What makes a husband happy

In the same spirit of "we'll never be here again so we might as well do it large", I booked the seven-hour boat tour with Holo-Holo Charters. It left from Port Allen in the south and traveled all the way up to the Napali Coast, with an hour of snorkeling at Niihau Island on the way.

We left just after sunrise, having awoken at 4:30. I had Bethany call us just to make sure we woke up on time, although we had been running on Oregon time ever since we arrived.

First stop: Niihau Island, also known as the Forbidden Island. It has an interesting history. Some of it is told on this marker from the Pihea Trail.

The rest of it was heard in snippets from various guides we encountered and is thus suspect as to authenticity.
The island was purchased from the Kingdom of Hawaii by Elizabeth Sinclair in 1864 for $10,000. It ended a long story of migration for the Sinclair family, starting in their native Scotland, then moving to New Zealand and Canada before landing in Hawaii. Her descendants, the Robinson family, still own the island.
I have been unable to substantiate most of the tales that were told by guides, so I won't repeat them here. But this much is true. The island inhabitants mostly speak Hawaiian. They have no running water and no central power system. No paved roads, telephones, or cars. Most food is brought in from Kaua'i and is canned. A shell lei from Niihau, for which it can take years to collect the shells and then construct, sells for hundreds or thousands of dollars. Entrance to the island has been forbidden by the Robinsons since 1915, in order to preserve the way of life of the islanders.
It is a strange place indeed. You can take a half-day helicopter tour of the island for a mere $385, including snorkeling. Go here and here if you want to read more about the island.
We should have done it.

We, ourselves, spent an hour snorkeling on a coral reef on the island. The Robinsons allow boat tours to approach the reef as long as they are not intrusive. 

Snorkeling.

I never knew how much I wanted to do it, until I did. It was one of the best hours of my life. I was a little petrified (although not as much as when I leaped into thin air on the first zip line of the next day), but was immediately enthralled by the myriads of varieties of colourful fish that swam just beneath me on the reef.  I got a little teary, it was so beautiful and I loved it so much. I swam and swam and didn't want to get out. Jeff stayed in close proximity, not trusting me to stay out of trouble. 

I was the last one out of the water.

And I can't wait to do it again.

Did you know you can get prescription masks? It was like a little miracle.

Too bad I didn't have an underwater camera. I could have inundated you with fishy pictures.

Here we are, in front of the keyhole. 

I think that is what it's called.

I am always windblown and/or sweaty in these holiday photos.

We booked it up the coast to get some close-up time with the Napali Coast. I confess, I felt a little nauseous, but managed to breathe deeply and did not disgrace myself.

Jeff, on the other hand, was in his element. One of the biggest surprises of the day was how much my husband loves being on a boat. I'm not talking cruise ship type of boat here, but a smaller one that is more at the mercy of the sea. When we were going very fast and noisily and everyone was sitting down and holding on tight, Jeff was standing next to the rail, holding on with one hand, his face to the spray that was being kicked up by our passage, getting soaked to the skin, and with a most beautific smile on his face. How I wished that I had my camera handy, but it was on the other side of the boat and I couldn't move for fear of losing my continental breakfast. The image is burned into my mind forever. 

He is a true Coastie at heart.

Here we are, back at the Napali Coast, only at sea level this time.

As I mentioned before, many of these beaches are only accessible by boat. Hippies live on some of them, illegally, and the locals hate it. The captain said that sometimes there are nudists. I took this close-up just to check, but I'm pretty sure they all have clothes.

To put that last photo in perspective, here is an un-zoomed photo. The captain said the dune on the beach is over 100 feet high. You can barely (ha ha, get it?) see the people as wee specks on the beach.

 I think he said the coastal cliffs here are the second-highest in the world.

Lots of caves, waterfalls, scenes used in movies, blah blah blah.

And Jeff's joy did not diminish as the day went on.

Especially since he had access to unlimited pop.

The tour was a tad longer than I would have liked, but Jeff would have taken a few more hours, so I guess it evened out.

Casualty of the day: Jeff's favourite Coastguard hat, complete with Antarctica pin. He had been sitting down, minding his own business, when he noticed a wasp on a part of his personage that was kind of embarrassing to swat. The boat was moving very fast, meaning lots of strong wind, so I told him to stand up and I would brush it off with a towel. Well, he stood up and that wind whipped the hat right off his head. It didn't stand a chance.

Neither did the wasp.