Berkelium - Across San Francisco Bay and then across the Pacific to Kaua'i

An image of Hawaii - Nawiliwili Bay - Lihu'e - Kaua'i

Berkelium

University of Berkeley

The element Berkelium, with atomic number 97, is named for the University of Berkeley where it was first discovered. Our first journey today takes us under the San Francisco Bay to the east side of the bay, where Berkeley and Oakland are located. Seeing the advert for Berkeley Optometry above seemed a clear hint that Berkelium should be our element of the day.

From San Francisco to Kaua'i, Hawaii

San Francisco to Oakland International Airport

I woke at 3am and completed yesterday's blog post.

I got up at 4am showered, dressed and finished packing. I'm reminded that 4am PST is 1am Hawaii Standard Time! (HST)

San Francisco is quiet at 4:40am

We checked out of the hotel at 4.30am and walked to the Bart station at Montgomery. We arrived at 4.45am but the station doesn't open until 4:50am. Still we weren't the first there, a guy dressed as an Airport Security guard was also waiting for his underground train to San Francisco airport, the opposite route from us.

At 4:50am the gates to the station automatically opened, disturbing the peace of a young homeless couple, and their dog, who were sleeping up against the gates. They spent a while gathering their things together before enabling us to pass. It is strange to see on of the richest cities in the world with abject poverty so close and real. I'm reminded of Neil Gaiman's book Neverwhere, which, though based in London, emphasises, in a fantasy form, the difference between the life of richness and the life of those who fall through the gaps of our society in our cities.

The modern shuttle from Coliseum to OAK

We caught the 5:34 Dublin/Pleasanton train to Coliseum and from there the Airport train to OAK - Oakland International Airport. (The OAK train is a single stop modern shuttle train for 7 minutes to the airport. )

I mentioned on the day of our arrival in San Francisco that we had bought a Clipper Card for the Bart and Muni, loading it with the planned value for our Bart trips strating with the one into San Francisco from the airport. Today's journey is $10:45 saving 50c on the full $10:95 fare for non-Cipper users. 

An aside - we also bought a Three day Muni Pass which also uses the clipper. Our Muni use over the last three days would have been $37 compared with a paper pass of $35 and the cost we payed for a Clipper Pass of $29. So the use of the Clipper, as well as being easy, has been cost effective too.

OAK

We arrived at OAK at 6:00am and went straight to the Hawaiian Airlines Check in desk. We were checked in and through security by  6:15am an easy experience in this small quiet airport. Oddly, of course this airport is much nearer downtown San Francisco than San Francisco airport is and it tries to make sure, by its billboard ads, that everyone knows this. 

Internal flights in the USA do not normally allow the pre-booking of baggage, given the highly competitive environment, prices for internal flights are focussed on immediate travel costs only. So we had to pay $30 each for our cases on this leg of the journey, but this had been explained to us when we booked our flights, so came as no surprise. 

Breakfast at Peeks Coffee

We stopped for a breakfast at Peeks Coffee shop in the airport  I had a seeded bagel (toasted) with cream cheese and Drew had a cinnamon bun. 

The flight to Lihu'e

Boarding took place at 7:30am (4:30am HST) and the flight took off on time at 8:15am. 

We were 5 hours and 14 minutes in flight for a journey of 2,457 miles. We sat in seats 42 H and J, we didn't upgrade this part of the journey as we are only flying for 5 or so hours. The plane was modern and comfortable, larger than I had expected with 240 seats, all of which were full for this morning's flight.

The plane was an Airbus A321-Neo and it was designed so you brought your own screen to watch movies or television programmes via the onboard WiFi. Your own phone or tablet fitted into slots on the seat back to becomes the screen for the flight, including my favourite, the Sky Map, though as it is just loads of sea, the Pacific, from San Francisco to Lihu'e there is little to see on the map, except flight times and distance.  

Egg, mushroom and cheese spread sandwich followed by Pineapple, coconut and granola bar

At 9:25am PST (6:25am HST) our onboard breakfast arrived. This was an Egg, mushroom and cheese spread sandwich which was tasty for our second breakfast. Alongside was a small Pineapple, coconut and granola bar - Drew had both of these. We both had coffee to wash it down. 

We snoozed for a little while, had another coffee when offered (and Drew had two small cookies) then I used my laptop to update my holiday accounts (my Sainsbury's card transactions since Friday appeared in the app this morning). 

Then caught up with some email filing, seldom a priority on holiday, but a fine activity on a plane journey of this length.

As we come towards Lihu'e we have to complete a State of Hawaii Department of Agriculture form to ensure we aren't bringing in to the islands any plants and animals that will impact on the 'unique environment' of Hawaii. 

The Hawaiian tourist board take the benefit of this form by asking visitor questions on the back page, including email contact and post code. Those blasted marketers at it again! 

Arrival at Lihu'e, Kaua'i

Kaua'i - The Garden Island

We landed at 10:30am HST and de-planed at 10:45 HST. We were quite excited as here we are in our 49th State of the USA.

