It’s been raining here in Kauai. Weather here does not flow from left to right like back home. It just pops up and then dissipates, repeatedly. I find it strange to watch on radar. Even in the rain it is still beautiful here, maybe more so with the moody clouds. I don’t mind it, since I have to put on less sunscreen. I overheard one woman expressing surprise at how much rain there was. The local said very patiently, “That’s actually the norm for us.” It rains so much on this island, the only navigable rivers in Hawaii are found here.

We took an air tour on a Cessna Caravan around the island. I got to sit in the right, front seat. Alas, it was for “weight and balance” and not because I like aviation. I’m just ballast … pudgy ballast.

Fortunately the weather had not turned and we had a beautiful day with calm winds for touring Kauai from above.

The south shore of Kauai is drier. There is less vegetation as a result, though by our standards it is still lush. You see here a few resorts, all adhering to the coconut palm tree rule.

Much of Kauai is privately owned, or entrusted to specific families with instructions to never develop it. Above is a 3,000 acre coffee farm, though not all of it is shown. Agriculture is interwoven into Kauai’s history. Originally it was sugar cane, but now coffee has taken over as the dominant crop. Chocolate is also grown, though it’s a tiny output when compared to other regions like South America and Africa.

Above is Waimea Canyon. It’s 10 miles long and 1 mile wide. Rim to floor is about 3,000’. Picture 3 Empire State buildings stacked on top of each other. It’s called The Grand Canyon of the Pacific. The entire land is carved by water, either by falling from the sky, or from rivers and waterfalls after it fell from the sky.

The soil here is red, which is odd to me. I thought volcanic soil is always black. Both things are true, but the difference is time. In Iceland, which is newer ground and has less sunlight, the soil stays dark. Here in Hawaii it turns red because it oxidizes. Essentially, it rusts.

Jurassic Park, Lost, and King Kong were filmed here: the Nā Pali Coast. It is rugged and remote, with no roads and no development. You can hike it, but will need permits. Fair warning, it’s one of the 5 most dangerous hikes in the world.

This is sacred land to the Hawaiians. Royalty was buried here, and for many beaches on this side, the only legal way to get to them is by swimming. Ancient Hawaiians live and farmed in the valleys, essentially cut off from the rest of the island and civilization. A very few still do.

We began and ended our tour in Lihue, the same airport we flew into on Monday. In the above picture, the mountains in the distance are what you saw in early pictures.

Water falls from the mountain tops continuously for the same reason Milford Sound and Doubtful Sound (not an actual sound) are so wet. Warm air filled with moisture is pushed upwards by the slopes, where it cools and condenses. Cold air cannot hold as much water. The water then falls back to Earth, cascading down cliff sides and collecting into streams as it returns to the sea. This is a powerful process, and eventually it will erode away Kauai as it has already done to the numerous atolls of the Hawaiian chain that are not habitable. In a “brief” 5 million years, much of this place will be gone.