KAPAA — The Mellor family, of Kapahi, went for a stroll on Kealia Beach on Friday afternoon.
Even with the oncoming threat of Tropical Storm Lane, family patriarch Monty Mellor said he wasn’t too concerned.
“We’re here to see the waves today, and maybe tomorrow if it’s clear enough,” Mellor said.
Kauai’s Eastside was rather calm, albeit fairly windy, Friday. Barely a stitch of blue sky was seen as gray clouds blanketed the island.
Mellor said the home is prepped for the oncoming storm.
“Everything’s all locked up and locked away so there’s no flying debris,” he said. “The whole neighborhood is that way, so that’s good. We’re all ready to go. We got food, water, extra gasoline. We’re good. … We’re up the hill. It’s way more windy here (on the beach) than it is up there. We’re solid.”
Most business appeared closed. Some even had windows boarded in preparation of the hurricane.
But many eateries along Kuhio Highway remained open for patrons walking around Kapaa town.
In Kapaa, Ave Cacabelos was fishing on a little patch of beach adjacent to the Kapaa swimming pool. He caught a handful of perch Friday.
“I fish all the time,” Cacabelos. “I fish in bad weather — rain, lightning, thunder, (I go) all night. That’s when the fish bite.”
Cacabellos, a Puhi native who now resides in Kapaa, also wasn’t too worried about the hurricane threat, but he does follow up on the weather.
“If we’re hit, we get jobs,” he said with a laugh.
Visitors Lisa DeLaFleur and Mary Tussing stopped at Wailua Beach to look at the surf.
“We’re just taking it all in, going with it and making it an adventure,” said DeLaFleur, who is visiting from San Francisco. “We hope to get out (for the Mainland), but we’ll see.”
DeLaFleur and Tussing were on Oahu when news broke of Hurricane Lane making its way toward Hawaii.
They boarded the first available plane off the island and came to Kauai.
“We were settled on Oahu for a couple of days. Not that Oahu was going to have a direct hit, but we were up on the North Shore. So, we were worried about the road washing out, mudslides or whatnot,” said Tussing, who’s visiting from Williamsburg, Virginia. “We got down here. It looked, at that time, Kauai was least impacted. That’s why we came here, to sit it out until we can get back home.”
Tussing added of taking in the sights in Wailua: “I was just saying to Lisa, I think it’s awesome to feel safe and to really appreciate the beauty of the water, the nature and everything.”
••• Nick Celario, sports writer, can be reached at 245-0437 or ncelario@thegardenisland.com.
