Two Weeks in Kauai

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NOVEMBER 15 MONDAY

It was about 3pm by the time we arrived at our accomodations. After a very long day of travelling we just walked down to the nearest store (about a mile away) grabbed some quick food for dinner, some Mai Tai mix. We had a few drinks sitting on the deck listening to the sounds of the waves and the gecko's all around us. We were asleep by 8.


NOVEMBER 16 TUESDAY

Awake at 6 am whether we liked it or not. We have a quick breakfast then pack up the the backpack with water sandwiches and sunscreen the head off to find Poipu Beach.
After a very long walk down the road we find the beach and it was beautiful. It had the whitest sand that I have ever seen and the water was so crystal clear blue that I could see right down to the bottom even when it was over 6 feet deep. I had never really swam in the ocean before , mostly becuse our water in vancouver looks kind of brown, so it took me awhile to get used to the motion of the waves. I kept getting knocked over. Once I was used to the water phil showed me how to snorkel. My very first time. I saw some of the most colorful fish down there and they swam right next to me. After hours at the beach it accured to me that the sun there is much stronger that the sun here. I had a lobster red burn to prove it. We head over the the bar that was about 2 feet from the sand , hid in the shade and ordered Mai tai,s. We had to take a picture of them because they were so pretty.

NOVEMBER 17 WEDNESDAY


Once again up early in the morning. It was actually raining this morning. But not the dreary cold rain of vancouver. Instead it was a nice warm tropical rain, just like taking a shower.

We walked with out umbrellas or rain gear all the way up to spouting horn which was about 2 miles up the road. After that we went to go head off to poipu beach so Phil could take surfing lessons.It was strange sitting on the beach in the rain but all I had to do was put a towel on my head and it was fine. Not cold at all. Phil had a blast learning to surf. He actually caught his first wave and rode it all the way to the beach. The other waves proved abit harder. Apparently the hardest part of surfing isn't getting up on the wave but it is actually picking which wave to ride. Most of them die out.

After Phil spent 2 hours out on the waves we packed up at the beach and then head up to the Village and found a very cool restaurant "Keoki's Paradise" and had a drink and a snack before heading home.


NOVEMBER 18 THURSDAY PHIL'S BIRTHDAY

We started out the morning by taking a short walk down to baby beach which was right across the street from us. It was a beautiful day and we wanted to go snorkeling but found that the rocks surrounding the small beach made it too difficult to swim around with out scraping our legs and feet. A short walk around the corner to another beach called turtle cove solved that problem. Phil hopped in and was 20 feet away with in seconds. By the time he came back it was time to go back home and get ready for his golf game at 3.

We caught a cab up to the course. He played an awesome game and we were the only ones on the course so it was relaxing. After the game we head over to Keoki's paradise for his birthday dinner. The atmospere was just like being in a lagoon except it was in a restaurant with only a roof , tiki torches everywhere , and a pond right beside us.


NOVEMBER 19 Friday

Spent most of the day snorkeling at Poipu Beach, had a huge lunch of scampi on the side of the road. For dinner we bbq'd steaks and ate outside listening to the ocean.Then walked down to baby beach with a couple of glasses of wine before bed.


NOVEMBER 20 Saturday

We decided to rent a car so we could see everything on this side of the island before we moved to the north side in a couple of days. We head of to the west and explored all of the beaches and small towns and villages on the way to the Waimea Canyons. Very long drive with sharp turns up to the top of the canyon. But well worth it once you get to the top, even if you are a bit nauseaus like I was. We took a tons of pictures and then head to the far south side of the island to explore there before the sun went down. We found a hidden beach that most tourists don't know about but it was one of the most spectacular beaches on the island called mahale'upa. We walked past the beach and up on to the cliffs and found miles of flat lava rock leading up to grassy hills. It was breathtaking and untouched by population. It would have made a nice picture but ofcourse our camera wasn't working.


NOVEMBER 21 Sunday

Our last day in this side of town. We walked up to the botanical gardens and had a short tour of the rare tree's and flowers of the island. Then head back to Poipu beach where phil rented a surf board and tried his luck at surfing again. He caught a few waves while I tried to get a good shot of him on a wave.Then we watched our last sunset at Poipu Beach then head home to pack for our move to the north shore the next day.


NOVEMBER 22 Monday

We arrive in the north , drive around for a couple of hours while we wait for our new accomodations to be ready, and find the Ching Young village . It had so much character and basicly anything you would need in it, including a restaurant that served gourmet meals on paper plate and you could bring your own booze. After browsing all of the unique stores , we took a drive and found some of the caves that most tourists check out. We took some pictures then hurried over to our cabin to get settled.

