Pandemic in Paradise

I am sure all of us have had various carrots dangling at the end of the longer-than-fathomable Covid Stick over the past 20 months.  You know, those plans that have kept us motivated and sane and mostly suitable for polite company while stuck in quarantine and conducting life behind Zoom screens and face masks. 

For Christmas last year, Rob gave me a gift certificate to my favorite hot dog stand on the planet.  While it altruistically furthered our commitment to support small local businesses during a global pandemic, the basic white piece of paper printed from an email also – and, selfishly, more importantly – gave me tangible hope.  Its pixelated letters read, “Because we will eat again!  In Kauai!”

Kauai is one of those places Rob and I visit repeatedly.  Our first trip was back in the mid-‘90s.  We’ve frolicked on the Garden Island a dozen times, give or take.  Enough so that seeing the familiar green rock face of my favorite mountain range near the airport instantly infuses me with a sense of Home. We have a favorite condo place and even a specific unit we prefer if it’s available.  We know where to shop, we know where the eat, we know where to snorkel, we know which roads to take.  Short of having a dentist and a hair cutter person, Kauai feels more like a second home every time we arrive. The familiarity of it all eliminates a lot of the stress and uncertainty that comes with travel, so camping out in Koloa for a spell is one of our surefire ways to relax.

I decided I should know the name of this mountain
instead of just calling it "My Favorite Mountain in Kauai"
The interwebs tell me it is called Mount Haupu.

Last May, after we had both recovered from the promised side effects of our second vaccine doses, Rob and I got to work planning our “The Pandemic Is OVER” celebration trip to Kauai.  The first of many travel plans we defeatedly cancelled in 2020 was a much-anticipated cruise to Hawaii with some dear friends.  Although we weren’t quite ready to cruise again (still aren't...), a victory lap around Kauai sounded like a perfect way to celebrate the return to normality.  We didn’t want to go in the heat of summer, so we settled on November.  Certainly Covid would be a past-tense trauma by then.  Would we even remember what we were celebrating??

Twenty months into this adventure and I still amuse myself with my hopeful optimism. I’m adorable!

So here it is, November 2021.  I don’t know how things are where you live, but in my county Covid is still very present tense and deadly, with case rates about the same as they were in January. At one point less than a month ago, Rob and I lost track of how many people we knew – and had recently seen – who were sick.  We even got tested due to a very likely exposure.  Covid became even more real really fast.  Suffice it to say, we – and especially me – have been a touch edgy for the past few weeks.  What was originally planned as a celebration trip to Kauai quickly morphed into an escape from the closing rings of viral sickness.

And so, here we are.  In Kauai.  Celebrating not being at home.  It’s warm and lovely but also kinda odd. It still feels familiar yet so much is different. 

One of my favorite things to do here is walk walk walk.
I'm averaging about 5 miles per day so far!

Ahhhh....

There are fewer tourists than we are used to, but restaurants are super crowded and luaus are reportedly sold out for months.  Hotels are at capacity and day-passes to resorty pools with waterfalls are sold out until January.  You can make reservations at restaurants, but it’s best to do that at least a month in advance…assuming they answer the phone. Otherwise, waitlists are 45-90 minutes long.  Like everywhere, it appears challenging to find people who want to fill jobs here.  So the hotels and the restaurants and the entertainment are as full as the limited staffing allows.

After arriving at our mostly well-appointed condo, I nonetheless had a short list of needed items…like ice cube trays and laundry detergent and an inflatable pool floaty to serve as a lounge chair cushion. Excited by the recent addition of a Target in Kauai’s largest town, I left Rob to his homework (he’s in grad school and is studying as I type) and made what I assumed would be a quick and successful shopping trip.  What I found at Target – or, more appropriately, what I didn’t find – was shocking.

Remember back in Spring 2020 when store shelves were bare of toilet paper and Clorox Wipes and flour and bottled water and rice and canned green beans? Well, the biggest thing in stock at the Lihue Target is bare shelves.  It all looks good when you first walk in – clothes and shampoo and Christmas decorations (SO weird to see while wearing shorts and sandals).  But as I searched the inner aisles, there was so much white metal, so few employees, and so much bewildered wandering.  The housewares section was so empty, I wasn’t even sure what department I was in. 

