Today was the Jungle Hike day – an attempt to find a poorly-marked trail and follow it to a picturesque waterfall cascading into a tranquil blue pool. So we piled into the Jeep (and of course it immediately started to rain, the skies seem to watch our every move), and drove back up to the arboretum.

When the road disappeared into the Wailua River, Martin kept driving, as we did that first day – right into and across the river. But instead of parking on the far side, Martin shifted the Jeep into four-wheel drive, and started inching up the steep dirt road in front of us.

And so our adventure began! We crawled up impossible inclines. We jounced over jumbled rocks and boulders. We navigated deep ruts. We splashed through muddy puddles.

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Martin was up again before sunrise and out of the condo in his quest for Sunrise Pictures. Hope does spring eternal. By the time I rolled out of bed, several very-civilized hours later, the sky was as it’s always been: grey, with darker grey patches and slashing rain on the horizon. Heavy brown surf pitched in the bay, and wind whipped through the coconut trees.

And Martin is out there somewhere, facing bravely into the wind, camera optimistically set up, waiting to see if the sun just might burst through the heavy bank of black clouds.

I just love him for that.

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Martin and I awoke to pounding surf, grey skies, and threatening rain. We stood on our little lanai in the dark, overlooking the leaden bay, listening to the roaring surf and howling wind, and watched the sun struggle to come up.

Despite such iffy weather and threatening skies, we decided to venture out, driving up Kuamo’o Road to ‘Opeaka’a (“Jumping Shrimp”) Falls. We admired the view of the thundering waterfall, then drove on, stopping frequently at other overlooks along the road and admiring the flocks of handsome “red junglefowl” (really, a bunch of chickens) pecking freely through the wet grass. The Keahua Arboretum was at the end of the road, where the road plunged into the Wailua River.

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Los Angeles Times, March 8, 2012: “Anyone dreaming of a sunny winter break in Hawaii this week can forget it. The governor has declared a disaster area on Kauai after days of relentless rain that caused flooding, mudslides, water-spouts, hail, and dangerously high surf. The weather service said a low-pressure zone is getting ready to dump more rain, including possible thunderstorms.”

Ah yes. Of course. The forecast is for rain.

Lots of rain. Every weather website displays icons of black clouds and slashing rain drops, usually graced with fierce lightning bolts. Day after day after day.

The Beebees must be going on vacation!

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