With Hawaii’s volcano scene blowing up (pun intended) we decided that it would be a great time to vacation there (the best time to visit is when others aren’t).
We of course used airline miles to get out there which turned into a bit of an ordeal. We flew from RDU to Texas and stayed for a day while we dropped Emma off with Gia and Yapo (Jenn’s parents). Then we flew to San Diego and spent the night before changing airlines and carrying on to Kauai. Our return flight was similar to the flight out with multiple stops over multiple days using multiple airlines, but free is free.
Kauai is one of the smaller islands in the Hawaiian chain, only 33 miles across at the widest point. The island’s main road only goes ¾ of the way around the island with the western side having no roads and is mostly uninhabited. This coastline was the main draw for choosing this island, you will see why later in this post…
We of course used airline miles to get out there which turned into a bit of an ordeal. We flew from RDU to Texas and stayed for a day while we dropped Emma off with Gia and Yapo (Jenn’s parents). Then we flew to San Diego and spent the night before changing airlines and carrying on to Kauai. Our return flight was similar to the flight out with multiple stops over multiple days using multiple airlines, but free is free.
Kauai is one of the smaller islands in the Hawaiian chain, only 33 miles across at the widest point. The island’s main road only goes ¾ of the way around the island with the western side having no roads and is mostly uninhabited. This coastline was the main draw for choosing this island, you will see why later in this post…
The small airport of Li’Hue was great, we landed, collected our bags, and were in our rental car in under 30 minutes. Our first stop was Walmart to load up on food to help offset the overpriced restaurants on the island. Being that the flight and hotel were free with points, we decided to splurge a little on food, we upgraded from PB&J everyday to ham and cheese sandwiches...
We spent the remainder of our first day chilling by the pool overcoming jet lag.
We spent the remainder of our first day chilling by the pool overcoming jet lag.
The beaches by our hotel were covered in drift wood. The northern side of the island suffered flash floods a few months earlier and all the debris washed out into the ocean and then washed ashore on the eastern side of the island.
The next day we packed a lunch and set off early to explore Waimea Canyon and Koke’e Park. This is the “grand canyon” of Hawaii, it’s not quite as big but much greener and has an ocean as a back drop. On our drive up we noticed a small waterfall flowing through the dark red Hawaiian clay.
We stopped at several lookouts before strapping our shoes on and going for a hike. The hike we chose was unmarked and not maintained which made it all that much better to explore. Clouds constantly were moving through the valley obscuring the view but if you were patient they would clear out, if only for a moment, and afford spectacular views.
The two photos above are of the same dead tree taken about 30 minutes apart. It's crazy how fast the clouds would roll in and out.
The trail ended at a point overlooking cliffs dropping down a valley to a secluded beach. Luckily the view was worth all the elevation change.
After dropping back down to sea level we decided to explore another park, Polihale State Park, on the southwest corner of the Island. To get to the park you had to drive on a rough 5 mile dirt/gravel road but that was a small price to pay for this epic beach. Since it was Sunday the beach was crowded with locals who had set up shop with their 4x4 trucks for a beach day.
The next day we visited shipwrecks beach and followed the coastline on foot several miles stopping at a few beaches to break the hike up.
That afternoon the first big swell of the summer season had arrived on the south side of the island so I set off to find a board. Turns out all of the rental places only rent beginner NSP boards, roughly $100 a week. After doing a quick search on craigslist I found a few fiberglass boards for sell in that same price range. We ended up meeting a guy after he got off work to buy his board and it turns out he was originally from Wilmington, NC. After reminiscing about what had changed in the port city since he was last there, he offered to let me borrow his board for the week – score! I took it out that night for a sunset session and paddled out every morning while we were on the island. Unfortunately, I don’t have any photos of me surfing, we didn’t bring the zoom lens, the reef breaks I surfed were a long paddle out, and my morning surf sessions started at 5am and I don’t pay my photographer enough to cover dawn patrols.
Side note, the locals on the south side of the island were much more welcoming than I ever imagined. Every time I paddled out people spoke to me, never snaked or dropped in on me, and even would recommend other breaks to try at different tides. This was not at all the experience I have had surfing other Hawaiian Islands on a previous trip, well done Kauai!
Side note, the locals on the south side of the island were much more welcoming than I ever imagined. Every time I paddled out people spoke to me, never snaked or dropped in on me, and even would recommend other breaks to try at different tides. This was not at all the experience I have had surfing other Hawaiian Islands on a previous trip, well done Kauai!
I don’t have a very long bucket list but I have always wanted to fly in an open helicopter with the doors off and I have always wanted to see the Na Pali Coastline. When I realized we could knock both of these out at the same time we jumped on it.
We were the only ones in the helicopter (besides the pilot of course) and were able to cover the whole island in an hour long flight. I think our pilot liked hearing Jenn squeal because he got bolder and bolder banking the helicopter what felt like 90 deg while zipping over a ridge and dropping down into the canyon on the other side.
Even though the island was small we hadn’t had a chance to check out the beaches on the north side of the island so we decided to spend a day and see what we could find.
Our favorite spot was hiking down to the Queen’s Bath. Waves crash over the rocks creating tidal pools of crystal clear water. It seemed that all the other tourists stopped at the first “bath” so we explored a bit further and were rewarded with several smaller ones that we were able to enjoy all by ourselves.
Our last full day was open and instead of sitting by the pool all day (Jenn’s original plan) we decided to take a boat sunset cruise along the Na Pali Coastline since we just couldn’t get enough of it!
I can’t really say which way I enjoyed seeing the coast best (by foot, air, or boat) – I really enjoyed them all and they each had their advantages.
Although we definitely enjoyed our week in paradise, I think I underestimated how much we would miss Emma. After a long flight back across the Pacific we were glad to be reunited with our little Monkey!
I don't think we will be planning any vacations without her for a while.