I feel so grateful that we had the chance to escape from “real life” in Utah to a week of magical Hawaiian relaxation and recuperation. It was much needed and very much enjoyed!
Sunset on Ke’e Beach our first evening there.
We spent the week on the island of Kaua’i. Nicknamed the Garden Island. And adequately so. It is breathtakingly lush, green and gorgeous.
Here is a photo taken from our helicopter ride. More about that later…
There is one main highway on Kaua’i and it runs along the coastline, as you can see by this handy map. The white lines are the roads. [Yep, what big portions of island untouched by pavement. All the better for hiking, my dear!]
We drove the entire stretch of road from the north shore around through the west side of the island to see the sights. It takes about 2 hours from one end of the road to the other. The north shores have beaches perfect for surfing, especially with the big winter waves. The south shores have excellent snorkeling.
Something I found super interesting was the difference between the southwest side and northeast side. The Napali Coast [napali means "cliffs" in Hawaiian] is breathtaking. And conceals Mount Wai’ale’ale, the wettest spot on earth with 450 inches per year. It rained almost every day where we stayed on the east side of the island, usually just a little drizzle. But the climate on the southwest side is completely different. It’s actually quite dry, getting only 30 inches per year, and looks a lot like Utah! Within a short drive westward, the scenery turned from lush and green to dry and drab. But the west side makes up for this with it’s fantastic 15-mile stretch of sandy beaches and dazzling sunsets.
Waiting for the sunset on Polihale Beach. And the beginning of the Napali Coastline in the background.
One of our many stops for photos along the drive. Oh how I love having my photo taken…
Another photo stop near Spouting Horn. [And I just gotta say it - my husby is hot.]
We found some excellent restaurants and had fun visiting all over the island. And speaking of great beaches, we found so many! It was so nice to just lay on the sand and relax. A most excellent way to escape into pure serenity!
This gorgeous beach is Aliomanu Beach.
Kauapea Beach. The secret beach. There was a steep hike to get here but definitely worth it!
Kilauea Lighthouse. An excellent whale watching spot.
In the midwest part of the island is Waimea Canyon. Nicknamed the “Grand Canyon of the Pacific.” This dramatic gorge has been carved over centuries of wind and rain. And is really amazing!
I think what fascinated me the most is how we turned off the main road by the beach and then it seemed like within a matter of minutes, we were suddenly on a mountain staring into the canyon with the ocean in the background. It’s a stunning sight.
M and I at Waimea Canyon.
Me. Loving having my photo taken. Again.
Another thing that we loved about Kaua’i is that there are waterfalls. Everywhere.
This one is called Opaeka’a Falls.
The weather was great the entire trip. Mid-seventies to eighties. My ideal temperature. As I mentioned earlier, it rained almost everyday but was usually just a drizzle. One day though, it poured rain. All day long. It was still warm and I loved the warm rain, but there was water everywhere! [We may or may not have spent most of the day cuddled up in the hotel room reading the Hunger Games series... love love love those books!!] But we did venture out in the afternoon to re-visit some of the waterfalls we’d seen earlier in the week to see how the water affected them.
Wailua Falls. Before.
Wailua Falls. After.
Because the main highway on Kaua’i runs along the coastline, it leaves a good portion of the island to be explored by trails. We went on several hikes to check out waterfalls and beaches.
I loved the greenness of the hikes. I felt like we kept getting lost in the jungle!
Our hike to Ho opi’i Falls
On our hike to the Ho opi’i Falls, we saw several big frogs! They were at least the size of my fist! And they kinda creeped me out. Maybe because the first one we discovered by almost stepping on him. Ew.
Another hike we adventured on begins at the Kalalau Lookout, which you can drive to within the Koke’e State Park, and continues to Pu’u O Kila Lookout, which is only accessible by the hike.
Here I am, chilling at the Kalalau Lookout. I love that the ocean and sky blend into each other.
And here’s M enjoying the trail to the Pu’u O Kila Lookout. Isn’t he adorable?!
