Kauai
2007

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Two words: surfing lessons. Two more: big fun!

We met Ethan and Jeff (our instructors) at 8 am. We got our boards, surf shirts and headed down to the water. Here we learned how to lie on, kneel on, stand up on and paddle on our boards all while still on the sand. :) But that did not take long at all and within a few minutes we hit the water.

The surf was about 3-4 feet so perfect for brand spanking new beginners like us. At first the instructors would tell us when to paddle to catch the wave but soon we were able to look back and see them coming ourselves.

How did we do...? Well, I guess we did okay. We both fell a lot and once I even got too forward and did a complete endo as the tip of my board augured into the ocean. With these long boards I felt like that was some sort of feat actually. :) But by the end of the lesson we were both sort of able to ride the board all the way into the beach. Half the time anyway. It's the opposite of snowboarding to me. On the snow you initiate with the back foot and pivot the board around the front foot. On the water you stay a bit further back and put most of your weight on the rear foot and use your hips to pivot the board around this back foot. It was so much fun! After the lesson we found out that renting a board is super cheap so this calls for more. MORE!

And these instructors were great! Jeff kept telling Shelley, "Girl, that was sick...!"

From here it was off to the smoothie stand for a brain freezing fruit drink and then to this cool little surf shop for some real swim trunks. I'm guessing that there is a reason why surf shorts do NOT have a liner, less sand in the ass.

Our days have fallen into a pattern since we have arrived here for sure... We get up, do some amazing activity or see some fantastic sight and then we have lunch and several beers at some point in the day when we are done with said activity. This leads to a hot, sticky nap back at the hotel since we are too beat to shower off the salt/sunscreen/sweat. After waking up in a partial stupor, we haul ourselves into the shower, get all refreshed and clean, coat ourselves in aloe gel and then plan our dinner and check email while drinking more beers. What's not to like?

We have found this place called the Olympic Cafe that is on the second floor of a two story building. There are no windows along one long wall, just shutters (seems pretty standard here) and so you get to sit right next to the fresh air and watch what is going on down below on the street and across the street at the local ABC store. The food is super and the draft beers reasonable so today was our second visit.

	Martin: Post surfing and smoothie we stopped by this resort. This was the beginning of the trail down to the beach. Shelley:
	Martin: This 'railing' was totally rusted and just tack welded together... And the trail was straight down! Shelley:
	Martin: The beach viewed from the trail. Shelley:
	Martin: Shelley descending the last bit of trail. Shelley:
	Martin: Shelley:
	Martin: Shelley:
	Martin: People were surfing here so they carried their boards down the trail and then paddled out. Shelley:
	Martin: We were standing there and suddenly this older woman who had been sitting on the beach with her husband came running up. She said we 'looked so cute' and she just had to take our picture. Shelley:
	Martin: And then she took another. :) Shelley:
	Martin: Out for dinner at the Olympic Cafe. Shelley: