Reflections of the Garden Isle
Linda and I spent 11 days on Kauai, and it turned out to be the perfect vacation for our frame of mind. After a busy, hard-working fall, it was time to relax, and in an environment conducive to gentle, mellow and gorgeous. A tropical island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean was a perfect choice. Mostly what we did was drive to different beaches, dipping in just a toe in many places where the surf was treacherous or floating about with goggles and fins, ogling the fish. To get to some beaches we had to climb, slip, and slide our way along 70-foot embankments, through forests with guava trees offering fresh treats, by waterfalls, over lava beds.
Kauai is a delightful spot. The attitude of the natives — at least those who have contact with the visitors — is far more gracious, on the whole, than in other tourist spots. We encountered some of the friendliest wait-type help anywhere; the kind of people who put a smile on your face that lasts the whole day. For instance, there was Chad, a busboy at the Princeville Hotel. More than a week into the Florida counting, he still hadn’t heard about a small-c chad. A funny, happy young man, when he wasn’t working, he played music and surfed, of course leading Linda to comment that he might be the original hanging chad.
Snorkel Al at Snorkel Bob’s clearly relished his time with his customers. He gave personal advice to novices and experienced divers alike, making sure that they understood what they needed to in order to both dive safely and get the most out of the experience. He made sure, too, that our equipment fit properly, and then directed us to the perfect beaches.
Blazer is the name of an entrepreneur on the west side of the island. He has a shop called Jo-Jo’s, which offers the best shave ice probably on the planet, and he also sells clothing. What a character he is; after joining the military at 17, he did his time and is now out to outsell Wanamaker and Walton before he’s 40. Friendly, funny, and gregarious, he’s an added excuse to make the trip to Waimea.
Blazer also gave us directions for where we might try the ocean at the end of the road, before the cliffs stepped down to the water, and he handed us a card on which he wrote his name and "10% off". It was for another of his establishments called the Shirt Shack, and was situated a block or so away in "downtown". And that’s where we went after our dip in the waves; planning to get a tee shirt, we wound up buying most of our Christmas presents there.
There were wonderful red-dirt tee shirts, well-produced designs on good quality material, and loud shirts, sarongs, and jewelry. Of special interest were the necklaces from Ni’ihau, the private island with the curious history off the northwest coast of Kauai. The shells, some little larger than a grain of sand, are very difficult to find, and some of the Ni’ihau Shell Leis can take years to complete. No wonder the prices range into the thousands of dollars.
The greatest treasure of our trip was Naui, who ran the Shirt Shack. She is one of those wingless-type angels who show up every now and then on your path -- if you’re being particularly good. An extraordinary being who radiates such joy and purpose as to take your breath away, Naui is from the "mysterious" island, and she produced the leis made from the special shells. Being the only people in the shop, the three of us walked and talked through the aisles and across the racks of clothes, connecting in an unusually strong, warm, and rich fashion.
We picked out item after item and brought them to the counter for Naui to check for us. Finally, however, we ran out of relatives and had to stop. Linda got a Ni’ihau Shell Lei as a Christmas present from her husband, and I wrote out an embarrassingly small check for all we received. Then we both exchanged warm hugs with this dear lady who personified the loving energy of the island.
And that’s SetonnoteS...I’m Tony Seton.