We bought snorkeling gear in a local shop for pretty cheap and had the chance to check out a few of the top snorkeling spots on Kaua’i. Although I hate getting even a drop of the salty ocean water near my mouth, it was so worth the bitter taste! We saw some absolutely amazing fish and they would swim right by our faces! We probably could have reached out and touched them.
And on Po’ipu Beach, we saw a giant sea turtle!! It was awesome!
On Sunday, we went to one of the local LDS churches. Isaac, one of our friends from BYU is actually from Kaua’i [and yes, he gave us a lot of excellent insider tips for our trip!] so we got to meet his family. They even had us over for Sunday dinner and we watched embarrassing home videos of Isaac as a kid. Adorable! While there, they referred us to several of their friends from church for good deals on activities to do.
One of those referrals was for “snuba.” Because of our recent successes in snorkeling, we were so excited for this! It is a cross between snorkeling and scuba diving. We had air tanks floating above us rather than strapped to our backs, so we were able to dive deeper than snorkeling without needing scuba training or certification.
Our instructor Kevin swam with us and showed us the sea life we probably would have missed on our own—like sea cucumbers and lobsters! He picked them up and passed them around to our group.
Another referral from our friend’s family was for a boat ride to the Napali Coast [since you can't drive on the coast, the only way to see it is by boat or helicopter] but because of that day of massive rain, the boats couldn’t run for several days. The helicopters either. We even tried to go kayaking but the places couldn’t rent them due to debris in the river.
But finally, on the last day we were there, the boats and helicopters started running again. Unfortunately, all the boat trips were booked. So we took a helicopter!!
I’ve never been in a helicopter before. It was amazing to see everything from the sky! Places we’d been earlier in the week, like the waterfalls and beaches, looked really awesome from up above.
Can you tell how excited I am that we are cruising around in the helicopter?!
I was snapping photo after photo of all the things we could see. They say that only 20% of the island is reachable by vehicle or hiking. So this showed us some of the 80% we’d been missing!
Lifting off up and over Lihue.
The Wailua River, where we’d hoped to kayak but couldn't after the massive rain causing the river to be filled with mud and debris.
Flying into Waimea Canyon, the Grand Canyon of the Pacific.
Flying along the Napali Coastline, reachable only by boat or helicopter.
Our pilot was fantastic and the trip was breathtaking! It was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience. In more ways than one. I’ve never really experienced motion sickness before. Once, on a family road trip when I was a kid, I had been reading in the backseat and felt a bit woozy, but my dad told me to focus out the windshield and it went away. Now if you’ve ever been in a helicopter, you’ll understand the way it moves. They can go up and down and sideways. And, to my tummy, it seems every which way! Our flight was an hour long. It was about halfway through when I started feeling that woozy feeling again but I tried that focus-out-the-windshield tip and was doing much better. We flew through the Waimea Canyon through the Napali Coast. Everything looked so amazing! Finally, we began to head back and I could see Lihue, the big city of the island where our helicopter tour began. But then the pilot took us in to look at one more waterfall on our way back before landing. And the drop in to look at that waterfall is what sent my stomach over the edge. I lost it. So embarrassing and so gross!
{Oh, and it happens to be this waterfall picture. Oh, the memories!}
Everyone else in the helicopter was super nice about it but I was mortified. Thank goodness it was at the end of the tour! We’d all wanted pictures before we got on the helicopter in the first place, but the pilot asked us to wait until the end. So now we have some awesome pale-faced, I-feel-nasty photos to document that we’ve been in a helicopter.
Luckily, M wasn’t even embarrassed by me. And excluding the last few minutes of the flight, the entire helicopter tour was fantastic. We were sad that it was the last thing we really got to do on the island and that after it ended, it meant it was time for us to pack up and head to the airport.
So all in all, our vacation was amazing! Of course there are always things you miss about home while you are away, but it was definitely sad to leave the sunshine and bliss to come back home.
Especially thanks to things like today’s snow… Yay for living in Utah! I guess that just means it’s a perfect time to go snowboarding…
