Observing from Kauai - 2013

Never having been to the legendary island of Kauai, I suggested to my wife that we spend a week there for our birthdays last summer. She liked that idea just fine and I began researching the island and places to stay. I quickly realized that there was a wet side (north) and a dry side (southwest). The dry southwest side seemed like it might be perfect for astronomy, so I decided to go a week early with my 12.5" telescope to view some of the southerly delights (Kauai is at 22 degrees north, which brings Centaurus pretty high in the sky). I also realized that the north shore had fabulous beaches and snorkeling as well as the picturesque Na Pali coast. So I added a week at the end. I found that "The Ultimate Kauai Guidebook" by Andrew Daughty was super helpful in figuring out what to do. GoogleMap was extremely useful for figuring out where, exactly, to take my telescope.

Using VRBO I located nice places to stay for each week. The first week was in Kekaha, a little town at the end of the road on the southwest side (http://www.vrbo.com/272052). It is right across the street from the ocean and the wave sound was soothing all week. I drove a bit west to a small park, Kekaha Beach Park, on the beach and realized it would be a pretty good spot to set up my telescope. On the first night there I discovered that it was pretty dark and a few folks wandered by and enjoyed views of objects in Centaurus. I showed them why omega Centauri was so much more wonderful than M13. NGC4945 was high enough to be outstanding and galaxies in Virgo and Coma B were a treat to them. I spent three nights at this park. Later in the week I drove up Hwy 550 about half way up the mountain to a pull out, overlooking the beautiful Waimea Canyon. I set up my scope in the pull out and had a great southern view. This proved to be an outstanding location. All traffic up the mountain stopped at dark so there were no headlight issues. The pullout is at 21.995569,-159.67621 which you can see on GoogleMap. The skies were mostly clear the whole week I was there and omega Centauri et al kept me coming back for more. A really nice place. Observing in shorts and tee shirt is great.