Kauai Day 3

This was our last day waking up to the sound of crashing waves. As our luck might have it, the rain finally let up and the sun poured into our windows. We really wished we had more time to just sit in the condo all day, read a good book looking out into the sea and sip on tea. Now we know why everyone we talked to the island said we have to visit Kauai for at least a week.

We had to find the trail which led to the beach below from our cliffside condo. A short walk away and we found it! It led us to a lava shelf where Elton decided to pick me a Hawaiian delicacy for breakfast - Opihi. It's a limpet that is extremely rare on O'ahu but can still be found on Kauai. Being the type who always finds a way, he managed to find two pre-historic looking rocks and headed towards the crashing waves on the edge of the rocks. Something about a man hunting food for a woman. I really started having an appetite even though it was only 8am in the morning! The springy texture of the raw clams coated with the salty sea water made it the best raw breakfast I'd ever had. Actually, it's the first time I've ever had anything raw for breakfast!

After hanging out by the crashing waves and surviving a raw meal, we climbed back up to the condo to have our breakfast with another local favorite - Portuguese sausage. I thought it would be spicier. Nevertheless, it was a nice twist on the regular breakfast sausages.

Since the sun came out, we were determined to do our first Kauai activity closest to us in Princeville - kayaking the Hanalei River. We took turns kayaking and stand-up paddleboarding. Standup paddleboating turned out to be a lot easier than I thought though I imagine it would be a lot more challenging in the sea rather than the river. It was a good try. Besides it was a good workout for my abs and arms.

On the way down to the Lihue airport, we decided to make a little stop at the much touted about Anini Beach. Not quite the white powder sand beach I imagined. Apparently, beaches in Hawaii are all crushed coral sand, not the powdery white sands (what I'd like to call feet-sinking-sand!) on many Malaysian islands. Still, it's a beautiful long stretch of quiet beach, good for snorkelling, swimming or just to walk along and pick shells. While walking, we sipped on this Hawaiian beer called Longboard. It's a really good malty beer. Made me think of Black and Tan.

Anini Beach

Opeka Falls was next. It was a little too far from the lookout point to really appreciate so we decided to go to the famous Wailua Falls. Unfortunately, our new Magellan GPS is almost useless when it comes to roads in Kauai. We got lost again. This time, we stumbled along another beautiful grove of tree tunnel. These trees towered about 50 to 60 feet overhead. Breathtaking! Not sure what road we were on but at least our little Magellan helped us find our way back to Lihue in time for our flight! 

Kauai Day 2

It rained the entire day. Still, eventhough we had planned to stay in for most of the day and watch DVDs, a quick drive to the northwest side of the island called Hanalei made this entire rainy trip worthwhile. It's dreamy valleys, swamplands and one lane bridges made us think of the rice plantations of the Vietnam countryside in movies. The jagged tropical forest cascading down the steep gorges met the little road we drove on hugging the perimeter to our south. To the north, giant 20 foot high waves crashed onto the beaches. Elton called this place where the tropical forest meets the sea. I've never heard waves like that before. It was like the constant sound of thunder droning with the fizzling of bubbles. Rivers of rain poured down onto parts of the road we gingerly drove on, heeding the 15m/hr sign. We wondered why many of the homes in this area were built on stilts as high as 20 foot off the ground. I thought it was to curb the rodents or ants issue in Hawaii. Selina later said it must be a way to cope with flooding sometimes. Made sense.

Hanalei Lookout

A cluster of three homes on stilts

Hanalei's One-lane bridges

When we heard that there were farmers markets everyday in Kauai, we had to go to the one in Hanalei which happened to be on Saturdays. Other than the turmeric that Elton eyed like a kid in a candy store, we found the prices of the produce outrageous in the name of being organic. I mused at Elton's new found love for organics as he grumbled all the way back about what a rip off the farmers market was. This one must've been targeted for the visiting tourists and rich hippies.

