Thursday May 27

Today was a good day to take it easy after getting so sunburned yesterday. We slept in, had a slow breakfast on the lanai, went to the gym and slowly got ready. There are a few little art districts on the south shore that Dad really wanted to go see so we headed out to see what the local artwork was like.
We stopped first in the historic district of Koloa. This was the site of the first sugar mill in Hawaii and all the other sugar mills on the islands were patterned after that one. None of the sugar mills on Kauai are still in operation due to the high cost of production.

The buildings were mostly built in the 1920’s and 1930’s by Chinese and Japanese immigrants and had to be restored after Hurricane Iniki came through in 1992.

After Koloa we headed to Hanapepe. This was the site of the movie “Lilo and Stitch”. I haven’t seen the movie but I am curious now, especially since it was a cartoon. The very first art gallery we went into in Hanapepe was Arius Hopman’s gallery and I loved his work. I was willing to put it all on the credit card and take a piece of work home with me. Luckily or unluckily depending on how you look at it, Eric was there to be logical and got me out of the gallery. You can find his art work at www.hopmanart.com.

For lunch we drove about 6 miles to Waimea to “The Shrimp Station”. We had asked one of the tour guides, who was born and raised on this island, where to find the best shrimp and he sent us to The Shrimp Station. Trust me it was worth the drive back up the coast. Mom, Dad and I had garlic shrimp that was heavenly and Eric had coconut shrimp which we liked but I am not a fan of normally so I won’t give my opinion on that.
In the afternoon the hotel was giving free introductory scuba lessons. Mom wasn’t allowed to do it because she had high blood pressure and didn’t get approval from her doctor. Eric and Dad had both gone once before in Mexico so I was the only newbie in the group. I thought I would be ready after snorkeling the day before. Yeah I was wrong. First I couldn’t sink-not with the tank on and even after the instructor added weights I still couldn’t sit on the bottom of a four foot pool. Then I couldn’t breathe. The respirator was working fine and the tank was full so the problem was me. I think I was having a minor panic attack and couldn’t catch my breath. Whatever it was, it was very uncomfortable to feel like I couldn’t breathe while I was underwater. Eric and Dad went on to pass the skills test but I got out of the water. Scuba diving just doesn’t seem to be my cup of tea.

At sunset Eric and I took a walk on the beach and hiked up a small path to the top of a rocky overlook. There were a few people who were cliff jumping off the top of the rocks-like 40 feet in the area. I thought they were crazy. The sunset was gorgeous and it was fun to go walk on the beach.