The summer entering senior year, my grandparents took my cousins and I to Kauai. My aunt and her boyfriend went with us. I've never been to Hawaii before. Before we left, I was so excited but nervous at the same time. Excited to have a mini adventure with the most creative people I know. Nervous that there may be a natural disaster and the flight over the ocean.
Flying horrifies me. I guess you could say I have a fear of it. I'm scared that the plane will have a malfunction and go down and explode. When we got on the plane, my fear started kicking in and my 13 year old cousin was scared too. We held each others' hands and began to feel at ease because we knew that we would protect each other. Once we were in the air, we started feeling calm, but I felt my stomach drop every time the pilot turned the plane different directions.
When we landed in the Lihue Airport, I instantly felt the change in weather. It was not hot, rather it was so humid that it felt hot. Even though we arrived after dark, I could see that everything was greener than here in Reno. I was left in awe; the plants were huge and green, the flowers were so bright and colorful, and the people there were so friendly. Most of the population were Filipino, I felt like I was around long lost cousins. My grandparents chatted with many Filipinos on the island. People they didn't even know, but they were conversing as if they haven't seen each other in years. The resort that we stayed at, gave us an upgrade for free upon arrival. Three bedrooms, three bathrooms, and a kitchen full of cooking ware?! That was insane.
I have three favorite memories of Kauai: seeing three sea turtles, kayaking in the ocean, and the hikes. One day we headed to the south end of the island to Poipu Beach. My 14 year old cousin and I ditched everyone in the lagoon or shallow section of the beach and we went to the actual part of the beach to "ride the waves." The beach was instantly deep within 3 feet of walking into the water. The waves were HUGE. My cousin and I wore goggles and when we saw the waves approaching we would swim to it and try to jump over the wave. On the biggest wave that swallowed us, we both opened our eyes under the water and saw huge sea turtle about a few inches from our face. He was so excited that he sprinted back to the lagoon to brag to his sisters that he and I were the first ones to see a sea turtle.
One morning we left at the crack of dawn to go to Hanelei Bay to get all the paperwork filled out for our kayaking tour. My fourteen year old cousin and I paired together, while my aunt paired with her boyfriend and my thirteen year old cousin with her 18 year old sister. My partner and I along with my other cousins are really competitive so we decided to make it a competition. We started out in the river and there were trees along the water that had flowers fall into the river. Whoever put the most flowers into the other kayak one. We, my team, were winning. but we were cheating. You had to use your paddle to move the flowers, but we were throwing them into their kayak. When we reached the ocean, Secret Beach (because you can only get their through the river), we all went snorkeling. With my aunt, I saw two more sea turtles! I really wanted to touch them, but I didn't have the money to pay the $10,000 fine. In the coral reef, there were neon fish, schools of fish, puffy fish, all kinds of fish. I never thought that they were always so close to the shore. I was always swimming with fish and I never knew it. They gave us sandwiches and fruit for lunch, it was so fresh and juicy. The pineapple there is so sweet and tangy and juicy, the best I've ever had.
We took multiple hikes throughout the time that we were vacationing. One thing that is unique with Kauai is that the chickens roam free. There is an urban legend that the chicken farms were destroyed due to a tsunami and the islanders never fixed them up because there was a chance that they would be destroyed again, however, if you ask an islander why they roam free, they do not know the answer. On our hikes, we tried catching the chickens, but failed. If you catch one, you get to keep it. I found a trail and trees marked the pathway. It was so green. Everything was like a different shade of green, I didn't know that there were that many shades of that color. On all of our hikes, I felt like I was roaming in the jungle with the vines and trees and animals roaming around. My favorite hike, was to the caves next to Tunnels Beach. The caves were so pretty to me. Looking out from you could see the green trees and the blue skies and even the ocean, Beautiful.
The night we left, was in fact a lucky one. The winds were picking up in speed and the rain was getting heavier. The morning I landed in Reno, the big island was hit by a hurricane.
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