Turmeric Elton bought to plant back home

Waterfalls which became road rivers in the rain

After lunch, we drove out to the northeast side of the island all the way to Kapa'a to see what it looked like as the rain continued to pour. Only 10% of Kauai is accessible by road. The only other ways were by boat along the coast, on horseback or by air. The road we took often passed through empty open spaces. In a strange way, it made us slow down and just appreciate the beauty of a land untouched by modernization. The tree tunnels we kept passing between Princeville and Kilauea towered over us, leaving us breathless. We didn't tire of them no matter how many times we passed through.  

Tree tunnel

Kapa'a beach Park

On the way back, we made a small detour onto Baby Beach which we found delightfully secluded and sat a while watching the kite surfers. It was quite amazing to watch. They were probably going up to a speed of 20miles/hr.

 

Back at the condo, we heated up a Rising crust  Digorno's pizza, laid out the mattress and blankets in the livingroom and popped in some DVDs for the night. We crashed out before the end of the DVD. A beautiful end to a grey rainy day.

Kauai Day 1

When Elton asked me if I'd like to go to Kauai, I said yes but I was nonchalant. It didn't matter to me if I was in O'ahu or Kauai as long as I was with him. But once on this island, I quickly realized why it's called Hawaii's Garden Isle. I was surrounded by an enchanting untouched tropical land in every shade of green every direction I turned. Despite the rainy weather we arrived in, and not getting to do all the things we wanted to do like ride ATVs, zip lining, kayak into the fern grotto on Wailea river, visit Kamokila Hawaiian Villange, see the Na Pali  coastline or do a helicopter ride of the island, we somehow managed to cover quite a lot of ground and save the rest for next time.

Hanging out in our jeep on the beach

A common sign on all the beaches

Lihue on the southeast side of the island turned out to be as uneventful as the airport we landed in. First on the list was a drive to Waimea Canyon and Kokee State Park on the west side along the scenic route. (Well to be honest, there isn't one but we created it from our impromptu diversions and getting lost! ) A quick stop in 7-Eleven introduced me to Spam Musubi! It's a giant nigiri sushi rolled with spam and Egg on the top. Elton picked a typical local breakfast plate of sausages, eggs, potato and ketchup on rice. I wasn't too fond of it.

We took a turn into Hanamaulu Beach Park and sat in our Jeep under the trees on the beach to eat. Moving on, we took detour through Koloa Old Town, Hawaii's first sugar plantation. We didn't find the small touristy shops that amusing so we continued our way to the popular Poipu beach but took a wrong turn at the roundabout and ended up at the Allerton Botanical Garden which housed the Ficus Tree roots featured in the T-Rex eggs shot in Jurassic Park. 

Giant Ficus trees

Moving on, stumbled upon the Spouting Horn Bay where we watched the waves crashing into the lava shelf and spouting up the blowhole. The drive up Waimea Canyon would've been more enjoyable had it not been such a foggy day. We hardly saw anything, even throughout the 4 hour hike we made up and down Awa-awapuhi Trail in Koke'e State Park up to Kalalau Lookout point. Since it was so foggy we headed down again to be back by nightfall as it was already about 4pm. The soil here is this mahogany deep red color and so fine, it's almost the consistency of clay. When wet, it's really slippery so we had to be very careful not to fall. It's also said to stain everything.

Kauai's red dirt

Kalalau Lookout covered in fog but still lovely

On the way down, the fog cleared up once we reached below 4,000 feet which was nice to see the Waimea Canyon and Kekaha landscape with the canyonlands to the east and the grasslands and seashore to the west. After all that workout, Elton was ready for a big steak so we looked in our handy iphone to find the best steakhouse close by and found 22º North - an organic restaurant on Kilohana Plantation which promised a fresh farm-to-table experience. We made reservations and were not disappointed. The prime rib and meatloaf were delicious. 

Waimea Canyon (Hawaii's Grand Canyon) with Waimea River running through

Kekaha landscape

We got to our romantic little getaway at the Sealodge in Princeville without a hitch. It was a cute little one bedroom unit overlooking a bulff with a fully loaded kitchen, washer, dryer and even all the snorkelling accessories for a great beach day. 

View from Sealodge