Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Our time on Kauai

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.





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.








 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.




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!











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.








 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.






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. 









We could happily return to either Kauai or Hawaii any time!!!  Mele Kalikimaka (Merry Christmas) to all our friends and family!!

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