Kauai Trip: Part II

One evening, we attended a Luau that was part of Ann's meeting where we were treated to some fast moving hips and intense fire dancing. Little did we know that our life would be changed forever by an unexpected conversation during dinner... we were introduced to Instagram by one of the couples at our table (We know... we are that last to jump on this app...)! We have been posting nonstop ever since.

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This fire master put on an awesome show!

The Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge was one of the stops on our tour of the north side of the island. The dramatic backdrop of steep cliffs plunging to the ocean is one of the best places on island to view wildlife. The refuge is home to some of the largest populations of nesting seabirds and is a great place to view spinner dolphins and whales.

The light house was built in 1913 and is listed on the national register of historic places, and it made for a great photo op!

On our first day on the island, we spotted a double rainbow and were all excited, even pulling over to take pictures. We soon realized that they were almost as common as the roosters that seem to be everywhere you turn.

Queen's Bath is a "pool" carved into a lava shelf along the north shore with a black rocky shoreline and fantastic views.  During the winter months, it can be dangerous because of rough surf conditions. However, the surf was cooperating during our visit and the water was calm and crystal clear. 

Now that Stiv is such a "strong" swimmer he decided to test the  rough winter surf and go for a swim in "the bath."

We took a break and enjoyed lunch at the St. Regis Hotel.  We wanted to check out the site for future stays and experienced one of the best views on the island.

The lifeguard tower at Ha'ena State Park beach made for a picture perfect postcard shot. This is a beautiful beach located next to some cool sea caves that are supposed to be over 4,000 yrs old!

Hanalei town is a neat little town surrounded by the Misty Mountains and Hanalei Bay, making for the most impressive backdrops for a pseudo-tourist town. We bought most of our souvenir gifts for the kids here... coconut purses, etc.

The trailhead for the famous Kalalau Trail is located next to Ke'e Beach. The trail is 11 miles to its endpoint and takes a full day to reach. Most people hike the hour to Hanakapi’ai Beach or 2 hrs to Hanakapi’ai Falls and return on the same day.

We had planned to hike to the falls but changed our plans after talking with another hotel guest. The day before our planned hike, a lady was killed when trying to cross a rapidly rising stream. It swept her down river and out to sea were she tragically drowned! In addition, our fellow hotel guest was one of 54 hikers who were moved to safety by emergency helicopter and were forced to spend the night on the trail because it was too dangerous to hike back!

The perfect hiking boots for a technical trail... don't try this at home.

What a difference 24 hrs makes on the trail. We eventually found ourselves at the trailhead just before sunset on our last full day on the island and decided to hike up the trail to experience some of the views. We encountered many hikers making the return trip who were no worse for wear. Just goes to show how critical it is to take weather seriously when in the wilderness.

A view of Ke'e Beach from the Kalalua Trail.

Spectacular sunset at Ke'e Beach, the very end of the road on the north side of the island.

We spent our last night and day in Kauai at the Marriott Resort, courtesy of the Grand Hyatt (they were overbooked and set us up there)!  The hotel is located on the rather large and beautiful Kalapaki Beach. We took advantage of the location by surfing in the morning and paddle boarding in the afternoon before taking the red-eye home. Our surfing experience was the same as always, with Ann riding the waves into shore and Stiv trying to balance with long-drawn-out spectacular crashes!

The paddle boarding was a lot of fun. However, it took more work than we have experienced in the past because the chop and waves were much more challenging than were are used to.

After a full day of water sports, we took a final dip in the pool, showered and headed out for our final meal on the island (Korean BBQ in Lihue... yum.). We were exhausted and ready to sleep on our flight back home.

A special thanks to Kim and Lorann for "volunteering" to watch the kids for the week. It may have taken a year off their lives, but they maintained a much more organized and peaceful household than we could ever hope achieve! We are so thankful that they enjoy the duty so much and can't wait to "give them a chance" to do it again very soon....

Kauai Trip: part 1

Our trip to Kauai exceeded all expectations! This is a rather long two part post... we wanted to have a history of our trip to refer back to our activities should we decided to revisit the island in the future.  The "garden island" has an adventure around every corner, and we kept ourselves busy sun up to sun down.

 

 

We didn't have high expectations for the Grand Hyatt, but it turned out to be outstanding, just as all the reviews promised. The hotel is located in Po'ipu on the south shore and sits on Shipwreck Beach with a beautiful view of the beach and surrounding cliffs. 

