• Any island:
  • find a sunset sail/cruise
  • go to a Luau
• Kauai:
  • Go on a Tasting Kaua’i food tour
• Maui:
  • Visit the Maui Ocean Center
  • Try out Maui Ku’ia Estate Chocolate
• Big Island
  • Take a trip up to the top of Mauna Kea

Sunset Sail:
We’ve done this on both Maui and the Big Island. We need to go back to Kauai to do one. The photos are Lahaina, and Waikoloa x2.

Luau:
There are lots to choose from, and the good ones include a lot of Hawaiian history. The photos start with the original settlers from Tahiti, the cowboys of the Big Island (King Kamehameha was gifted with cattle), and twirling fire.

Food tour:
We went on our first one in Dublin, years ago. Since then, we have tried to see if there is one where we are. It’s a great opportunity to get out and try things you might not otherwise, meet some interesting people, and have fun. Tasting Kaua’i does several different tours on the island. We did the South Shore tour, which is a driving tour, going to several different locations around Poipu and Koloa, including Monkeypod Jam (they ship, and also teach classes), the Kickshaw food truck, and a local grocery store (poke that’s out of this world!)

Maui Ocean Center:
The ocean center is a mix of museum and interactive exhibits. The posters I’ve seen over the years are likely based on the tanks at the center, with a plethora of different fish and other marine animals. The photos are a Yellow Pualu (Surgeonfish), a black-tip reef shark, and a series of corals.

Maui Ku’ia Estate Chocolate:
The Ku’ia chocolates are made on-island, and are an intriguing mix of chocolate with island flavors. The chocolate is from either their estate plantation (which is a few miles into the hills of Maui) or Ecuador. They manufacture in their Lahaina location, which is in a little light industrial area on the west end of town, and do tastings in their upstairs lanai. You can also do a tour of the estate. The view from the lanai includes their estate. The “OMG” chocolate is a combination of blood orange, mango, and guava, and is indeed OMG. They have a variety of collections, and they were great gifts once we got home.

Mauna Kea:
The trip up to the top of Mauna Kea is a several hour long journey/tour. I recommend going with Mauna Kea Summit Adventures. They will pick you up (either side of the island), drive you with a great narrative about the areas you’re going through (Parker Ranch, etc), feed you while you acclimatize a bit to the altitude at the visitor’s center (9200′), and then take up up to the top (13,986′) for sunset. You stop again at the visitor center for star gazing, and then head back to your starting point. Well worth the time and cost. They will provide heavy coats/gloves if you didn’t bring your own, as well as carrying a pulse oximeter and supplemental oxygen. Do consider pre-treating for altitude sickness, although you’re only up at the top for about 75-90 minutes. Do bring your fancy camera and tripod for sunset and timed shots of the stars.

I did some research to figure out which model Rainbird I should get, but couldn’t find anyone who would take out the old and install the new. Fortunately, our original irrigation expert came back to San Jose for a big job this spring, and was willing to do the work between his other obligations.

We selected the Rainbird ESP-ME3 series, with the LNK WiFi module, and added a rain sensor. We also added a flow sensor, which can help us determine if a circuit doesn’t shut off, has a leak, etc. After some initial issues with the flow sensor, we got it all settled so that we can track water usage, really important with the current drought. We also put in a “normally off” Master Valve, which will shut off the water when the sprinklers aren’t running, and prevent leaks.

Of course, now I will probably redo mom’s setup so that we can track water usage the same way, not just adjust the programming, etc.

*See also the post Drip Irrigation conversion from 2015.

We have a mixture of Rainbird’s 1800 heads and Unispray heads.  The Unisprays are mostly in areas where we wanted a really short throw (2′ or so). I didn’t want to have to dig up all of these sprinkler heads, so was happy to learn that Rainbird makes caps for the 1800 heads (part# 1800CAPOFF), although they are often hard to find.  Most stores geared towards retail customers won’t even know that they exist.  Unfortunately, they don’t make caps for the Unispray heads.  Nor do they make “blank” nozzles that don’t actually deliver water when under pressure.  Rainbird also makes some nice drip conversion pieces and sets, with “Easy Fit” connections.  More on this below.

My limiting factor was which sprinkler heads I could cap off.  I started with just reducing the number on one circuit by capping half.  Then I went to a circuit where we only had a couple of plants left (and no plans to replace the others), just to reduce the volume used when watering.  And then I thought it would make more sense to convert to drip.  Our local Orchard Supply Hardware store had the Rainbird conversion kit (RCKIT1PK), and we had some leftover parts from when we first bought the house, so I figured it would be easy.  It mostly was.   I converted one circuit along the fence, with the star jasmine and some other shrubs.  The biggest problem was finding the 1800 heads, buried now under leaves and ground cover that had blown up to the fence line.  I capped all of those heads, except the one that I put the conversion on.  It worked well.  And then I realized that it would be easier to extend that line to cover the entire fence and I wouldn’t have to worry about how to cap off the Unisprays – I could just turn off that entire circuit.  I did the same thing around the side and back of the house, which converted three spray circuits into one drip circuit.

Now to figure out what to do with the “back 40” area, which is three more circuits.  Some of the plants there are looking pretty over-grown, so we may replant to something a bit more drought-tolerant and switch to drip at the same time.

Rainbird Easy-Fit Connectors – a mini-review:

These include straight, elbow and T connectors, as well as 1/2″ and 3/4″ adapters (male and female, designed to screw on to the kit or onto the end of a pipe), and a Flush Cap adapter.

You can easily slide your 1/2″ hose onto the connectors.  The nice thing here is that you are basically wedging the hose between two layers, so the increased pressure when there is water in the pipe actually helps to keep the connection tight and leak-proof.  But you can also take it all back apart as you wish.

However, the adapters “click” into place and cannot be easily removed.  This does not seem to be what they had intended (especially given the flush cap adapter).  Perhaps there is a separate sort of tool that is needed to be able to separate the parts, but if so, it’s not something they have information about on their website.  Basically, you need something that will slip down between the adapter and the connector wall that will push apart the two pieces so you can pull them apart.

The kit is relatively easy to find, which includes the replacement body (which you don’t have to use), the filter, a T connector and the 1/2″ female adapter (MDCF50FPT).  The rest of the pieces are available through Rainbird, some on-line retailers, and some commercial landscape supply stores.