Day: February 26, 2008

The ocean has been incredible gentle all week, and the whales were out. Even I can spot them now, without needing Leilani to point them out to me. Friday after work we brought Leilani to our friends for a playdate, took the kayak and paddled straight out into the Wailua bay.

When we returned shortly after sunset we noticed there was another kayak that had just pulled in – getting closer we recognized our friend Randy and his son Ronnie. We started talking and decided to try to go together to Kipu Kai, the forbidden beach, the next day.

We tried to get an early start from Kalapaki beach, but by the time we left it was probably 9:15 or so:

Leilani was exceptionally good and frighteningly quiet. I asked whether she was sleeping and she answered yes. She seemed to really enjoy the gentle waves, but whenever I tried to paddle she protested. I did not get a workout that day, but Andy got a double one. After 45 minutes or so Leilani did really fall asleep, she missed most of the whales we saw.

Unfortunately we did not get closer to a whale than shown in this zoomed and cropped photo, but it was still cool. One of them was obviously young and very playful, and a lot of fun to watch as it breached several times in a row.

Ronnie in the front and his father, Randy, in the back:

We arrived at an almost empty and perfect beach. The surrounding land is privately owned with ridges on all sides and a single private dirt road for access. So, except for with a kayak, there is no legal way to get there, and you have to stay on the beach. Maybe it should be KAPU Kai :-) (Kapu means Taboo in Hawaiian). Andy adds: The people retreated to the house before we saw them up close, they must be members or guests of the family who own the land. I’m not sure if anyone lives in the house permanently or wether it’s just a weekend retreat. The land will revert to the county sometime around 2030, and then it will be opened up to the public in some way. But until then, it is more difficult to access than Kalalau, and nearly as spectacular.

There were sections of the beach that appeared green – from Olivine, a green crystal found in some volcanic rocks that wash down gullies from the ridges:

Leilani really enjoyed the beach, and she was mostly good about putting on sunscreen and covering up against the hot sun.

But she really wanted to go swimming naked, so we let her run around for a little while, which she thought it was great. At one side of this beach, there was an elevated reef that made a nice calm lagoon for her to splash in the water.

Further along, there is a large expanse of flat reef barely covered with water. We walked through carefully, stepping around the sea cucumbers. In the little pools, the corals were untrampled.

Going home was uneventful, Leilani fell asleep even faster and we only saw one whale. The return trip took 2/3 as much time because the wind and currents were with us, although they had picked up and there were some pretty big swells. Leilani sometimes got splashed, but not enough to wake her up. We ended the day with a snack at the Kalapaki park, while Leilani played at the playground.

Said Leilani as we walked to the car. Oh, I said. Why? “He saved a life!” was her reply. Before I could think I said “No he didn’t…[then thinking caught up with the mouth]… which life did he save?” “The Spider’s life – Yea Daddy!” Then she started to sing “The itsi bitsi spider climbed up the waterspout…”

Andy had caught a (not so itsi bitsi, but not as big as the one in the photo) cane or huntsman spider alive at our friends house and set him free, after our friends had already sentenced the spider to death and attempted to execute the sentence (and the spider).

Leilani is really aware of life and death for her age, we noticed that too on a beautiful starfish, that we had found outside the water – to us it looked dead or almost dead, so we examined it and even briefly thought about taking it home and drying it, but to her it was clear that it needed to go back into the ocean she whined, yelled and screamed that it was still alive and needed to go into the ocean until I thew it back (45 seconds after we found it).

I try hard to steer her away from dead animals and roadkill, but when I don’t succeed she will discuss endlessly where the animal went, (“Did he go to cat heaven?”) and whether it will come back. I hid the Bambi book because it took more than 15 minutes the last time I read it to go past the page where the hunter shoots Bambi’s mother. It seems she repeats just 4 or 5 questions over and over and my answers don’t give her what she is looking for. (And yes I know that I am the parent and could cut short discussions if I wanted to, but I feel it is important to let them run their course to a natural finish, or stop from exhaustion).

After almost a year she still occasionally brings flowers to Kiko’s grave or goes there to greet him or say goodbye, or sing him the healing song.

When she wants to try sausage or meat and I tell her thats made from dead pigs or cows she doesn’t ever give eating it a second thought, no matter how much her friends seem to enjoy it. (And yes, she is 2 years old and loves to try new foods :-) I also change the topic when it comes to why we eat fish.