Tuesday we had entire day to ourselves. We had a leisurely breakfast, enjoyed swimming in the pools, then we went on our first excursion, which was a 4×4 van ride and rainforest hike. Our guide, Paul, was quite a character, but also very knowledgeable about the fauna in the rainforest. The van ride was bumpier than I expected, but wasn’t too bad. We hiked for about an hour or so up to Mount Waialeale, about 5,000 feet. There is actually a pretty big crater there from where the volcano erupted many years ago. There are no active volcanoes on Kauai now. The crater has filled into a swamp – the world’s highest swamp. It is also the wettest place in the world, with an average rainfall of 450-500 inches. That’s about 1.5 inches per day! It rained a little bit while we were there, but not really heavily, which was nice.
Wednesday morning there was another employee meeting, which included a brief talk by Paul Ricci and also David Plouffe, which was very interesting. Then we went on our second excursion, which was snorkeling on the beach at Wailau. It was some pretty nice snorkeling, though after honeymooning in the Galapagos, everything else sort of pales in comparison. Wednesday evening there was a luau at the old plantation.
- Our 4×4 van for the rainforest excursion
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- Very specific signs in the bathrooms
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- Mountains
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- Reds, greens, and blues
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- Opaekaa falls
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- Clare at Opaekaa falls
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- Pretty wildflowers
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- Wildflowers on a mountain
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- Thick rainforest
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- Purple flowers
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- Rainforest plants
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- Our guide Paul (left) and others
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- Water regulation for irigation ditch
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- Sign on irrigation ditch
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- Head of the river in the rainforest
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- Mini-waterfall
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- Clare peaking out between some trees
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- Our guide checking things out
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- Clare by the river
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- Rob by the river
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- Luau band
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- Clare and Rob at the Luau
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- Enjoying the Luau
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- Clare and Rob at the waterfall at the Luau
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- Mike and Tammy – our best friends for the week
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- Another new friend – Daljeet
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