Full Weekend

It was a fun and exciting long holiday weekend here. We kicked it off with dinner on Friday night at Yum Cha, an asian eatery located on the grounds of the Hyatt on the south shore. Dinner was delicious, but made all the better by the hollywood star sighting - Pierce Brosnan. We've been saying things lately like "Yeah, we grabbed a quick dinner with James Bond and his kids this past Friday, no big thing." I believe he owns a house here on Kauai and in considering how we would like to be treated while enjoying dinner with family, we didn't bother him and tried not to stare too much. This was a difficult task for Big Den.

The next morning, Big Den and I arose early to meet a friend at Port Allen small boat harbor for some deep sea fishing. We introduced ourselves and headed out on the water. We watched the sun rise out of the ocean and light the water so we could see the crystal clear blue. We trolled for awhile attempting to catch some big fish without any luck. Then we did some jigging to try and hook some Ahi (Yellowfin tuna) despite the outlook on the fish finder looking pretty bleak. Alan, our captain managed to hook something, handed the rod to me and I promptly lost whatever it was. I gave it a few more casts and then one of the other guys managed to hook something and reeled it in - a small one, good for a few pounds of fileted ahi. From that point we started to hook fish with some consistency for a total of 9. After getting the boat on the trailer, the guys taught us how to filet the fish and generously gave us 8 of the 9. We iced them down, drove home and I spent probably an hour trying to end my career while slicing up the fish. I enjoyed some sashimi while I worked. By the time it was over, I had about 20 dinner-size portions and most importanly, all my fingers intact. I would have made some sushi, but we were in a bit of a rush to get to the north shore to check in for our weekend escape. Ahi to the freezer and the 5 of us to the car for our trip to the north shore.

We checked in and were pretty happy with the place at Puu Poa. The condo overlooked the cliffs down to the ocean in near enough proximity that you could easily see the reef below surface - it beckoned to be explored with snorkels and fins. I made some fresh margaritas and we picked up pizza for dinner, but best of all we relaxed someplace with our everyday concerns far from our thoughts. Em and I had not been on a true vacation together for over 6 months and we missed the respite (even though you could argue that our whole life here in Hawaii is a vacation).

Maddie did well with her new surroundings and slept pretty well in our room.

Here's what she had to say about the trip.

In the morning, Em and I left Maddie with her grandparents and headed down the slippery trail to Hideaways beach with some snorkel gear. I headed out and saw tons of fish in the clear water.

After I don't know how long, I swam back to the beach to Em and we headed back up to the condo to eat some lunch and grab the rest of the crew to head back down to the beach.

Big Den and I spent hours in the water exploring the reef and well...I'll let the pictures and video speak for themselves.

More fresh margaritas and some Mexican for dinner which is a special treat for us since we don't really have a Mexican restaurant withing 45 minutes.

The next morning we packed up and headed to Hanalei Bay so the guys could paddle the Hanalei River and the girls could hang at the beach. The weather didn't cooperate as well as it could have so we got some rain on the river and the girls ended up at some of the shops. Nonetheless, paddling was nice with decent views of the mountains above Hanalei. I paddled it to the end and back while Big Den drifted and cast a line from his kayak. On our return to the mouth of the river we met up with the girls and had some excellent tacos at Pat's Taqueria. Then we headed back home after a restful, exciting and fulfilling weekend. All I can say is Hideaways is now THE beach in my book! 'Til next time...