Up the Wailua River

Over the weekend, we went exploring with our Kayak on the Wailua river. We launced from the beach, right between the bridges. First, we paddled upstream on the really wide part of the river. At the branch, we took the left side, which is the South Fork. A little ways futher we landed at the Fern Grotto, about 2.2 miles (3.5 km) upstream from the beach. Although the entire river is a State Park, the only way to see the Fern Grotto is with a paid tour on Smith’s Boats or by private kayak. Rental kayaks are not supposed to land there so that Smith’s has the monopoly, and they don’t make it easy for private kayaks to land either.

I don’t think I’d ever pay money to ride a boat with a bunch of tourists to see the Fern Grotto, but it makes an interesting side trip to kayaking. And since it was late Sunday afternoon, we had the place to ourselves. There used to be more ferns and a tropical garden along the paved path to the Grotto, but I hear they were all damanged in hurricane Iniki and poorly maintained since. Right now, they are doing some major work on the structures, and it looks even worse in the meantime. However, the ferns are growing back and the grotto itself looks nice with water dripping down in front, as long as you can ignore the metal railaing and cement path.

We then paddled another half-mile (1km) up the South Fork, nearly halfway to Wailua Falls from the Grotto. We went through another narrow spot in the river, and then the scenery opened up with some pastures and house at the bottom of a wide river valley. The river got shallower and faster, so we had to work to paddle upstream. At the point where we had to turn around, some cows were watching us curiously.

These pastures are inholdings in the state park, incidentally where the powerhouse is being proposed for the Wailua Falls Hydroelectic Project that I argued against previously. You can see the distance we paddled on the map at that link.

Kalihi

It turns out that Sonja wants to keep the orphaned kitten she saved from the pound. We ended up naming him Kalihi, since we found him at Kalihiwai beach. One meaning of “ka lihi” is “the speck” or “the crumb” which I guess is fitting while he’s small.

He is very cute and playful, but sometimes he just has too much energy. We usually keep him around us when we’re home, and I take him down to the office to “baby-sit” during the day. So he’s been very good practice for our own baby due in November, but I wonder if he won’t be too much by then. I’d like to find him a nice home.

Here he is climbing the screen door of the office. Fortunately, he is light enough he doesn’t tear the screen (yet!) and he still hasn’t figured out how to use the door handle.

Island of the Apes

I recently discoverd Monkeywire.org, which has lots of interesting articles about primates in their archives. Many articles report on the latest behavioral research, wherein we learn that primates mourn their dead, understand money, steal only when others are not watching, try to fit in, and pick up human habits such as smoking.

With more research, we might even find some primates have legends that deny they evolved from lemurs. Now that I’ve said that, I need to make a new blog rule forbidding religious discussions here.

What’s the connection to Kauai? Well, the plans for a Maui Ape Center seems to be falling through, and though it is pure speculation on my part, I wonder if they considered relocating to Kauai. Which leads me to ponder whether a primate sanctuary is compatible with a Hawaiian island. It would definitely be out of place culturally, but so is much of the tourism here. And I assume there is little chance of the primates escaping, so we shouldn’t have to worry about another invasive species.

In the end, I think an environmentally oriented research center would help reinforce Kauai’s image as a protected place. So, I think someone should invite the preserve to Kauai.

Popoki

In order to give us some practice for being parents, we have been taking care of a kitten that we found last weekend near Kalihiwai Beach. It’s not one of the wild cats you see around the island, a local fisherman found it in his garage and was going to take it to the pound. Sonja wanted to find it a better home, and take care of it in the mean time. Even I couldn’t resist its cuteness:

We cleaned out its eyes, fed it milk with an eye-dropper, and tried to console it of its lost mother. We also got it looked at by a vet who says it’s about 6 weeks old and probably male (it’s hard to tell). It’s old enough to eat solid food, so we quickly weaned it from the milk and it also learned to use the litter-box very quickly, for which we’re grateful. We carry it around to the kitchen or the office while it eats, sleeps, and plays most of the day, then lock it in the bathroom at night. We’ve been calling it Popoki, which is “cat” in Hawaiian, but we’re thinking Kali would be better.

Let me know in a comment if you can think of a better name, or if you’re on Kauai and want to adopt him.

Goats and Coconuts

This is just a whimsical photo taken near the Foodland shopping center in Waipouli, halfway between our house and downtown Kapaa. Even in Hawaii it is rare to see animals grazing in a coconut grove, especially in a shopping district. Kauai still has some rural charm to it.