Anini Beach 18 July 2017

Driving on Kauai's east side has become a chore -- narrow roads, too many cars, every one with a single driver. No meaningful public transport, and anyway, who'd want to take da bus? So we negotiated the slow-moving parking lot to Kapaa in search of groceries and lunch, then drove to the end of the road at Anini beach to wait until time to occupy our house clear at the beginning of the beach.

Golden sand, mellow water, a granma with a little one learning to play in the ocean. Idyllic.

At three we were met by our island host, and while he gave the rest of the crew the orientation, I walked down to our beach to check it out. Same golden sand and benign water. Looks like we -- especially the young ones -- can enjoy this beach. 

Back at the house, I can see we'll be comfortable here, even without air conditioning. Every kilowatt of energy on this island not generated by one's own photovoltaics (and we have seen a lot of that) comes in originally in a tanker, and so generally aircon is considered a luxury for the tourists. Our house (for two weeks) was originally meant for kamainas (natives) and so this house is built to take advantage of the trade winds that seldom stop.

A bit later on most of the crew returned to the beach, got into our snorkel gear, and paddled out over what's left of the reef. Here at the east end of Anini beach, normal ocean circulation and the inflow of chemicals from agriculture and habitation have caused eutrophication, so everything is covered with a fine invasive algae fuzz that mostly repels the normal fish life I would expect here. I paddled far enough out to see one fish! about a quarter mile. Lindsey reported the same: a marine desert.

Mia snorkeled with the best of us, and game Zoe, with goggles instead of mask, swam farther than she'd ever swum before. 

Went shopping at Foodland up at Princeville, half a dozen miles away. Everybody on the North Shore was there, but we found almost everything we needed (but very little organic produce.) We will survive. 

Back at the house, a serious scare: the little computer I use to post these pages had an episode; its internal battery (I think) overheated, and stayed hot for hours ...and the computer refused to start. This morning, once it cooled its jets overnight, it was ready to go (if a little weird) but I will be treating it very carefully for the next few days, and so these postings will likely be short.