Wiamea
Canyon is a tough act to follow, but we gave it our best
try. Kathleen found a sugar cane plantation steam train
that only operated once a month and it this was the day.
So, we headed out to see it in action.
The photos below are what we saw.
The
train is named after the plantation owner, Paulo.
The
engine is from Germany and was put into service at the end of
the 1880's.
The cane
train used wood as fuel which is easy to acquire in the jungle.
The
nominal operating pressure is 150 psi, but the engineer stated
that he could get motion at only 30 psi.
The
manufacturer's plate is still attached to the engine. The
train ride was "underwhelming" in that they only had 1500 feet
of serviceable track due to a recent hurricane. But, it
was cool to see an old steam engine still in service.
We went
to Gaylord's at a nearby plantation and we saw this interesting
fruit growing on one of the trees near the restaurant.
The root
structure on this tree was quite complex.
These
flowers were in bloom and the purple colors were very vivid.
This
plant had red leaves.
This
tractor had been in service on the sugar cane plantation but is
now rusting away. After the plantation we had to hit the
store and then headed back to the house for the evening.
Our plan was to BBQ chicken, but the BBQ had other plans.
We did eventually get the chicken cooked but it took a long
time.
Next
morning we headed to Kukuiula Harbor to check it out.
There was a small, but nice beach and houses right at the
water's edge.
The
houses along the beach had their back yards facing the ocean.
The rock
here is, not surprisingly, volcanic in origin. When the
lava cools it results in "pillows" with angular sides, roughly
hexagonal.
Kauai is
rife with feral chickens and Kukuiula Harbor was no
exception. Note the hen in the left rear with chicks.
The
harbor quay is used for sightseeing, fishing and dive tours.
The
"Spouting Horn" is a hole in the lava that channels the surf
into giant towers of spume.
The
girls went into the water, I just watched. Sandee got
sandy and even Rio got wet.
I
spotted this cardinal looking for handouts.
Being a
pushover, I gave the bird my apple core. He knew exactly
what to do.
While
the demographics of the island's visitors is quite skewed to the
antiquated, there were a few pleasurable exceptions. This
gal and her beau dove off the end of the pier.
Snorkeling
was a popular pastime.
After
the harbor, we headed to the Sheraton
Hotel at Poipu Beach for lunch. The food was OK (not
excellent, but well above mediocre) but the beach was awesome.
The pool
area was quite nice.
We
walked along the beach and got nice views of the surf.
Sandy
portions of the beach were interspersed with areas of lava
boulders making swimming impractical if not dangerous.
The rocks did provide a dry path to a tide pool area so I went to see what was there. Above are some kind of sea cucumbers and urchin. The water was clear and quite still allowing me to photograph without getting wet.
Kathleen
spotted this colorful yellow and black fish in the tide pool.
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Photos and Text Copyright Bill Caid 2016, all rights
reserved.
For your enjoyment only, not for commercial use.