Walking the Path

 I am glad to be moved into our long-term rental new Princeville, Kauai. I have a routine here that I follow on most days. After breakfast, Cindy drops me off at a coffee shop in Princeville where I read and write for a couple of hours and then I walk back to our condo. The walk is my exercise and is a perfect distance as long as I get back before noon and the temp does not get too high. The vegetation along the route is ever changing and part of the trip runs alongside a beautiful golf course. 

Hamura Saimin

 Hanura Saimin is one of those eating establishments that is described as "where the local eats". Many cultures have a noodle and broth dish and Saimin is Hawaii's version. You add a variety of meats to the basic noodle dish.

We have visited this restaurant several times each year and I have always wondered about this homemade concoction among on the condiments on the table. It is difficult to see, but there are a collection of small peppers in the bottom of the liquid. These peppers always scared me off, but we saw these young couple add some to their Saimin. Cindy asked what it was. We thought the said pepper water, but it tastes like vinegar. They were right and it was good stuff.

One more thing. When I read the Wikipedia article about Saimin, there was a section explaining that Saimin was a local dish sold at Hawaiin McDonalds because one of the original McDonald franchise owners wanted it on the menu. I have searched and verified this is the case, but we stopped at one of the McDonalds we regularly drive past and it was not on the menu for that establishment. Maybe we are on the wrong island. 

KA44

 I apologize for the lengthy delay since my last post. I have been lazy and writing stuff for other outlets. I also need help with the need to be original. This is a small island and we have explored most of it over the years. There is no need every post has to be completely original. I could probably cut and paste posts from a few years ago and no one would know the difference.

Cindy went to Poipu Beach yesterday. I went along and found an open picnic table in a shelter to protect me from the sun. We were all in our places with bright shiny faces. Cindy returned to show me the photo of turtles on the beach. This would have to be the place I would recommend for reliably photographing green sea turtles.

I noticed there was a transmitter on one turtle and also a visible identification number. Because I bring my digital devices to the beach and I am in constant contact with the world I wondered if something might be available online about this specific turtle. So, I did a search for KA44. Strangely what was returned was the NOAA site concerning turtles in Hawaii. You have to admit the search capabilities are pretty impressive. How did Google know KA44 was a turtle and I was in Hawaii? There was nothing specific to KA44 on the NOAA page, but finding the page did offer me some new options to explore.

The NOAA page was about citizen science and the annual Hona count (Hona = turtle). There was lots of interesting stuff about turtles and how NOAA gathers information about turtles from observers and relates the count to issues such as climate change. There was a link to submit new data and while I did not actually see the physical turtle and there were hundreds of other folks around taking the same photo I decided I shout fill out the form just to make certain KA44 was represented among the seen.

Here is the one thing that annoyed me about this experience. There was nothing available about "my specific" turtle. If NOAA has the data and there are folks now taking an interest in KA44, it would seem easy enough to do something with the data collected to offer some informative response, a map, last seen, anything about KA44. 

Just a suggestion in case the NOAA people read my blog.

Cottage 2024

One thing I have noticed about my photos and comments is that I typically fail to record the ordinary. A common oversight is the places we stayed. We spend most of the time in the same place - Pali Ke Kua near Princeville. However, we have not always been able to schedule that location for the entire trip  and I don’t have photos of the other place we stayed last year. We are in the same situation this year so I decided I would make certain I took photos.

This is the Waimea Plantation Cottages 

Levitating Leaf

 I have been sitting on the front porch watching this leaf off and on for the last hour. Perhaps I am too easily amused.