Day 3 - Poipu (South Shore)
Day 3 was the first day of snorkeling. Mischa and I had never snorkeled before so we all headed to Lydgate Park very close to our condo (maybe a mile to the south). They have an area totally enclosed by lava rocks. This was perfect for beginners. It took a bit to get used to the fact that I could still breath with my head under water, and that my eyes weren't going to hurt if I kept them open. After forced hyperventilation and head submersion I got the hang of it. My only regret is that I didn't try this SOONER! It was awesome! I didn't have an underwater camera so I don't have any pictures. Unfortunate since at one point I was swimming inside a school of very large fish. Neato!
After snorkeling we headed back to the condo to take showers and change. I didn't realize sea water could be so sticky. Yikes. Then we headed down to Poipu and the south shore to see what was down there. It was pretty late in the day, so we only got to see two places and I only have photos of one of the places. Check out the map if you want to see the location of the towns I'm talking about.
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The first place we stopped was just an overlook on a lava rock beach. However,
we quickly found a way down onto the rocks. There were a couple of fishermen
out but other than that we had the rocks to ourselves. We spent quite some
time watching the waves crash against the rocks.
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There were a couple of tidepools in the rocks, like this one. Most of them
were small but they still had sea anenomes and snails, and even a few small
fish. We didn't spend any time tidepooling while we were there, which I
regret. I never even got to see a starfish.
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We saw a number of these plants in our journeys. I haven't gotten a plant book
yet, so I can't identify what plant this was. Hopefully I'll get my hands on
one soon, since there are a number of plants I want to be able to identify.
But it sure did look cool.
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This is looking back at the street from my vantage point I'd climbed to. On
the wall you can barely make out Scott and Mischa, probably wondering who the
wacko was climbing out on the rocks by the waves...
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Okay, I just think lava rocks are cool, can you blame me? We did see a number
of smaller whitish rocks which I was hoping would be pumice, but they had
an amazing inability to float, so I guess not. Here's another picture of
the lava rock "quarry" I was perched on to watch the sunset.
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As the sun began to set, the lava rocks started taking on a reddish glow.
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I ran back up and grabbed Scott and Mischa to point out the better vantage
point I'd found. They apparently agreed because here's Scott taking picture
number 259.
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I finally got Scott's attention. Woo hoo! A people shot! And don't they
look like rugged mountaineers?
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Okay, here are the requisite sunset shots. Did I mention what a great way
this is to end the day? Sound of the ocean, a slight breeze, and a gorgeous
sunset. And people wonder why I didn't want to come back..
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So, I'm a lazy butt and didn't want to run back to the car to get my tripod.
So I made this long exposure resting my camera on some rocks (which is why
the horizon is askew). It's one of my favorite sunset shots, though!
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I like this sunset shot because the sun looks like those typical Serengetti
sunset shots. Except with water instead of desert. As the sun went down,
I think I got to see the elusive "green flash." All the other sunsets we saw
were too cloudly to ever look for the green flash again.. After the sunset we
drove off to another beach (it was still quite light out) and checked out the
snorkeling possibilities. Then we headed to Roy's which is EXCELLENT. Save
room for the chocolate souffle!
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All photos copyright Anne Sullivan