Hawaii comes high on the list of places I never thought I would ever get to. And yet, here I am. On the island of Kauai, to be exact. Let me paint the picture. It’s shortly after noon. I’m sitting on the porch of the house where we are staying on the south west coast. The sun is streaming across the lawn and the faint warm breeze keeps the temperature just perfect. (Yes, I know the use of the word “just” is superfluous there, but somehow it seems necessary to set off the tone of this ideal setting). When I finish this, I will walk to the end of the garden, step onto the beach and have a swim in the warm Pacific.  
There is no better spot than that beach / garden divide, to sit in the evening and watch the sun go down. Sand on your feet, bottle of beer in your hand and a golden red sun dipping into the ocean, with a green flash and ….. yes, look there, whales rising to wave it off, then splash back down to the night dark sea.

  
It’s a beautiful island. I didn’t know that it was the location for quite a few major films ….. Jurassic Park, South Pacific, Avatar and many more. Actually, I didn’t know much about the place at all, before arriving here. But it’s easy to see how ideal it is, when strolling along the gorgeous beaches, walking in the forested hills, that rise to over 5,000 feet, (yes, pretty high for such a small island), and gaze at the 50ft waves crashing onto the shore at Polihare state park. Sounds pretty good, eh?

Oh, enough of this. I’m off for a swim.