The Hat That Wouldn't Die

Today we had reservations on the Blue Dolphin Sunset Tour of the Napali Coast. It was another beautiful day on the island, so we headed south a few hours before our scheduled checkin time of 2:00.

Our first stop of the day was a roadside lunch truck that served garlic shrimp & rice plates. We were a little leery, but ordered anyway. We were glad we did. For $20 we left full and satisfied. Our cheapest meal on the island yet!

Our next stop was the National Tropical Botanical Gardens. We thought this would be a relaxing way to kill a couple of hours. We were wrong. The gardens themselves were only accessible by tram on a guided 2.5 hour tour. We did see lots and lots (and lots) of spiders around the Visitor's Center, though. When we found out that they could jump six feet we decided to head on out.

So we decided to visit the Spouting Horn. There were some cute little shops all around the park, so we picked up a few souvenirs for those of you that we like (if you don't get a gift, you'll know you're not one of them :) ... then walked over to the viewing area to see what all the fuss is about. The waves were pretty calm so it wasn't as big as much as it usually was, but still we saw some neat sprays ...



Oh, and we also saw ...

CHICKENS!

Our day was starting to get away from us, so we thought we should start making our way to Port Allen. We passed Koloa Landing and the Shrimp Truck and realized eating there might not have been the best idea. Both Casey and Jennie were having gastrointestinal difficulties by now. I must have a rock gut. I was fine (whew!)

The boat tour was great. We secured a spot on the right side of the boat and enjoyed the calm waters up the coast of Napali. The captain was playing relaxing music and the crew was serving pretzels and soda. When we heard the theme song from Titanic, Jennie just couldn't help herself.

We were kicking back looking at the awesome coastline when the captain informed us that there were spinner dolphins at the bow of the boat. And he wasn't kidding! There were a half a dozen at least, playing as we went in reverse and watched them in awe.

Then a catastrophe occurred.

We couldn't believe it.

No matter how hard we tried.

Jennie's hat flew overboard.

The crew must have really wanted tips that day because the rang the bells, stopped the boat, then went back to retrieve it!

It took a few passes before the crew chick, Meredith, was able to hook it and reel it in, but our hat eventually came back to us, from the deep blue pacific ocean. It may be bent and stink of fish now, but it will always have a special place in our hearts.

Now that every hat was accounted for, we continued north, almost to Ke'e beach, where the road ended to the north. We saw waterfalls, and hikers, caves, goats, and deserted villages. This is something we will remember forever.



On the way back we saw whales spouting, and a baby jumping out of the water and breaching over and over again. It's the end of whale season here so we didn't expect to see any left, so we were pleased to experience that. The moments were too fleeting to get pictures of the whales, but we did get a snapshot of us with the sunset (the $40 sweatshirt I bought at the charter office sure came in handy, let me tell you!)


After we docked we drove home and collapsed into bed at 8:00. We only have two days left, so we're off to enjoy the rest of our holiday.

Aloha!