Driving north until the road ends

Shane and I set out from the resort, with the Jeep top down, north to see the sights along the way. 1st stop was to see the beautiful Wailua Falls, an 80 ft waterfall that feeds into the Wailua River. The falls were featured in the opening scene from Fantasy Island.

Next stop was another waterfall, Opaekaa Falls. Across the road from the falls is a beautiful view of the Wailua River. From this overlook you can get a view of where movies like Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jurassic Park and Outbreak were filmed.

After the falls we stopped off at Kilauea Lighthouse, it is one of the most photographed spots in Kauai. Nearby is the Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refugee, home to a wide variety of bird species. It is also a great spot to see spinner dolphins and when in season humpback whales.

As we continue our journey we stopped off to see some spectacular beaches along the way and visited the surfer town of Hanalei. This area was soooo neat! We ate at the Dolphin restaurant (it is the 1st and last spot in Hanalei). Both Shane & I had tuna steak sandwiches and shared a dolphin ice cream pie. The ice cream pie was layered with 3 flavors of banana coconut & macadamia nut ice cream, over an oreo cookie crust with chocolate sauce and whipped cream OUT OF THIS WORLD DELICIOUS!! Next was Tunnels beach where the water was so clear it looked just like a swimming pool (this was the most beautiful beach I have EVER seen!) and finally to Ke'e Beach, this is where the road ends and the Napali Coast begins. It was really neat to see this, we were able to see this amazing coastline from several different view point. The Kalalu trail (the trail that traverses the Napali Coast) begins at Ke'e beach. It is a 11 mile trail, takes an entire day to hike it. I'm sure it is a incredible experience...for those REALLY adventurous folks!

                               

We ate dinner at the Beach House restaurant. This is where we were supposed to eat on our anniversary, but I was sick. It was very beautiful and delicious! Our table was outside by the beach. Shane and I shared a crab cake and watermelon salad. I ate the Wasabi Crusted Monchong with Lilikoi Lemongrass Beurre Blanc, Shane had the Macadamia Buttered Mahi Mahi with Citrus Aka Miso Beurre Blanc.

We let housekeeping turn down the bed the last night we were there (all the other nights I went to bed early LOL). How nice! They left a beautiful orchid, macadamia nut Hersey kiss and a neat wooden Hawaii post card.

Aloha Hawaii,

Mahalo for a wonderful trip! Hope to see you again soon!

Stacey & Shane

Grand Canyon of the Pacific

On Easter Sunday our adventures took us to the west side of Kauai towards Waimea Canyon. Waimea Canyon aka the Grand Canyon of the Pacific, is a large canyon about 10 miles long and in areas up to 3,000 deep. It bears a strong resemblance to the Grand Canyon in Arizona...just on a smaller scale. The drive around the perimeter is about 20 miles, windy miles I must add, some spots along the road with drop offs that are a couple thousand feet and NO GUARD RAIL. Along the way there are several lookout points: Waimea Canyon lookout, Pu u ka pele lookout, Puu Hinahina lookout, & Kalalau lookout. Kalalau was my favorite spot, it was AMAZING!!!

On the way back from our journey we stopped at Jojo's Shave Ice for a icy Hawaiian treat and then  by the Spouting Horn, which is located in Koloa...not far from our resort. Spouting horn is a blowhole, water rushes under a lava shelf and bursts through a small opening in the the surface. The bigger the waves...the bigger the burst. Again...there were roosters everywhere at the park. We saw a momma rooster with her babies. Shane got a Puka Dog for dinner, my tummy was just not up to it...