Open Air Airport in Lihu'e

With no passport control, we are in the same country after all, we had to wait a short while for our luggage. It arrived at 11.10am, in an open and airy Baggage Claim. It seems strange to be outside on the way to baggage claim compared to the miles of underground tunnels I have walked through to get to baggage in European airports including our own.

Alamo Shuttle

It is noticeably warmer here 84F and somewhat humid. The Alamo Shuttle is waiting as we exit the airport for the short journey to the car hire place. 

A note on pronunciation

Both Lihu'e and Kaua'i when written in lower case have a ' before the final i. In fact the symbol is a lowered apostrophe a symbol the blog's software doesn't accommodate. The ' is a glottal stop, making a sound which is important in the Hawaiian language. So Ligu'e is something like LEE OOO EEE, that is three syllables not two, the ue never forming a dipthong as they would in English. Kaua'i is therefore something like COW OWW EEE. I may forget to include the ' in place names, but I'll try to retain it to help pronunciation.

Our Car for the next few days

Alamo is the Car Hire partner of Trailfinders, and they were very busy when we arrived. As usual they tried to sell insurance we don't need and to upsell us to a Jeep or Convertible, but we were happy to stay with the 'Midsize Compact' car we had booked. I put midsize and compact in apostrophes as I would have called the car large, compared, for example, to our own car at home.

Our Hire Car

The car in the sun

We selected the Car, a black Hyundai Elantra, with only 11,000 miles on the clock and settled in.

Captain Jack is in command of the vessel:

The back seat driver - Captain Jack

GyPSy Guide

Last year when staying in Banff we came across a software app called the GyPSy Guide. You can read more about our use of it last year here. Having decided to come to Kaua'i we noted the same guy had produced a driving map of Kaua'i. My initial planning had indicated that Kaua'i fitted nicely into two full day tours and a little bit to see on our arrival day. However, based on last year's experience we thought our experience would be enhanced by buying the GyPSy guide for Kaua'i and using it (it works on GPS) in our car. It cost £5.99 on the Google Play app store. 

We downloaded it before leaving San Francisco and I was glad to see that the GyPSy guide had followed my initial plans to do two full days, and do places close to the airport today.

Nawiliwili Bay and Kalapaki Beach 

Kalapaki Beach

Nawililwili Bay and Kalapaki Beach are really one place not two. The bay is formed by a reinforced natural harbour with two headlands. It means the waves here are less vigorous than outside the bay. The beach is on the landward side of the bay and was full of people surfing, swimming and paddle boarding.

Nawililwilli Bay

The bay includes the beach and a port area used for Cruise Ships and commercial shipping in Kaua'i 

Haydn enjoying the change in climate

For us it was a pleasant 40 minutes strolling the length of the bay taking in the bright blue skies and warm air on our hands and faces. As Drew said: "There's something wrong - where's the Fog" 😂

The Ancient Fishpond - Menehune Fishpond Overlook

The Menehune Fishpond

The next stop on the tour was a place we would have missed without the GyPSy guide. The Ancient Fishpond which is visible from the Menehune Fishpond Overlook

The Menehune Fishpond

Menehune is the Kanaka (Hawaiian) name for the people who lived in the islands before the arrival of the Kanaka. Menehune means, little people, and some of the stories about them imply they were like leprechauns, so some Hawaiian's deem them to be mythical. However, it is clear there were humans on the Hawaiian islands before the Polynesian Kanaka arrived, and the name may mean that the Menehune were smaller in height or stature to the warriors of the Kanaka. The evidence the Menehune leave behind them shows people who were skilled in the use of stone and trees 1,000+ years ago.

A little of the history

The Menehune Fishpond makes use of a large amount of rock to separate a large body of salt water from the sea. The rocks are spaced far enough apart to allow young fish to swim in, but fully grown fish not to be able to swim out. The fishpond therefore appears to be a store of fish for when the sea waters are to rough and dangerous. A long term solution for the well being of the local people. There are remnants of this kind of architecture across the islands, but this is the only one that is still intact and functional.

Lunch

Though we had had two breakfasts by 1:30pm we were ready for something to tide us over until dinner tonight.

We went to a Safeway's store just off the main road in Lihu'e which had a Starbucks inside.

Turkey Bacon and Cheese Sandwich

I had a Turkey Bacon and Cheese Sandwich. I assumed when I first read it that it meant Turkey, bacon and cheese, but I was wrong Turkey Bacon is a thing over here. It did indeed taste of turkey.

Blueberry Muffin

Drew went for a Blueberry Muffin, in the long list of 'odd things to get asked' that I seem to build up when over here today's was: "Do you want the muffin warmed." I really didn't know that was a thing - I'd not come across warmed muffins before, so I declined. Drew looked at me as if I had gone mad when I told him about the encounter. He too doesn't find the idea appealing.

