Surf's Up! Hang 10! It's a Wednesday in Kauai!

Friends! It's our first full day in Kauai! We went surfing! 

James had scheduled this for us MONTHS in advance. We even bought special surfing shirts in O'ahu with great anticipation of this surfing event!

Snorkel Depot was our starting point - we met our instructor Daniel who looked like your typical surfer dude. I was slightly scared for my life (I told him that I was having visions of sharks ripping my board and my legs in half...) and he said "Don't worry. We see you nervous New York-types here all the time and I haven't lost one yet!"

A quick pic before we were off to the beach for a morning of surfing in the famous Hanalei Bay! I was so proud of myself! I got up on my board! I even did a right turn - what a rush! I just wish we had a video!

Here's a fancy pic of James with his GIANT 12 foot surf board!  And then one of us!

I look like a real surfer girl here - but the part that you can't see is my rump.  It was burnt to a crisp. I had put sun lotion everywhere except for my behind - region. It didn't start hurting until 2 hours later - when it tingled and then burned and then... well, let's say James and I spent another night watching HG-TV (I laid on my stomach and watched while the aloe vera did its job!).

After surfing we had worked up an appetite!  We went to eat at the Taro Stand - where all the food is made with the local Taro root! (lots of Poi - where the taro is mashed into a paste!)

Here's some of the food we had: Pulled pork, poi, rice, taro macaroni salad and the AWESOME Taro Mochi dessert bread!  (It looks gross, but tastes delicious!)

There were roosters and chickens everywhere when we had lunch - this guy in the pic below kept on walking around looking for scraps. I think he should take lessons from Crumpet on how to look cute and cuddly so people will give you food. Clearly he doesn't have that technique mastered, as he looks a little cocky. (Pun intended.)

Then a quick drive along the Kuhio Highway to the Hanalei Center. I'm so happy James is driving this trip. It's nice to be carted around!

We got coffee at Java Kai - a little local joint. My favorite was how they named the size drinks (no Starbucks tall, grande, verde.) They had Iki, Naki and Tsunami! Love it!

This was my coconut latte. Yum. (and super strong - I was practically doing cartwheels on our way back to the car!)

We went back to the hotel, unloaded our surfing stuff and headed out for dinner at the sushi joint that was recommended to us by the girl at the surf shop AND the guy at the car rental place! (a local favorite - we had to try it!)

I had this amazing sushi roll - Bali Hai Bomb Roll!  James had the Rock and Roll as he likes eel...

This was our joint sashimi - Yellow Tail and Tuna!  I let the Ginger eat all the ginger, as it's not my favorite...

Back to the hotel to watch more House Hunters International - James loves to sing the "theme song" which consists of 4 notes going up and down in a scale format.

We also had a couple of home made cocktails while I nursed my sunburn.  Here's to Advil and Rum!  Another fun day in Hawaii!