The highlight was our second turtle sighting of the trip. This one was much bigger than the first we saw at Lehua, and I got really close to him for a picture. Kelly has the honor of this turtle spotting. She found it after hanging out near a reef where she saw bubbles emerging through the cracks. The turtles sleep in there overnight and then emerge in the morning (note: it’s possible I just made that up). The turtle is the only creature in the ocean that will not alter its behavior no matter what you do. You can thrash in the water, you can swim up to them; it doesn’t matter, they are going to keep the same leisurely pace as if you were never there. They would make great European waiters.
We had lunch, a latte, and a smoothie at a sandwich shop, where we were served delicious food over the counter by snotty 14 year old girls. “Can I have a Panini with a side of scorn on the job?” Kauai in general has horrible service. There are exceptions, but many service industry workers are teenage girls, and it seems there’s nobody around to instill the basics of good service. It’s so hard to find good help these days on sparsely populated tropical islands.
We found one of the service exceptions that night at a restaurant in Hanalei. Really friendly service, great food, and a Hawaiian guitar duo that sounded really great. Some local Hawaiian women (and one of the band members) got up to Hula to some of the songs. For me this was the best dinner experience we had on Kauai, which I’m sure was not at all influenced by the fact that we came straight from a bar where I was poured a tropical drink that was way too strong.
