Ryan's Journal

"My life amounts to no more than one drop in a limitless ocean. Yet what is any ocean, but a multitude of drops?" — David Mitchell

The ‘Squatch

Posted from Poipu, Kauai, Hawaii at 10:31 am, August 29th, 2012

After a full day spent kayaking in the Hawaii sun, Aaron and I were both asleep within sixty seconds of hitting the beds once we got back to our hotel room last night, hence the lack of a journal entry. The Napali Coast kayak was pretty epic – it started at 5:45 AM at the kayak shop with everyone but the guides still half asleep. The guy driving the van (nicknamed the “Hawaiian Sasquatch”, because that’s exactly what he looked like) was jamming to reggae on the drive up and at one point failed to notice a lane shift, and after jerking out of the way of oncoming traffic the guide riding in the passenger seat nonchalantly commented “Yeah ‘squatch, they moved that lane”.

Within two minutes of setting out in the kayaks we were in the midst of dolphins, and had a second pod doing 720° corkscrews out of the water about an hour later. The seventeen mile kayak led along the base of three thousand foot cliffs, occasionally broken up by ridiculously awesome sea caves (see video below). One of the caves ended in a huge shaft that was open to the sky, creating the opportunity for a quick snorkel in water that was crystal clear for at least sixty feet down to the bottom.

Other highlights included kayak surfing whenever we could manage to catch a wave properly, one of the guides breaking out the “sail-brella” and coasting past us without use of paddle, the many light showers and high clouds that kept temperatures comfortable, a few monk seals, and many tropic birds, sooty terns, boobies, and frigate birds. Surprisingly the seventeen mile slog wasn’t deathly exhausting, and while I’m not excited about possibly having to use my upper body in any way today, aside from some soreness and a bright red zebra pattern sunburn (spray-on suncreen: bad idea) neither Aaron nor I are that much worse for wear.

Kayaking through a cave with a friggin’ waterfall coming through the roof. Most Tuesdays are not this exciting.

2 responses to “The ‘Squatch”

  1. I may or may not have attempted to get a pic of the ‘Squatch. I also may or may not have used this journal entry as the bait.

    1. I’m posting their response because it is classic.

      From: “Outfitters Kauai”
      Date: September 2, 2012 12:39:44 PM PDT
      To: “‘Aaron Holliday'”
      Subject: RE: Hawaiian Sasquatch

      Aloha Aaron,

      We will try our best to get a photo of the elusive Hawaiian Sasquatch. Although, as with sasquatch’s world-wide, it is extremely difficult to capture them on camera unless you happen to have some Jack’s Links jerky on hand when you see one. Glad you had an epic time on the coast, it really is an amazing experience and it sounds like you both made the most of it!

      Mahalo,

      Carina

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