Na Pali Coast

I'm so thankful to be feeling much better and also that Napali Makai could squeeze us into the tour for today. Departure was at 10:00 am, so we hopped into our Jeep and headed to the Kikiaola boat harbor, where we directed to meet Makai. We met up with 2 other couples when we arrived at the boat launch, one from New York and the other from Seattle. Makai arrived with his boat Kai Nalu and we were off! Exiting the harbor was a roller coaster ride!! Once we were out on the water it was smooth sailing. It took about an hour to reach the Napali Coast from the Kikiaola. The views were AMAZING, BREATHTAKING, SPECTACULAR, BEAUTIFUL...There are no words to describe the experience! The cliffs (some as high as 4,000 ft) were so lush, the color palette was crazy...greens and reds...gorgeous!! The coast is about 17 miles long. Makai did a fantastic job in narrating, pointing out the highlights. We stopped to snorkel, Shane got in (I opted to stay on the boat, for I was still a little queasy...). I got some really good photos of him in the water. The water was so blue and the visibility was probably 100 feet deep! After the snorkeling we stopped off for lunch. When the tour restarted Makai navigated us through some open ceiling caves, this was soooo COOL! This was one of the reasons I selected this tour, some of the other tours had larger boats that wouldn't be able to fit into the caves. We got to see the beach where the movie Six days and Seven Nights was shot. This was one of my favorite adventures in Hawaii! I am so very thankful we were able to take in this experience, mahalo Napali Makai!!

A Day at the Beach

Not much to post from this day. I was still recuperating from my stomach virus. We were supposed to take a boat ride up the Na Pali coast...it had to be rescheduled for the following day (in which I hoped to be feeling much better). Shane spent the day at the beach and ate dinner at Merrimans. Its funny he ate here while I was sick, because I ate at the Merrimans on the Big Island when he was sick.

Happy Anniversary

On Thursday April 21 Shane and I celebrated our 10th anniversary. What a start the day got off to! We were sitting at breakfast and I looked over to the right and couldn't believe my eyes, it was DREW BREES and his family just a few feet from us! Since we had the opportunity a couple years ago to meet him and get a photo op we resisted hurrying over to his table and gushing about what BIG Saints fans we are (it did take some willpower though lol). So we coincidentally got up just after they did and exited the restaurant ;)  We quietly approached him, not wanting to cause a scene, and told him how we were fans, etc...He was so super nice (as we had learned before). We got to meet the new addition & they wished us a "Happy Anniversary." It was a incredible start to our big day!

After breakfast (and Brees encounter) we headed out to the beach. The beach at the resort was called Shipwreck beach. The waves were pretty big, about 10 feet. Not a good spot for swimming, so we watched the surfers. The waves were so big and rough it split one surfers board in half. Next, got some lunch and I headed off to my massage. I had a lomi lomi massage scheduled at the Anara spa. It was wonderful. I chose the lomi lomi massage. Lomi lomi is the ancient Hawaiian massage art form, a perfect selection for massage when visiting the Aloha state! Rachel was my massage therapist. It was fantastic!!

When my massage was over I headed back towards the room, with plans to shower and get ready for our dinner at the Beach House restaurant...those plans were derailed by an unsettled tummy, that eventually led to my being sick until 1am. Needless to say the reservations had to be cancelled and I set up camp in the room for the next day...

Welcome to Kauai the Garden Island

                               

After leaving the Big Island we jetted over to Kauai. It takes 1 1/2 hours to get there from the BI. We flew from the southern most island in the archipelago to the northernmost island. When visiting Hawaii it is a must to see 2 islands! Everyone we met during our stay on the BI said we would love Kauai...we'll see!

Once we arrived at Lihue International Airport we headed over to Dollar to get our car. After much debate we decided that we would upgrade to the Jeep, if it was available, on this island. We ended up with a brand new red Jeep Wrangler, it was AWESOME!! Off to the resort we go. Driving from Lihue south towards the Koloa area to our resort, the Grand Hyatt Kauai. We drove through the tunnel of trees. Eucalyptus trees form a beautiful canopy over they highway covering the first section of road towards Po 'ipu. When we got to the resort we were greeted with some beautiful orchid and kukui nut leis. After we got all settled into our room we ate dinner at Tidepools restaurant.

Aloha Big Island...its been fun! Off to Kauai

We went to see another "black sand beach" that was close to our resort before we headed over to Kauai. I put it in parentheses because it was more of a grey sand beach. It was definitely not as black as Punalu'u black sand beach...it was still beautiful nonetheless! I wanted to include some pics we took of the lava rock in this post. Lava rock is EVERYWHERE on the Big Island!! One fella I met said that the first time he came to the Big Island he thought he had landed on the moon, such a perfect analogy!!

Kona International airport had by far the coolest terminal I have ever seen!! Not so cool was the "puddle jumper" we rode on to Kauai. It wasn't too bad! Welcome to the Garden Island, the adventures begin again!