NOVEMBER 23 Tuesday

We decided to go to one of the very popular farmers market where all of the local farmers get together and sell their fresh "just picked that day" produce. While we we waiting for the market to open at about 2 pm we were hit with the most unbelievable rain. I was prepared for rain in the north shore but I had no idea that it would hit so hard. With in seconds we were soaked. It was still warm though , so it wasn't so bad. The field that held the market became flooded and everyone had to navigate huge puddles as they shopped. Since it was still raining after we were finished at the farm market we opted not to go to the beach . Instead we just head home and watched movies while it rained outside.

NOVEMBER 24 Wednesday

We were going in to the east shore today to have dinner at a luau, so we figured we might as well take a look around that part of the island. The east is really the busiest part of the island. We were stuck in traffic for a good half an hour. I'm very glad we never booked a hotel in that area of the island. We wandered around the town and checked out Lydgate beach, Wailua falls, and the mall they had . Which again looked more like a village.

The luau was held at the Smith Family Tropical Paradise. They had a huge property with gardens that we we able to explore before dinner. The Imu ceremony was held at 5, and the crowds of guests formed a circle around the two men as they dug out the food that had been baking in the ground all day. There was large eating area a few feet from the ceremony where they prepared many tables of food while the guests seated themselves. Phil made sure we were sitting right by the bar that had unlimited Mai Tai's that you could grab anytime you wanted.

After the meal we were brought down in to an ampitheater where we watched the many different types of dances. It was the only Luau on the island that had a mixture of different cultures , so there were many varieties including Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, and Tahiti. They had a man made volcano on stage that erupted half way through the show. And a dance that ivolved five female dancers swinging ropes with balls of fire on each end. It would have been quite a dramatic effect had it not started pouring with rain leaving the dancers drenched and swinging limp strings with dripping charcoal.

NOVEMBER 25 Thursday

We have officially relaxed in to Island mode, so we had kind of a lazy day . We just watched movies then went to the beach in the afternoon.


NOVEMBER 26 Friday

We woke up about 4:30 am drove for an hour to get to the west shore where the boat that we had chartered was waiting for us to board for the 6 am departure. We watched the sun rise with cups of coffee from the upper level of the boat as the captian navigated the rough waves.
The first stop was the Napali' Coast. This is one of the most untamed parts of the island and can only be reached by the most adventurous, who are willing to hike with only the bare necessities on their backs for 2 days through dangerous and wild land,while braving unpredictable weather, to camp on the most secluded beaches of Kauai, OR by people like us who charter boats to explore the same beaches , but from the saftey of our seats while drinking Mai Tais and eating a buffet lunch that was being served to us.

After exploring the beautiful sheer rock cliffs and being shown where alot of Jurrasic Park was filmed, the captian turned the boat around and we head off to the second part of the journey which was to see Ni'ihau which is also called the "forbidden island". It is owned by one single family and there is a population of only 200 people on the whole island. No one is allowed on the island unless they are invited, hence the name "forbidden island". So ofcourse it has become a tourist attraction with atleast 4 boats a day cruising around the whole island and then anchoring about half a mile off shore to let the passengers snorkel. Which is exactly what we did. After an hour of snorkelling, and Phil finding an octopus (which he pissed of so it sprayed him with ink) , we got back in the boat had a quick lunch then drank Mai Tai's while listening to jimmy buffet on route back to the mainland.


NOVEMBER 27 Saturday

The owner of the house we were renting told us about a local favorite and it was a place called the blue room. A cave that if you go on a sunny day the light reflects off the water in the cave and makes the rock of the walls look blue. We took the short drive and very short hike up the hill then checked out the cave to see if we could actually swim in it. The water was cold but we were able to swim, but only for a short while though, because we had been spoiled by the warm tropical waters of the ocean and now any other water seemed like arctic water.

NOVEMBER 28 Sunday

Last day in Kauai.

We spent the morning out in the east shore looking around the village shopping center for souvenirs, aswell as some markets of crafts that the locals have put together. We head back to the north shore and found black pot beach. Even though it was raining it was still so beautiful. The rain made everything misty aswell as creating more water falls that fell down each side of the mountains that surrounded the beach. The waves were high enough and strong enough that Phil could have some fun boogie boarding. But not treacherous enough that I would have little mini heart attacks everytime he dove in to the water. After our last swim of the trip, we head back to the cabin to pack and prepare for our long travel home.

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