Suitcase Souvenirs: Kauai

Kauai, HI
February 22-25, 2013

When planning our trip to Hawaii, Andrew came across websites and forum posts suggesting that one must take an aerial tour when visiting the islands. We looked at the different options available, which included small plane or helicopter tours for anywhere from 1-6 passengers. We decided to book a 2-person helicopter tour with Mauna Loa Tours in Kauai ($259/person). We chose this company because of the seating options, and because helicopters can fly lower into places like the Waimea Canyon. They take a maximum of 3 passengers and each seat is next to the window. If there are two people booked for a tour, they will not wait until the 3rd seat is filled. In addition, we chose the doors off option for this tour and I must say that this is the only way to go, especially if you want an unobstructed view and to get some good photos. It was windy and cold as heck with this option, but it was so worth it! In addition to the Waimea Canyon, we got to see the Na Pali coast (only accessible by flying, boating, or hiking), Manawaiopuna Falls (featured in Jurassic Park), and the waterfalls in Mt Waialeale Crater.

takeoff!

doors.off

kauai.scenery

rainbows!

mt.waialeale.crater.and.waterfalls

a&k.after.the.ride

The helicopter tour was the first thing we did on Kauai; it was also useful because it gave us ideas for what to explore further. After the tour, we drove along the north coast to head to Tunnels Beach to snorkel. I've been told by Ken (and Google Places) that there are many fruit stands along the way, so we stopped at Banana Joe's, where the reviews told us that we had to have the banana-pineapple frosty.

banana.joe's

It was delicious! It was just made from frozen banana and pineapple, but run through a juicer-like device. The result is frozen fruit with an ice cream-like texture. We devoured it too quickly for me to take a picture of it!

There is no official parking lot for Tunnels Beach. Instead, you have to park at the beach a bit further north (about 7 mins walking) and then head back to Tunnels. The beach further north wasn't hospitable to swimming that day as the currents were way too strong. However, the water was clear and still towards the south end of Tunnels. One thing we experienced here on Kauai is that there are random periods of precipitation (from light drizzle to heavy rain). When we got to our chosen spot on Tunnels beach it started raining. Fortunately it was over quickly. We then headed into the water. Eventually we deviated from the safe spot and ended up going further north in the water where the waves got stronger and the water was shallower with large, sharp boulders and reef underneath. At one point a wave was so strong that it knocked me into the reef, cutting my knee in a bunch of different directions. Fortunately, the lifeguard saw my cuts and helped me patch it up.

Next, we carried on with our journey along the north shoreline to Haena Park where we saw the wet cave and a bunch of roosters, a hen and her chicks on the road. The chickens and roosters are all over the place here!

haena.park.and.wet.cave

Our last stop of the day was seeing the lighthouse at Kilauea Point. It's a beautiful coastal view there with the potential to see all sorts of avian species.

kilauea.lighthouse

The next morning, I woke up at 6:30 AM. I took advantage of this to head to the beach adjacent to our hotel and take some pictures of the sunrise.

kauai.sunrise

kauai.beach.resort.at.sunrise

Our journey for this day was go cover the south shore of Kauai. From Lihui, we drove to Poipu to check out the Sprouting Horn blowhole, However, since we saw the Nakalele Blowhole in Maui a few days earlier, we though that this one wasn't as amazing.

sprouting.horn.blowhole

Continuing along the south shore, Andrew's attention was caught by a road sign for a Russian fort, so he turned the car around to visit it. We ended up spending no more than 5 minutes there. His words were "it's just a bunch of rocks!". We don't even have photographic evidence that we've been to this site. We carried on to make it to the end of the road on the south side to complete our mission of driving around the entire island.

We then headed up Waimea Canyon to spend the rest of our time there until sunset. Waimea Canyon is described as the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific", and I would have to agree with that description.

waimea.canyon

We stopped at all of the official lookout points (and some of the non-official points), and I was told that we had to drive to the very end of the canyon road. One of the world's wettest spots turned out to be there; sure enough, it was pretty wet and misty!

misty.waialeale

We drove back to the lookout just before this spot which overlooked the Na Pali coast and waited for the sun to set from that direction.

na.pali.coast

kauai.sunset

Some other activities that Andrew took part in while I returned back home early included kayaking on the Wailua River and hiking the Sleeping Giant Trail - both which he highly recommends!

Stay tuned for Kauai Eats!