Blogs from Napali Coast, Kaua'i, Hawaii, United States, North America

I’m struggling to come to terms with the tipping culture here in the States. Back home we might tip a waiter up to ten percent if the service was really exceptional, but it would be by no means expected, and other than that I can’t think of too many people that we’d ever tip. Before we’ve even finished the last mouthfuls of our meals here and in Canada, we’ve had either a credit card machine or a bill put in front of us, with a menu of tip percentages on it to chose from. These start at 18 percent and work their way up from there. I get the impression that we wouldn’t get out of a restaurant alive if we declined to add a tip, no matter how bad the service had been. Last night ... read more

We woke up on our own at 5:30am this morning. Still getting over the time change, we decided to walk down to the beach at our resort to watch the sunrise from Waipouli Beach. It was gorgeous. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. We got a late start hitting the road, half intentionally (since the views of the Na Pali coast are most vivid in the afternoon hours) and half because we’re going at our own island pace. It was 10:00am when we hit the road going east on route 50 toward Hanalei Bay beach and then the Na Pali coast hike entrance at Ke’e beach. We’re going to hike 4 miles each way (8 miles round trip) up to the 300’ secluded Hanakapia’I Falls. As we got closer to Hanalei Bay, we can see ... read more

Kaua'i is adventure wonderland for two landlocked citizens of Denver, Colorado! Days 1-3: After missing our flight from Denver to Phoenix and being rerouted through LAX, then renting a car with an empty tank only to drive the "alternate route" through an unlit backroad, we needed a couple of days to unwind. It all started with a delicious Mai Tai and Fish Tacos at Dukes in Lihue. We used these first days to prep for our epic camping adventure. There was a Costco on the island, we made several trips to Kmart, bought a cooler, a summer weight sleeping bag, beach towels, cheapo sunglasses, etc. (Coolers are approved for checked luggage, and TSA wraps it up for you at the airport, by the way.) Each errand awarded us a local surprise like the delicious freshly caught ... read more

Aloha Everyone! We had a serious hiking day today and thought it would be a good idea to take a video of the aftermath! Hope you enjoy the video and pictures. Yesterday, we kicked off our day by going to Wake Up Cafe for a hearty local breakfast. The french toast & spam and cheese omelette were amazing! Next, we went to visit both the dry (Maniniholo) and wet (Kee Beach) caves in Haena. We swam at the Kauluapaoa Beach & tested out our snorkeling masks (Mr. & Mrs. Snorkel-Dork have arrived to Hawaii!). The water had strong waves and the shore drops off quickly into deeper water, which is expected along the North Shore. Later on we went to the Farmer's Market in Kiluaea to pick up fresh mangoes and papayas. Then around nightfall we ... read more

In all my life I’ve never looked at a landscape with my own eyes and thought it looked photoshopped; the colors a little too saturated a little too vibrant, rendering it too good to be true. I never would have believed it possible before I laid eyes on Kalalau Valley during the golden hour. I had first seen it in photographs and it was love at first sight, hovering at the top of my to-do list for the past few years, and now here I was. Those photographs I had seen in books and on the internet had drawn me here to one of the best views on Earth. But it wasn’t as simple as that; much of the research had said that with Kauai being one of the wettest places on earth, the valley would ... read more