Kauai - Wednesday

Well, today was a pretty easy day for us.  We got up pretty early to catch a 7am boat ride along the NaPali Coast, which is a rugged coastline on the northern portion of the island.  This beautiful coast has been the backdrop to a great number of movies, and a place that many people come to hike (and some live) in the wilderness, untouched by man. 

After our boat ride, we came back, took a brief nap, and relaxed the rest of the day. 

Since we didn't do much, I thought I'd list some interesting facts about NaPali and also the island in general....

Many movies have been shot here on the island.  Here are a few:

-South Pacific
-Blue Hawaii (with Elvis)
-1976 version of "King Kong" with Jessica Lang & Jeff Bridges
-Portions of "Indiana Jones & Raiders of the Lost Ark" were filmed on this island
-Jurassic Park was filmed here, and the waterfall shot in the opening scenes (in which the helicopter arrives on the "Jurassic Park" island for the first time) was filmed on the Na Pali Coast.
-1997 film "Six Days & Seven Nights" with Harrison Ford & Anne Heche
-"Tropic Thunder" with Ben Stiller and Robert Downey Jr. was filmed mostly in the Na Pali Coast
-Most recently, "The Descendants", starring George Clooney was filmed on a portion of Kauai.

There is an 11 mile hike that takes you 1/2 way through the Na Pali coastline.  At some points, the trail is on a sheer cliff, with only 10-12" of walk space.  This is not for the faint of heart.  The minimum time that the Sierra Club recommends for this hike is two days (stopping to camp either along the way, or at the campgrounds, with facilities at the end of the 11 mile hike). 

Several years ago, a hiker was coming back to the base camp from the inner reaches of the trail, and a heavy rain poured down on the area.  A stream that separates one portion of the trail to another was so flush with water that the hiker tried to wait it out.  After waiting for a day for the water to die down, and having eaten all his food, the hiker tried to cross the stream, but was unfortunately grabbed by the quick moving waters and swept out to the ocean, never to be seen again....

Some doctors, lawyers and CEOs have hiked into the remote areas of NaPali, only to decide they liked the rough way of life over their 9-5 drudgery in the city....People live out in this remote part of the world, coming out every 3-4 weeks for few supplies. 

A few pics of our boat ride....

We saw a pod of spinner dolphins on our way out to the coast.  A baby dolphin was doing tricks and spinning out of the water for us!

One of the beautiful waterfalls that can be seen after a heavy rain on the coastline.

Monday & Tuesday in Kauai

After such an active start to this portion of our trip, we decided to take the next day a little easier.  Just up the road from our timeshare is the town of Hanalei, which is a fairly small, but quaint town that is mostly full of outdoor things for tourists to do during their stay.  Bike rentals, boat rentals, surf lessons, snorkel rentals...its all here!

After hours and hours of driving around the Big Island last week, I couldn't wait to do a few things near where we were staying, so we hopped over to Hanalei, and rented some kayaks!  A small and lazy river connected to the bay (ie ocean), and went about 3 miles up into the island to a point in which the river got so shallow you literally couldn't go any farther. 

A scenic view of the area we kayaked through.

We started off towards the ocean bay, but quickly found out that the seas were MUCH too rough to go out very far, and turned around back up the river.  Passing a pod of people doing stand-up Paddle Boarding, we were told that upriver a little ways were some sea turtles!  (Apparently they cruise up the river a bit during turbulent seas).  We saw one peaking its head up for air, but never saw the second. 

Really enjoyed our kayak time, but we were so glad once we got back to the dock.  It was lunch time!!

View of Hanalei Bay from a scenic viewpoint.

Now that the physical part of our trip was "over", we decided to farther out and sight see.  A few miles up the road is a lighthouse and aviary preserve.  Just outside of the lighthouse entrance is a small turn off that you can get a great view of the lighthouse from far away.  While we stopped and took some pics, we forgot to look at our watches.  The entrance to the lighthouse closed at 4pm, and when we finally looked up, it was 4:08!!!!  Gah!  Missed it by a hair!

View of lighthouse from landing outside gate.

Close up view of lighthouse.

So we snapped a few more pics, and caught one of the NeNe bird, which is a protected species on the island.  They are descendants of the canadian goose, but have adapted for life on the island (mainly smaller webbing between their feet to allow walking on lava rock!). 