I eventually ended up at Walmart, which was in much better but still compromised shape.  It occurred to me that being in the middle of the Pacific Ocean is not a very big – or critical – link in the supply chain.  These poor islands are clearly lucky to get what they can.  We chatted up a young employee at our favorite ice cream shop who confirmed as much.  On our first of mostly nightly visits, we were sad to see only one case of delicious island-inspired flavors instead of the typical two.  Mopey that our beloved Banana Fudge Ice Cream was not offered, I asked the scoop jockey if the flavors in the lonely case were the only flavors they are currently making. 

“No, when a tub runs out we just replace it with whatever has been sent to us by the [local] factory.”

“So you might get Banana Fudge within the next 10 days??”  SO MUCH HOPE!

“Oh, we haven’t had that flavor in months.  Bananas are really hard to get right now.”

Hope dashed.  Last night’s Chocolate Macadamia Nut ice cream almost made up for it.

One big weirdness that I am quite enjoying is the pervasiveness of face masks. I have been pretty dang compliant with all the masking requirements and suggestions since March 2020.  I’m happy to ditch them when The Powers That Be deem it safe to do so, but I also get really twitchy when I am among naked-faced rebels. 

For the first time ever, I lost a mask!
I'm not entirely unhappy to have an
excuse to get a festive local one.

The Kauaians take their masking SERIOUSLY.  I have yet to encounter a maskless face indoors nor one worn defiantly below a nose.  Locals seem so accustomed to this accessory, it is not uncommon to see folks wearing masks alone in their car or outside.  There’s no hassle, there’s no argument, there’s no picketing, there’s no tension.  Instead, this community seems to be of one aloha spirit to try to keep Covid at bay until they can kick it off the island completely. It’s rather refreshing, although I strangely feel like a slacker when I walk around outside with my mask in my hand instead of on my face.

I have yet to see someone at the pool wearing a 
mask, but folks do seem to be aware of keeping
some distance.

To be granted access to The Islands, all visitors have to jump through quite a number of hoops.  The hoops weren’t difficult, they just required attention to detail – which is one of my specialties.  Rob and I each had to create an account on a State of Hawaii website, enter all our travel arrangements including flight numbers and which specific condo unit we had reserved, and upload photos of our vaccination cards.  This allowed us to request exemption from a 10-day quarantine or providing proof of a negative test result within 72 hours of arrival. 

24 hours prior to our flight, we each had to log in again to fill out a health questionnaire.  This resulted in a QR code indicating we were screened.  When we arrived in Seattle for our flight to Kauai the next day, we stood in line for an Alaska Airline rep to check our codes and photos and IDs.  Our prize for successfully jumping through that hoop was a snazzy turquoise wrist band that allowed us to bypass the Hawaiian airport folks 6 hours later and waltz directly to Baggage Claim and the start of our vacation. Somewhere in there, our condo complex was supposedly contacted to confirm we were registered guests…and while waiting for our bags, I texted them the requested updated QR code that proclaimed us Screened AND Exempt and therefore allowed to stay on their property. Goodness!

The whole process was sort of like filling out a Publishers Clearinghouse Sweepstakes entry.  Just the right stamp had to be placed in just the right box, another box needed to be checked, etc. And honestly, once we were in our freshly sanitized white Impala motoring away from LIH, I did rather feel like we had won a Grand Prize.

When we stopped at the grocery store
on our way to our condo, I spied another
shopper with the same wrist band.  What used
to be fresh leis are now wristbands proclaiming
your very recent arrival in Hawaii!

All that rigmarole just to set flip flop on the island has given me confidence that I am surrounded by healthy people.  Although there are Covid cases here, most are among the community.  The only community I am interacting with are masked restaurant servers and store merchants.  We are also outside almost all of the time.  The only time I have been inside a public space for more than 15 minutes was Target, Walmart, and the grocery store -- places my mask and I visit at home frequently.   I have found myself finally breathing deeply here, with comfort and security for the first time since July.  I finally feel safe again, which is a blessed and desperately needed vacation in and of itself.

We’re pretty sure the people staying in Unit 38 – our preferred condo – are the owners.  We keep shooting them dirty looks while they are lounging on their lanai.  They’ve yet to notice.  But I can’t say I blame them for hunkering down here to ride out the wild waves of Covid.  I would if I could!  I am already dreading flying back to reality in a few days.  But the blissful escape from it could not have come at a better time.  And that’s worth celebrating.