Paddle and soar


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North America » United States » Hawaii » Kaua'i
June 22nd 2011
Published: June 25th 2011
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Ok people sorry for the delay. This is what Britt and I did on Wednesday of our great adventure. (Everything in parenthesis are moi, Brittni). Before you spoiled brats get enraged because there is only 27 pictures, there is a reason. Since a lot of the days activities involved water, I thought it prudent to not bring our digital camera, and bring our waterproof disposable one. Using that thing felt like I was in the stone age. You mean I can't see my picture after I take it??!?! And have to wait until I get back and another hour after bringing it in?!?!?! The humanity. First world problems.

Anyways, back to the day. It started early 7:30, which is OK because we weren't really accustomed to Hawaii time yet. Were really stoked for today, as this was the biggest activity we had planned for this trip. We had to rent some sandals with straps that would withstand the day, flip flops wouldn't cut it in the muddy terrain, and running shoes would get soaked in the water. After getting those we rode in a shuttle with a couple other people on the tour to a kayak rental area on the Huleia (Hulu-EE-yah) River, in the Huleia National Wildlife Refuge on the south eastern part of the island. It is a quiet river running through the jungle. There are some pretty large cliffs on the other side of the river.

Brittni and I have done kayaking/canoeing in the past, and let's just say it's not our forte. We were always turning because of my brute force paddling in the rear and her dainty water slaps up front. (I did that on purpose >.<😉 I guess I need to stop hitting the gym so much. Oh well. While paddling, the guides told us about the Menehune Fish Pond, which was created by the tiny, magical Menehune people (go figure) to catch fish during the tide periods. It's pretty massive and is a pretty ingenious structure to help feed the large population on the island. Basically it's a pond next to the river bend, that has gates that can open and close. When the tide and fish roll in, they close the gates, and the fish can't swim out. Then the tide goes out, the water gets really shallow, and they swoop up the fish. Pretty cool! Also, where we got off the kayak and began our hike was where they filmed the scene in "Raiders of the Lost Ark" where Indiana Jones runs away from the spear throwing natives onto the sea plane.

So the hike was a very muddy trek through the jungle, which was nice and cool as the canopy hid us from the sun. (I just got bit by mosquitoes like fifteen million times). Our guides were very informative about all of the plants we were seeing, which plants were native, which plants were brought by the Menehune, which were brought by the Tahitians, (which plants ease bug bite swelling) and which were brought by the white man. We then got to a pond, which a scene from Pirates of the Caribbean 4 was shot, something close to the Fountain Of Youth shot. I haven't seen the movie, but apparently the CGI'd in some mermaids and other things. But there was a rope swing going into the pond, which was cool and refreshing.

After a little more of a hike, we got to a open area, that used to be part of a working cattle ranch. We got on a trailer that was pulled by a tractor and rode through the meadow, which was in a scene of Jurassic Park; the part where Dr. Grant and the kids are walking on the grass and the stampeding herd comes their way. Spielberg loves this place! We also got a good view of the Sleeping Giant Mountain, which is named that because the ridge looks like a giant sleeping on his back, with the feet, legs, belly, arms, and head. After riding the tractor for a little while, we got to the edge of a valley where our zipline adventure was about to start!

After a short safety and harness tutorial, we got to business. They had a little bridge that they had strung over a little gulch to test people's height fear boundaries. (I pwned it). Walking over that was pretty cool as it went through the jungle and a waterfall was going on below. Then we got to the first zipline which was amazing. We flew over the valley, and saw several waterfalls and rivers below us. The air felt amazing. It is really an experience that I recommend all people to try once. (I, Brittni, went off the first zipline backwards, WOOT!!!) After the first zipline, we stopped and had some lunch, some sandwiches with pasta salad and brownies. There were more chickens everywhere of course, but at lunch we had a wild pig come out and chill with us (I wanted to cuddle with the hairy little guy) ! He had been pretty domesticated from all the zipliners eating up there, but he was really mellow and was destroying the leftovers. Apparently, there are so many wild pigs on Kauai that there are federal tax dollars allocated for guys to snipe them from helicopters. Pwn. I just think this little guy was happy he wasn't on the menu.

After lunch, we got ready for the tandem ride, which was about twice as long as the first one! This one was a little different as the landing was in the middle, so you rode back and forth about three times until the dip in the line causes you to get down to the middle. Super awesome. There were two lines next to each other, so Brittni and I went together. It was super awesome.

Since the tandem one took forever to dismount from, Britt and I had to wait for a while for all the people to go. We took off our gear and waited for a few minutes, then hiked down to a pond where there was a small zipline into water as well as a platform to dive off. It was a good way to end to day, there was a waterfall, so the water was cool and refreshing. (Anyone who knows me, it's Brittni again, I get bit A LOT by mosquitoes. But the guide told us about these "steroid" leaves that heal wounds and bites really fast. They totally work and I brought plenty of the leaves home and rubbed them over every bite. Success) We then hiked back to the river and took a motorized canoe back to kayak place. On the way back, we talked to some fellow honeymooners from Texas and they highly recommended Island Helicopter Tours. We had looked into taking a helicopter tour, but couldn't find one that was highly rated and wouldn't break the bank. So after looking into Island tours when we got back to Kuhio shores, we decided to go for it!

We were ready to relax after that long day, so we made some "adult" ice blended drinks from the fruit we got from the farmers market. Good stuff. After a nap and watching the sunset, we headed over to Yum Cha at the Hyatt on Poipu Beach. Some pretty solid Asian food, Brittni really liked it because it reminded her of some home Vit-nah-mee cooking. Turns out, the chef is Vietnamese, haha. (Everything tasted like Vietnamese food! "thai" and "chinese" alike >.<😉 After stuffing our faces, we went back to the condo for some needed sleep.


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