We tried to catch another beautiful sunset, but it wasn't in the stars for us (or should I say the sun....) colors were not spectacular tonight, and we ended up heading home for a dinner of salmon and greens! 

On Tuesday, we took a longer drive out to Wiamea Canyon, which Mark Twain dubbed "The Grand Canyon of the Pacific".  It is truly a dramatic and spectacular sight.  The canyon is 1/2 a mile deep and 10 miles long.   I think the canyon would be a little more amazing had the sun been hitting it, but all day today the sky was cloudy, overcast and drizzly.  We got a few pics, but, as you can see, other people had better luck during lighter skys.  (Hint, second picture is NOT mine...)

Our view of Wiamea Canyon.

No hiking today, since the sky was so cloudy and rain was imminent, we didn't want to risk sliding down some slope in the mud and not being able to get our way out!  So we headed to a place called Barking Sands Beach.   I forget how the sound is made, but scientists tell us that the sound is caused by an echo of footsteps walking in the sand.  (We didn't hear any.....I guess thats because we have a cat...)

Barking Sands Beach and the beginning of the NaPali Coastline.

Made a stop at one more beach before heading home (just not before having a world famous Bubba Burger at the road-side shack!).  Yes, they had a boca-burger just for me... :-)

A natural phenomenon in which water from the surf is forced through a narrow hole, creating a geyser that can shoot up to 60' in the air.

Monk seal we saw sleeping at the beach we stopped at!!

Double waterfall that we were able to see before the sun went down!!

First Day in Kauai

Ok...I didn't really keep up with the blog very well during the second half of the San Diego trip (it got too cold up on the roof top of the hotel at night - the only place with free wifi), nor the entire first half of the Hawaii trip (spotty wifi in the room, and getting home late, late at night makes for tired travelers, not refreshed bloggers....)

So...with renewed vigor, I aim to do a post each day this week, for the remainder of the trip.  (Lets see how well I keep my promise!!)

We had an easy flight from the Big Island through Maui and then onto the island of Kauai.  Flying over all of the Hawiian islands really gave perspective on how large (or small) each island was, as well as the mountains, beaches and population...Honolulu is more crowded than I can imagine, especially after trolling through the big island, where you're more likely to see a cow than a house....

Nice enough digs at the timeshare, with natural A/C in the form of louvered windows and cross-ventilation!  Last night with a storm brewing and some pretty heavy winds, I got pretty cold, and had to actually close a few of the windows.

Our timeshare, the Alii Kai (picture from their website)

Our timeshare is in the town of Princeville, which is at the north end of the island where the winter winds are the strongest.  We are also closest to the Na Pali Coastline....a pretty famed 15 mile stretch of coastline that has been featured in numerous Hollywood feature films (Jurassic Park anyone....?)  This very rugged coastline is only accessible by foot, boat or air.  No roads!  We decided to take the 4 mile (roundtrip) hike that takes you into the coastline, up and down some of the steep cliffs to a small beach that is a pretty popular destination for day hikers.

Here is a good view of some of the coastline.  We didn't take this picture (as we weren't on the water, plus the sky was quite overcast)

This hike is moderate to strenuous (at least for us!) and took the better part of our morning.  Very rocky, pretty steep in areas, and with streams crossing the trail, you need to take your time and be in good health to make it up and down.

A stop at the first 1/2 mile mark...about 45 minutes into the hike.

A view of the coast peaking through the trees at a water break we took.

 At the bottom of the 2 mile hike, you reach this beach, which was pretty rough with waves today (due to the winter tradewinds).  Most people stop here, drink some water, eat some lunch and head back to their cars.  More hearty people can climb another 2 miles into the mountains to a famous waterfall, then make the 2 miles back to the beach, and 2 more miles back to their car.  (We just made the beach and back!).

The most interesting thing at the beach, was the great number of stacked rocks all over.  Must be a tradition to make as tall of a rock stack as you can.

With a brief rest, we started back up the hill to make the hearty 2 mile hike back to our car.  With a good lunch, we went back to the condo to rest for a bit.  Even with that exciting (and exhausting day), we still had fun playing mini-golf in the evening, and seeing a spectatular light show at sundown!

View of the rugged coastline from the hike.

View of the beach at the bottom of the hike, taken from inside a sea-side cave.