To read previous part A bit more of North. Hawaii, part 05
The next morning was rainy and gloomy. Right, I remember I told you if it is raining on one side, it is sunny on the other side, but... sometimes it is raining everywhere. Especially during the rain season and the end of April is also the end of the rain season, so you need to be ready for some totally rainy days. Or at least half a day of rain all around the island. So next morning was the morning of one of these days. The best we can do is to check where the rain is lighter and drive there. In hope when we get to the target place the sun is going to take over.
So we choose going to the west end of the island. Speaking of the north, south and west... This is only one road running around the island and it is not a loop road. It starts from the north through the east, south and ends at the west (or, maybe just opposite, but who cares). It is about 70 miles long so this is not a problem to move from south to west or to the north in a reasonable time. Location of our hotel was just perfect for the restless travelers - just in the middle of the road on the south-east side of the island. So this morning we drove to the west as the forecast was a bit better for this area, but we had no luck and when we reached the end of the paved road, everything was still foggy and rainy (the rain wasn't strong though). We stopped on the shoulder and just enjoyed looking at the foggy (and a big mystical) hills on our right.
In case the weather would be good, we might try to drive the dirty road and reach the northern beaches, wild and sandy. But it was not such a good idea with the light rain and road wet and muddy, so we turned back and stopped to look at the office of Kauai Sugar Company and the former house of the sugar planter.
We stopped at the small town, left our car and found an old pier. The ocean looks nice and peaceful. In fact the gloomy weather somehow was a good fit to the landscape we enjoyed looking at.
Returning to the town we wandered around the plaza and found that it was about a spot where Captain Cook landed on January 20, 1778.
Did you know, the first fort on Kauai was built by Russians? The traders were rare on the Kauai (in comparison to the other island), but in 1815 the Russian-American Company set foot here and built three forts. The first and the biggest one was named after the Russian Czarina - Fort Elizabeth. The Russians made an alliance with Kauai King Kaumualii to build the forts and secure a provisioning station in Hawaii for Russian-American ships trading between the American Northwest and Asia across the Pacific Ocean. But it didn't last long and the Russians were forced to leave Kauai and abandon the forts in 1817. Now you can see only the foundation of the fort walls.
The west part of the island is the home for Waimea Canyon and we still hoped the weather might let us see it. So we left the town and started on the road climbing up and down. The views were amazing, but we already had a doubt if we would be able to see the canyon. And we were right, the fog covered all the area and it was so thick it was impossible to see anything. We stopped on a couple of the viewpoints but turned back once we understood we could see nothing but fog.
Isn't it beautiful?
It still was a nice morning and we stopped at the beach and spent a while looking at the surfers. The waves were not really big and the day wasn't sunny, but still some guys were riding the waves, fighting the ocean and having some good time.
Right, the weather wasn't exactly good and friendly, but it wasn't cold (it never really cold in Hawaii) and the rain was light and also it came and went... so we didn't complain and enjoyed seeing the Kauai not bright and colorful but dim and faded. I'd say we would regret if we would be unable to see this foggy and faded day here, on the island where the colors are so bright and vivid.
And... I guess you ask yourself now: "what about the title? hedgehog? why?" So... this comes from old times when we were kids and that was an animated movie so popular in Soviet Union - "Hedgehog in the Fog". It was so nice and sad and, actually, made for adults more than for kids, but we all loved it. So even 40 years later we still use this Hedgehog in the Fog to describe something nice and foggy. You can find this movie here, if you interesting to see it:
Continue reading To all coffee lovers... Hawaii, part 07
Pictures were taken on April 21, 2013.
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