literally hop (waddle?) up out of the water and lay down on the sand about 200 feet from where we were laying. I guess they like to sunbathe on Po'ipu Beach too!
When we finally couldn't take the goosebumps anymore, we changed clothes and went for my second goal of the day: eating a Puka Dog.
Our friend Julie was the first to mention this place to us, and since then we've heard it reviewed by others (Anthony Bourdain, of the Travel channel, even visited this place!). Imagine a polish sausage wrapped in a hawaiian sweet bread roll, then injected with garlic lemon sauce, your choice of fruit relish and your choice of mustard. (We chose the mango relish and the lilikoi mustard.) 
It sounds kind of stomach-turning but it really was good! 
Needing to walk the Puka Dog off, we drove up to Old Koloa Town, the major port of entry to Kaua'i in the 1800's and the birthplace of the sugar industry in Hawai'i. The town has carefully preserved many of the historical buildings, and they are used today (mostly as tourist shops). It had a lot of charm, and we enjoyed walking around. There was also a nice monument built to honor all of the ethnic groups who contributed to the sugar industry, many of them Asian immigrants.
'Nuff said! I'm going to go lay down and relax!!!
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