| Hawaii
2010 Nawiliwili |
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Kauai is known as the "Garden Isle." It is the oldest (born 10 million years ago) inhabited island in the Hawaiian Archipelago, the 4th largest, and the last of Hawaii's independent kingdoms (King Kaumualii was its last ruling chief). Thick, lush forest covers much of the island. The physical center is a highland canyon surrounded by a ring of mile-high mountains. In the shallow bowl of this ring is the Alakai Swamp, which is home to some of the world's rarest plants and animals, a number of which are found nowhere else on earth. Nawiliwili, Kauai's main port, was named for the Wiliwili trees growing along the shore. |
 More than 90% of the Wiliwili trees (aka Hawaiian Balsa) on Kauai have been lost over the past few years because of an invasion of gall wasps. |
Dale and Chip look out over
the harbor before heading out for an adventure. |
 Chip, Barbara and Dale geared up for the zip line, flanked by the oh-so-fun-loving guides. |
 The guides pointed out that this is their "office". |
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Left: Chip (top)
and Dale (intentionally upside down) on the 1800' long zip line. Above:
on the short line (not-so-good photos extracted from video). Afterwards,
Dale was the only one in the group to take the plunge from the 18
foot platform into the natural pool. Watch the long video (link below)
for a few chuckles.  
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here to see Chip and Dale (upside down - yes, on purpose!)
on the long zip line. (15mb) Click here to see the long (funny) version of Dale (eventually!) jumping from an 18 foot platform into a natural pool (and listen to the dialogue, esp. after the jump - the other guy seen in the video is one of the guides; the loud voice off-camera is the other guide) - note there were about 15 people up on the platform behind Dale and none of them jumped! Would YOU? (15mb) Click here for the jump only. (3mb) Click here to see a young whale being taught to slap it's tail by it's mother - we got a second show from the whales while sailing away from Kauai. (3mb) |
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 Sailing away through a tricky-to-navigate harbor. |
 Ninini Point Lighthouse (1933, 86 feet tall) |
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