View from above

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After a late night arrival last night, today is our first full day (and daylight hours) in Kauai. We started the day off with a helicopter ride. We chose the 60 minute Jack Harter doors-off tour. Oddly enough, Danika didn't panic too much when she saw the doors off. Perhaps because she drew the middle seat up front. While we had been hoping for the back seats, the front seats turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The entire front from 12:00 (overhead) to about 5:00 (by our feet) was glass, so we had amazing views. Meanwhile, Brad teetered on the edge (or at least he likes to claim). The flight took off from the Lihue helipad, headed west toward the Waimea Canyon, up north toward the Na Pali coast, then around past Princeville, to the northeast part of the island, back past the wettest place on earth (sorry, don't have the guide book to help me remember the name), over some stunning waterfalls, and back to Lihue. Our 4 person crew was pretty quiet while the pilot provided narrative. Danika had the wide-eyed, open mouthed expression of a third grader (very cute, in a completely non-biased way) throughout the trip. Brad's highlight was the Na Pali coast (even though he missed seeing the whale). Danika's liked seeing all three branches of the Waimea Canyon, especially the contrast of the rocks against the green. They don't call it the Garden Island for nothing.

We spent the second part of the day driving from Lihue to hotel #2 in Poipu, then heading to Poipu State Beach to catch some sun and snorkel. While there, we ran into some friendly creatures, including a "beautiful" monk seal and a HUGE tortoise/turtle/thingy. It was pretty cool. While snorkeling, Brad (not an expert snorkeler, mind you) saw some fish that looked like they had horns. Let me know if you know what those are.

After the snorkeling, we drove over to Spouting Horn. To get a true feeling for what this is, check out the video. I can't give you a better description than that.

For dinner we ate real Hawaiian... pizza. Well, not Hawaiian pizza, but pizza in Hawaii. We found the place in our guidebook, headed over there, and loved it. Then the waitress rudely forced dessert onto our table and down our throats. Mean.

After the pizza excitement, we headed back to the hotel for ... well ... sleep. D fell asleep at 7:30 and B managed to make it to 8:00. I know, we're crazy. Maybe it was a big rest in preparation for our hike tomorrow. Details on the hike to come...

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Photos

The Chopper
B and D by the helicopter

Na Pali coastline
View from the helicopter

Waimea Canyon
Such a pretty green

Yurtle and B
Get it??? It's a turtle, people.