Hideaways Beach

So far, the best snorkeling we've found on Kauai is about 5 minutes from our condo. A small place called Hideaways Beach, accessible by hiking/scrambling down a cliff, offers a large off-shore reef with deep pools where fish like to hide. Even though it's not summer yet, the water was 76 degrees, and Betsy and I were able to snorkel without a wetsuit. I'm not sure what it is about snorkeling that entrances me, but something about being able to get so close to something so foreign could keep me in the water for hours. Luckily we have ten days.

This is the humuhumunukunuku apu a'a, otherwise known as the former state fish of Hawa'ii. I'm not sure why its status was rescinded -- maybe it took too long to say the name, or wasted too much space on official documents.

I'm sure this fish has a name too, but I couldn't find it. Nonetheless, it's probably the most ubiquitous fish we've seen so far.

These are four-spot butterfly fish.

We call this a "needle-nose," but it's not listed on the guide.

These two followed each other around -- I think the blue one has a crush on the yellow one.

I refer to this one simply as "the big dude." You can't really tell from this picture, but it was just under two feet long. I swear.

Manybar goatfish

Paradise Found

I know that Shangri-La is supposed to be a mythical location, and that the very definition of utopia implies that it can't exist, but Betsy and I have stumbled upon something pretty darn close. When our Spring Break plans for Japan were scuttled, we "settled" on the island of Kauai, which, according to our friends, boasted some of the best snorkeling, surfing, and hiking on the islands. So far, we've been treated to 80-degree weather, turquoise waters, lush landscapes, and jagged mountains peeking up through the clouds. Not to mention the surf crashing right outside our window, and shave-ice available at every roadside stand. We even have our own resident rooster (the island is over-run with about 70,000 wild chickens) to wake us up in the morning. Milton was wrong.

The view from our bedroom window. Ahhhh...

Betsy samples the island delicacy -- rainbow shave ice over macadamia nut ice cream.