  

Ann modeling on the cliffs next to Shipwreck Beach. The cliffs are right next to the hotel and have hiking trails with fantastic views of the ocean and shoreline.

View back at our hotel.

Stiv is one of the few who like the Ford Flex and jumped at the chance to select it as our rental car on the island... dork say what???? 

Sorry, the lighting was horrible!

 

The actual purpose of our trip was for Ann to accept her induction into The American College of Psychiatrists. We are all proud of her for being accepted into this prestigious group of leading academicians in her field.

  

Our first adventure was a dinner cruise on Captian Andy's sunset cruise. We departed out of Port Allen and sailed north up to the Na Pali coast through some decent waves that made for a rather fun and occasionally wet ride. 

Ann and the rest of the kids getting a closer look at the dolphins off the front of the boat.

Our "teazy weazy" drinks marked the start of our return trip down the Na Pali coast.

Stiv and our buddy Tony hamming it up for the camera.

The crew on the Silver Star was fantastic! They were a perfect combination of fun, attentiveness, and tour guide. The captain was laid back and flexible to the passengers' preferences. The cruise was a well-oiled machine, and we highly recommend it as a must-do on the island.

Winter provides the prime whale watching months and we were treated to dozens of whale sightings. We spotted tails, water spouts and bodies all providing an amazing show out on the ocean. As with most of the sights, pictures just don't do justice to the experience.

In addition to the whales, the bottlenose and spinner dolphins enjoyed swimming in front of our catamaran and teasing us with their acrobatics and speed.

The ride up the coast was wet and wavy, but a fun adventure. However, the return was sunny and smooth, as we dined on steak and shrimp and ended the day with a beautiful sunset.

Our next adventure was the Waimea Canyon. The "Grand Canyon of the Pacific" was another must-do experience. The canyon is a mile across and up to 4000 feet high.

 The canyon views were incredible and it is impossible to represent the size and vastness in a photo. Each different color layer represents a different volcano eruption and subsequent lava flow.

We started our day very early and were one of the first people to arrive at the canyon. There was a slow moving car in front of us on the one lane road that Stiv was tailgating for miles. We followed them into the Waimea Canyon Lookout and introduced ourselves as the impatient tailgaters. We then decided to invite ourselves on Rob and Sue's hike on the Cliff Trail. Now we had an experienced tour guide and photographer... whether they wanted us or not!

One step backwards and Stiv would have fallen 3000' to his peril!

The Cliff Trail ends at the Waipo'o Falls. The view was spectacular, but the falls were just a trickle because the water was diverted to fill local wells. 

 

On our third day, we headed out to Lihue for the Wailua River canoe trip that came highly recommended from our friends back home. This was a four hour kayak/hiking excursion consisting of a paddle upriver, hike to "Hidden Falls" and back downriver. Downriver ended up with us paddling into a strong headwind. 

Once again, we were the first people on the river in the morning with a goal of getting to the falls before anyone else arrived. We brought another couple from the meeting for company and they turned out to be much fun, adding to our enjoyment of the day.

This was a common sight for Steve... no paddling up front... just kidding. We actually made a great team and moved quickly through the water together. We were not paying attention and when we finally looked back, we accidentally left our friends out of sight behind us! 

Halfway through the river, we pulled our kayaks on shore to start the "easy hike" up to Hidden Falls.  The guy at the rental company said the hike was easy and we could wear flipflops "no problem"....

Here we are, ready to start our land portion of the trip with walking sticks that are left out at the trailhead. The trail normally would be a fairly easy mile trek to the falls, but it had been raining for a few days prior, leading to a muddy and much more difficult experience... mainly due to a poor choice of footwear.

This was supposed to be a shallow river crossing.....

Hidden Falls was a spectacular payoff for our muddy adventure on the trail. We had the swimming hole all to ourselves in what seemed like the middle of nowhere.

Abigail turns 5 yrs old!!!

 We celebrated Abby's 5th birthday with an almost week-long celebration! Her Birthday landed on a Monday this year, so she ended up having three celebrations!!! She took the usual cupcakes to school to share with her classmates, and we had a delicious cookie cake as part of our family celebration.  The real party was the following Saturday.

  Abster always loves opening her gifts with her brother and sister.

The princess of Monkey Joe's addresses her subjects.

  

Olivia was the theme of choice this year, and our cake lady came through with another winner! 

Abster blow out her candles in one big puff!

It's hard to believe but this scene will be a real car in less than five short years!

Abby with her buddy Cori during a break from the festivities.

Catie and her classmate Allison are almost inseparable.