Great Hikes on the Hawaiian Island of Kauai %blog_title%

Popoki

Thursday, Sep 1st, 2005 by Andy | 2 Comments
Filed under: Fauna

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.

Fenced In

Wednesday, Aug 31st, 2005 by Andy | Leave a Comment
Filed under: Photography

This is another picture from last weekend’s fair, taken near the bleachers of the baseball field at Vidinha Stadium. I liked the way the mountains were still visible behind all three fences and how the bleachers and fences created repeated diamond and lozenge patterns. The closest fence isn’t as well centered as I would’ve liked, but Sonja was getting impatient while I was taking this.

The mountains are the peaks of Haupu Ridge, south of Lihue. They are visible from all over town and give it a tropical back-drop, but there are no trails there. The highest peak visible here is about 1700 feet (500 meters) tall.

Solar Electricity

Wednesday, Aug 31st, 2005 by Andy | 4 Comments
Filed under: Environment, Homeowner

Another attraction at the fair was the vendor’s tent where we talked to Bob from Sol Systems, a local solar electricity contractor (website currently broken). Somewhere down the line, I’d love to install photovoltaic panels all over the garage roof and get free electricity. The problem is that the panels and all the other electrical hardware can run upwards of $24,000 for a house the size of ours. With monthly electric bills between $100 and $150, it will take a long time before the electricity is really free.

However, since the electric company burns oil and naphtha on Kauai to produce electricity, our rates will probably go up unless the utility increases its proportion of renewable energy sources. The sad part is that the price of solar panels is going up as demand increases faster than supply.

The type of system we would get is called grid-tied. This means that there are no batteries and you sell electricity to the grid during the day and buy oil-generated electricity at night. Such systems have become much more common recently, because the electronics to do so have become more available. This is good for the electric company because it helps reduce the peak generating capacity they need during the day due to air conditioning and business activity. Hawaii state law mandates that the companies purchase home-produced power, although they do not pay you beyond what you use. You can reduce your electric bill to zero on a monthly basis, but you can’t get carry-over credit or any money back.

Orchids and Bonsai

Wednesday, Aug 31st, 2005 by Andy | Leave a Comment
Filed under: Flora, Photography

Another cool thing at the “county” fair last weekend was the orchid and bonsai displays. Like the farm animals, fruits, and vegetables, they were also being judged, though I suspect the orchid and bonsai clubs just like to put on a show. I must be getting older and more like my father because when I was a kid, I didn’t care that much for gardens and plant displays, but he would always take us to see them.

Sadly, there was a theft of several bonsai that night from the fair grounds, despite having security guards.

Note – These photos were taken in a tent that gave everything a red hue, so I have color-adjusted them to make them appear as if in normal daylight. You can still tell the lighting isn’t quite normal. As a principle, I do not modify my photos other than to occasionally crop them, though I will sometimes adjust the brightness, contrast, or color not to enhance, but to make it look more normal.

Kalihiwai

Sunday, Aug 28th, 2005 by Andy | Leave a Comment
Filed under: Beaches, Kayaking

We spent all of today at Kalihiwai beach, the one where we got married almost a year ago. It’s a great beach, very wide, very long, fine sand, no rocks, lots of snorkeling spots, and even shade most of the day. We arrived early around 10 am and saw some spinner dolphins in the bay. They’re always around, but that was the first time either of us had seen them. We snorkeled out to see them, and we saw them jump out of the water and spin around in the air from about 50 yards away. When we tried to swim closer, they just swam off.

Later, we borrowed our friend’s kayak to paddle out to sea, around the rocky point to the next beach east. We were hoping to see more dolphins, but all we got were nice views of the coast. We were never more than 100 yards from shore, and the ocean was as flat as it gets without much wind, so it was really easy as could be. Both of us are new to kayaking, but it’s lots of fun to be out on the water, and you get to see the island from a different perspective. Also, it’s something Sonja has no trouble doing while pregnant.

After a picnic, some frisbee on the beach, and some more snorkeling in the bay, we took the kayaks on the river. It’s very green and peaceful, but I think the view of the valley is better from the road bridge. Still, well worth the effort, and you can go all the way up the river to a waterfall. Also, the river was so flat, I risked taking the camera along, so that’s where I took todays photos: