Beaches and waterfalls

The last couple of days have been pretty packed. The first few days the weather was a little funky and besides I wasn't feeling particularly ambitious anyways. Gilbert (the Canadian I met the first day) has a rental car the whole time he's here (unfortunately he's taking off tomorrow, there goes my ride), so both Saturday and Sunday he and I and Eamon (from Ireland) did some exploring of the island. Saturday we went to Secrets Beach, which is an amazing beach I'd been to before. Then we continued on along the north shore looking for this one beach I hadn't been to, Tunnels Beach. We ended up at the end of the road, which meant we'd passed it (that's also where the trailhead is for the Kalalau Trail) so we got out there and hung out at Ke'e beach, which is supposed to be good snorkeling. It wasn't great snorkeling though, in fact I just swam around and didn't even bother trying the snorkel. We did see a couple of nice fish but mostly just enjoyed the water as the waves were mellow, because there's some reef in the way of the waves, then it opens up into this nice sandy area, so it's perfect for just swimming around. Then I showed them the nearby "Blue Room" which is little known because it's a little ways off the road. You hike up this little hill beneath a cliff and then you come to this lake that's sort of buried in the base of the cliff. It's a good place to get a refreshing swim and wash off the salt water. So after that we went back and found Tunnels Beach, just down the road. But by then we were beached out so we just headed back to the hostel and then Gilbert, who's a good cook, instigated a barbecue (maybe instigated isn't the right word, but you get the idea).

Anyway then yesterday we drove up to Waimea canyon, which is called the Grand Canyon of the Pacific, and it's about as impressive. From the top of it we were able to get a view down into the Kalalau Valley, which was amazing. Then we headed back down to Lihue as Eamon had to catch a plane and fly to San Francisco. After that Gilbert and I went to these waterfalls where the locals like to jump off the top into a deep pool. It's about 25-30 feet or so, but it's actually pretty safe as the water is plenty deep, so I did it a couple times. Some of the guys there were doing various tricks, backflips, dives, etc., etc., but feet first was all I was about to attempt. Gilbert's digital camera had video capability, and we got a short clip of each of us doing it. So I'm hoping he can email that to me okay, in which case I'll forward it. Well I should wrap it up here. Today I'm not sure exactly what I'm doing yet, although I may go on a hike with Gilbert, or else I may just go to another beach that I want to check out. It's already time for me to start making some decisions though, as I'm only paid up at the youth hostel through the end of this week. Then I have to decide whether I'm going to fork over the money ($25/day) for the hostel, which is way over my budget, in which case I'll need to find some work. Or else I'll be camping somewhere, we'll see.