Fun day! The condo was essentially on a cliff over the Pacific. We had a terrific view of the sea and the life in it. On two separate occasions we saw sea turtles moseying by, and there was one miraculous moment in which we saw a whole pod of dolphins frolic across the ocean. There had to be at least 10 of them, with one little baby continuously jumping out of the water in a playful spin. So beautiful.

While there was no easy way to get over all the rocks down to sea level by the condo, the property next door has a more gradual rocky decent. We donned our water shoes and made our way down to the splashing water. Numerous books and guides warn about not getting too close because the water can pull you out to sea. Ignoring these warnings, we made our way onto the lower rocks to look at the innumerable snails, mussels, crabs and sea urchins enjoying the water. The water was noisy and splashed us as we tinkered about like little kids. Afterwards, we made a brief stop-off at the condo for lunch and some laps in the pool (we were like little kids again, racing from one side to the other, diving, throwing the keys in the water and racing to see who gets them first), then we went into Koloa for some snorkels and masks.

After paying out the nose for the latest in snorkel technology and some fins (we mentioned the dolphins to the guy who waited on us and he said, "Wow, that's really rare!" Yay, us!), we went off to the Beach House Restaurant which is known for having some great snorkeling reefs just off the beach. "Beach" in this description is about 8 feet of sand, with virtually all of it under water at high tide. The rough surf and big rocks made getting into the water difficult but it was certainly worth it. There were lots of beautiful fish and neat rocks that made the experience delightful.

From there we took a trip to Glass Beach, recommended by Becky at the swing dance in Honolulu. Glass beach was an interesting sight. Imagine tons of little pieces of glass washed up on the beach, after having been rolled and tumbled around until they are smooth and innocuous - and beautiful! The place is right by this industrial area where there are big gas tanks and an old dump - thus the glass litter. But the glass was actually really pretty, and depending on where you went on the beach the average size of the glass was different. We took lots of pictures to show what we mean.

About 15 minutes after puttering around on Glass Beach, Damon realized that he'd had his shirt off but hadn't put sunscreen on his back. Typically very pale, Damon was now red and sore. Despite working hard to keep from getting sunburned on the trip he was now quite toasty. He sat in the car for the next 10-15 minutes while Amy continued investigating glass beach.

Next we took a road trip to Waimea canyon. Along the way we stopped at what was reported to be the best shave ice on the island. JoJo's in Waimea. [N21.95592 W159.66971] Amy got the number 1 - rainbow save ice with macadamia nut ice cream. Damon got the grape. Yum!

Waimea canyon is considered to be the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific." It was breathtaking. The drive was really nice and Amy took lots of pictures. Damon got out to look at the canyon but kept a towel over him at all times.

Oh! We forgot to mention the chickens and roosters. In Hawai’i they are everywhere. You see them wandering along the highway, on personal property, hanging out in the grocery store parking lot, and occasionally ordering from Burger King. And they were everywhere at Waimea. Amy loved taking pictures of them.

After the canyon we continued onto Polihale national park. The trip out to Polihale involved a long drive along a dirt road. A long, bumpy drive. Once we got there the view was again breathtaking. It's a huge beach. Huge meaning that it's about 100 yards wide and a few miles long. Of sand. No pier, no boardwalk, no umbrellas, no noise except the ocean. Not even any birds! Just sand and water, with the grassy dunes behind us and some huge cliffs on one end of the beach (the beginning of Kaua’i's famous Na Pali Coastline). It was easy to imagine being on some different planet. There were probably 10 people or so that we could see, but it was easy to have a field of view completely devoid of other humans. It was a good private beach. Unfortunately, at that point our camera battery was dead and we were sun saturated. So it was back to the condo for dinner and relaxation.

Relaxation this night was difficult to come by. When we returned to the condo we started finding cockroaches. Some little ones and some big palmetto bugs! Flying! Ick! We killed a few, closed some windows, and watched the first part of "The Longest Day" before going to bed. Sometime around 1am Damon bolted out of bed, awakened by one of the palmetto bugs landing on right him. ACK! Needless to say, we packed up some stuff and moved out to sleep in the car for the rest of the night. Here it is, the eve of our wedding ceremony, and we're sleeping in the car. If we could get through this we could handle anything.