Tree Tunnel

Tree Tunnel

After lunch we headed back onto the route GyPSy was leading us. This took us to the Tree Tunnel which is a stretch of road covered in a canopy of eucalyptus trees. The trees were planted in 1911, and form a wonderful entry to the beach ares of Poipu. 

Unfortunately, just as we entered the Tree Tunnel we were washed by a large amount of rain coming from a thunderstorm which passed over. So the picture above is borrowed from elsewhere on Flickr. We did have the benefits of the beautiful colours of the view, but by the time we were ready with the camera, the rain was obscuring the view.

Poipu Bed & Breakfast Inn

Our B&B Sign

We had thought of visiting the Poipu beaches before checking in to our accommodation, but with the intermittent bursts of heavy rain we decided we would revert to the original plan and check-in at 3pm (which is the start time). We arrived at the Inn at 3.10pm.

Welcome Haydn

As we entered the Inn we saw the noticeboard with my name on it, this gave us directions to our lovely room. The room is named after the Bird of Paradise flower (not the bird as I'd assumed). So we had to check the doors to see which ones had a photo of the flower. Given my lack of visual processing this was not an easy task. Most flowers look very similar to me, and the photo on the room door looks nothing like the photo on the note on the noticeboard. Thankfully I had a picture of the room itself stored with my booking, so was able to identify it by that. That being said there were only two open rooms, so this was not an awfully challenging task.

Bird of Paradise Room

The room, indeed the whole building, is exceptional, what a lovely place to be, with the sound of a babbling river in the background.

The large bath/jacuzzi

The large bath/jacuzzi was one of the things that led me to book this room (of the four available). Drew is a fan of long soaks, and he can certainly manage this here.

More pictures can be seen on Flickr, starting here.

We settled in, Drew had an hour soaking in the bath and we both snoozed for thirty minutes to catch-up from the earlier flight.

We were primed and ready to go out for dinner by 7.05pm.

Dinner

Kaua'i is an island of resorts, with a big focus on tourism, especially since the end of the sugar industry in 2009. (the area where we are currently is a former plantation.) This means there are many restaurants, so having picked and booked our accommodation, I looked for places to eat in the area.

Lanai Restaurant

There is a series of shops and restaurants a few 100 yards away from the Inn called Kukui'ula Village Shopping Center. I booked a restaurant there for tonight, I was glad I did book as the place was heaving as we arrived.

Tonight I had booked the Lanai Restaurant, its relaxed style appealing to me after a day of travelling, though we both were alert and well, unaffected by the 3 hour time change.

Hawaiian cuisine, like the Hawaiian flag with its British and American influences, shows the eclectic nature of the cultures that have come to the island over the years. There was a time when the sugar industry brought Chinese people to the island to work, than Japanese, then Thai, then Filipinos alongside the native Hawaiians and the Europeans, both British and American. This means that Hawaiian cuisine draws on the different culture's tradition while using the rich produce of the islands. Hawaii was the original place for the fusion food concept.

Lanai showed this with its menu showing dishes with wide ranging influences. 

Devilled Eggs

I began with Deviled Eggs with bacon, jalapeno and mozzarella. An unusual combination but a successful one. The creamy mozzarella was crushed into the egg yolk as the eggs were refilled, giving the yolk a rich flavour enhanced by the spiky elements of heat brought by the chilli. The bacon added a smoky aftertaste, making the whole a wonderful concoction.

Panko crusted Brie with chilli fruit compote, crostini and island honey 

Drew had the Panko crusted Brie with chilli fruit compote, crostini and island honey. The brie was gooey and cheesy held together well by the crispy panko. The fruit compote was chilli rich and Drew could easily have taken it home for a snack later, except he had eaten it all on the crostini. There were slices of sharp apple and the honey, topped with peanuts offered a rich alternative flavour to the whole dish. 

For mains I had a Thai influenced Seafood Soup with wild shrimp, ono, tomatoes, bean sprouts, thai basil and noodles. This was very close in ingrediants and flavour to my favourite Dom Yang Gung that I used to eat at my favourite restaurant back home. The main differences between this version of the soup and that which I have had elsewhere was a rich addition of vegetables, including a large bunch of Thai Basil and leaves similar to spring greens. The shrimp were plump and meaty, more like Tiger Prawns in size. The Ono, a new fish on me, had the texture of a strong white fish. The mix of remembered flavours and exciting new ones sent me into ecstasy, like only lovely food can.

Miso soup with Ono, lemongrass coconut chowder, mushrooms,
carrots, onions and red pepper

Drew went for a more Japanese influenced dish choosing Miso soup with Ono, lemongrass coconut chowder, mushrooms, carrots, onions and red pepper. Like mine it was a large portion, with the large fillet of Ono falling into strips making it easy to eat. The chowder had a hint of coconut, not to much. The vegetables were tasty and crunchy. Drew didn't think he was going to finish it all, but he liked it so much he couldn't help himself.

We walked the ten minutes walk back to the Inn and were in bed and ready to sleep by 10.00pm - another wonderful day of our holiday over, with more to look forward to tomorrow.