Hawaii Journal: 2007 part 5

I went swimming this morning, about five minutes by car from our B&B. Terry walked in the water for a while, then retreated to a spot under a wide-spreading tree to read. We passed several beaches which were either down a steep wooded hillside, or had warning signs about tides and waves and currents, until we reached a protected, accessible beach. The warning signs are mainly for other seasons. In May the sea around Hawaii is, we are told, as benign as it ever is. I don't even swim in a pool without someone watching. All you need is one little problem in the water. It's not like land.

Since I was wearing goggles, I could study the sea bed. There were deep canyons in the ocean bed. I was swimming over them, but if I had been walking I would have suddenly stepped into crevices which would have swallowed me to my shoulders. Fish too numerous to count hugged the canyons.

In the afternoon we tried again to see the vaunted Hawaii sunset, but it was once again was a bust. A bust for Hawaii, that is. The sky was still infinite, with patches of clouds coming from Japan, and rosy, but not the display that this place is famous for.

We played GO on the seashore at the Hanalei public beach. There was a surfing school, sailboats, a jetty with a gazebo at the end, and picnic tables. Dozens of people were watching the sunset with us. It is cloying to imagine that if one lived here, one could stroll out to such a place virtually every night of the year. I suppose that, like the many Greeks I knew who hadn't ever visited the Acropolis, familiarity breeds contempt.

At the nature preserve at the Wailua Lighthouse there were Frigate Birds, Albatross, Red- and White-Tailed Boobies, Shearwaters. Birdwatching was easy as taking candy from a baby -- there hundreds of birds. They are serious about preservation here.

We always search for fine dining, and were well satisfied at the Bar Acuda. Tapas – goat cheese cheesecake (not sweet), Guinness Stout Chocolate Cake. The delightful maitresse d’ was a former New York lawyer who moved out here in January, and lives with the non-necessarily-logical confidence (let's call it "faith") that her student loans will get paid off. She has just joined an outrigger canoe team and cannot imagine ever leaving.