Kauai Highlights - Day 4

Today we went on the Na Pali Sea Breeze for a tour of the Napali Coast. We were fortunate since its the start of the winter season and the ocean is getting rough on the north coast. The captains said it was the first time they had been out in thirteen days! We had a great ride, saw a lot of sights and went snorkling. The highlights were: seeing two sea turtles (one on the ride out and one up-close while we were snorkling!) and seeing dolphins! They were playing around the boat and jumping in the wake. Just amazing!

Do you see the one on the left jumping?!!!!!
This coastline was part of the volcano - the rest is buried in the ocean.
It was cool to think about.

We rode into a cave!

View of the coastline

Kate and Jed enjoying the ride

Jeff and Jed on the bow

Do you see King Kong?

Look at his nose - Do you see Winston Churchill?

It was a little choppy on the ride back!

Kauai Highlights - Day 3

Today was the day we had been waiting for - our first big hike! The Kalalau Trail started at Ke'e Beach. This is as far as the road goes on the North Shore of Kaua'i. There were three visitors from New York who started the hike when we did and it was fun to have their company for the first two miles. Once we hit Hanakapi'ai Beach, we headed inland on a trail that followed the stream through the valley. It required crossing the water and rocks a few times and had a bit of climbing. But the reward was amazing - Hanakapi'ai Falls was beautiful, even during the drought! After enjoying the view for a while, we started the hike back. After a yummy burrito (we were starving!) we drove down to Lihu'e to meet Kate, Jed and Stacey.

Ke'e Beach

Starting the Kalalau Trail

The Napali Coastline was just amazing - there aren't hikes like this in Maryland!

Beautiful

You can see the red trail through the trees. This was the second mile in (going down) and the hardest part of the trip (climbing up)!

Hanakapi'ai Beach from the trail - just a glimpse of paradise

On the beach

After hiking four miles, we could see Hanakapa'ai Falls.

The falls up close

Kauai Highlights - Day 2

Today we got up and hunted for Hideaways Beach. To get to the beach, this is what we had to climb down:

But this is what we found:

(You can kind of see Jeff snorkling)

After lunch, we went on a zipline adventure at Princeville Ranch.
We had a really fun afternoon:

Jeff and Betsy ready for King Kong:

(You can see where we ended on this line next to Jeff's head!)

Kauai Highlights - Day 1

We arrived in Kauai to beautiful blue skies. We walked around the Coconut Festival in Kapaa and then headed north to Princeville to check in. Once we unpacked, we drove into Hanalei for lunch and then drove to Ha'ena to find Tunnels Beach for some snorkeling. We got caught in a rain shower and made our way back to Princeville. That night we had dinner at the St. Regis Princeville Hotel and watched the sunset. It was a great start to our getaway!

This was our view at lunch.

Tunnels Beach

After snorkeling when the rain began to pour - it was a heavy mist like in Ireland!

Dinner at the St. Regis Princeville

Our view from our table on the terrace.

The small black specks near the waves are all the surfers!