Les and Shon's travel: December 2015

I gave up trying to post on the blog at our condo on Kauai as our laptop was so slow and cranky. We are now home again and I will try to capture the magic of Kauai in this post. We loved the 'Garden Isle' of Hawaii! We stayed at Pono Kai, a time share resort on the east coast in the town of Kapa'a. Our ground floor unit had a patio fronting the ocean - one morning Shon spotted whales spouting in the distance off our beach. The most memorable 'wildlife' on Kauai is the red junglefowl, also known as chickens! They are EVERYWHERE and the roosters love to 'sing' at all times of the day. They were actually quite amusing to watch. When we walked outside to eat our breakfast on the patio, they would come running. More annoying to me were the small zebra doves who were more like our starlings or pigeons in the pest department. They were more persistent and harder to shoo away.

breakfast time. The machinery for working on the beach trail was not touched all week but negated any photos from our patio!

Brazilian cardinal, introduced in the 30s and very common now in Hawaii - a lovely singer, too.

Kauai is the most northwest island and gets more rain than the other islands. More specifically, the center of the island contains an ancient crater that is touted as the 'wettest place on Earth'. The southwest of the island is comparatively dry but most of the island has the lush growth that we loved on the east side of Hawaii island.

There is no road completely encircling the island but we explored the north shore one day, 'our' east shore one day and the south shore another day. The west is the part with no road.

Looking west from Ke'e Beach, the end of the road on the North Shore, towards the famed Napali Coast, accessible only by an 11 mile hike, a tour boat, kayak (summer) or heli ride.

Ke'e Beach

Hanalei Valley on the North Shore, Taro grows in the paddy fields below, much like rice grows in flooded fields. Taro was a traditional starch for the Hawaiians. It is a tuber, boiled and mashed and tastes similar to cardboard. Everyone loves to hate taro!

Glass Beach on the South Shore. The bits of glass have been worn smooth by the waves. They came from an old dump on the site.

Kilauea Lighthouse on the Northern tip of Kauai

view west from Kilauea point

View east from Kilauea Point

Spouting Horn on the south coast. A nearby blowhole no longer spurts water but groans and moans which makes this an interesting stop

I could watch the ocean all day without getting bored! Now we'll head inland.

Perhaps the most dramatic scenery was on a drive to the Waimea Canyon, labelled the Grand Canyon of the Pacific. The road ends in Koke'e State park with incredible views from 5000' looking into the Kalahau Valley, along the Napali Coast.

Kalalau Valley

Kalalau Valley

Hanapepe River Valley en route to Waimea.

Waimea Canyon 800' waterfall. More photos follow from the helicopter

Kauai is the oldest of the volcanic Hawaiian islands but has steeper peaks than those on Hawaii, the youngest island. That is the result of more explosive types of volcanoes as it formed, not the oozing types that form rounded dome volcanic mountains on Hawaii. Kauai has a much more dramatic landscape. We decided to splurge and take a helicopter ride over the island. Unfortunately, that was our one rainy, cloudy, windy morning so the pilot was unable to take us into that central crater to see its numerous waterfalls. We did have a beautiful view of other parts of the island - Waimea Canyon, the Napali Coast, our condo in the town on Kapa'a, etc. Because of the rain, we were also treated to gorgeous rainbows, one of which encircled the helicopter. And it was my first ride in a helicopter - I loved it!

Folds of the Napali Coast (with some reflection through the heli window)

We flew into the Honopu Valley, a steep sided valley next to the Kalalau Valley. This was taken as we flew out of the valley.

Napali Coast, NW side of Kauai

Passing over some peaks on our way south from Napali Coast.

Our resort at Kapa'a from the air

back on land again

Oops, these didn't load in order. Waipo'o Falls in Waimea Canyon. Note how the wind is blowing the falls sideways.

Pa'omau Canyon off Waimea Canyon

Thoughout the week, we took advantage of three of Kauai's snorkelling beaches and enjoyed the diversity of sea life found there - the colours of tropical fish are so stunning! Occasionally, we would see fish that live by looking exactly like the ocean bottom, no bright colours, just sand colour or blotchy like the rocks below them. We also saw sea turtles again.

Hawaiian monk seals at Poipu beach

Poipu beach from the water

green sea turtle eating algae on the sea bottom

coming up for air

Anini Beach where we saw turtles

seal on Ke'e Beach

Shon snorkelling

As we walked the island's beaches, we were lucky enough to spot 4 Hawaiian monk seals in 3 different locations on the island. Not bad considering there are only 43 known monk seals left in the world, all living around Kauai.
One day, we rented bikes for a couple of hours and rode south from our condo. Another morning, we golfed 9 holes at a course near Lihue, the biggest town on the island.

Most of our evenings were quiet and early to bed, exhausted from our daily sightseeing. One night, though, we enjoyed an island lu'au, the traditional Hawaiian feast. The highlight of that night was the entertainment with the history of Hawaii told in song, dance and spoken word.

At the lu'au with Walt and Ingrid

fire dancer

Walt and Shon 'hanging loose' with the dancers

We were travelling with our Toronto friends, Walt and Ingrid, and thoroughly enjoyed our time with them. The final day we dropped them at the airport at noon for their flight then had until evening before our midnight flight. We took a river cruise to a famous Fern Grotto on the Wailua River, visited a couple more waterfalls, enjoyed a gorgeous sunset near Lihue then a final dinner at a seaside restaurant before reluctantly returning our rental car and flying home.