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!

Volcanoes National Park

We ventured out to Volcanoes National Park, this was our last day on the Big Island. A big MAHALO to Shane for being quite the trooper on this excursion. He woke up this morning with a bad bad tummy bug, but still managed to ride in the car for 3 HOURS so we could see the volcano. We left out around 10 am and headed north through Waimea, this was the scenic route. It was such a beautiful drive! Our 1st stop was for a photo op of the original King Kamehameha statute. We had seen the one on Oahu in 2006 and I saw the one at the capitol in DC when I was there with Karen. Next stop was Volcanoes National Park. Once we arrived we stopped at the visitor center and got some tips on where to see the important sights from the park ranger. 1st stop was the Jagger Museum and a view of the Kilauea Caldera. It is does not look like you would imagine a volcano to look...tall and pointed. Its elevation is just under 4,200 feet with a circular caldera. It is one of the the most active volcanoes in the world (it started erupting in 1983). Unfortunately we were not able to see any active lava, the area of the park that had active lava is inaccessible. It was still an exciting sight to see! We stopped off at the steam vents and the Thurston Lava Tube. Going back to the resort we took the southern route and stopped off to see Punalu'u beach...aka black sand beach. The sand at this beach looked like asphalt. The weather was very cloudy, this is a result of the smoke drifting off of the volcano.

Papakolea Beach

Papakolea or Mahana Beach is not an advertised beach per say...one reason is probably because its not easy to get to. Day 2 on the Big Island we found ourselves travelling to the south point of the island (Ka'u) to see the green sand beach located in a bay half-circled at the base of a cinder cone, Puʻu o Mahana. The olive color of the sand comes from the presence of a greenish, semi-precious stone named, appropriately enough, olivine. The erosive force of the ocean washing into the base of Pu'u o Mahana cinder cone has extracted olivines out of the cinder. These are deposited on the sand, giving the sand a green tint.

This is another adventure where 4 wheel drive is needed, but not necessary. The drive takes you to a makeshift parking lot where you can opt to hike or drive to the beach. I guess you know how we got there...There are some locals there who offered to drive you there in their 4 wheel drive vehicles for a donation. We wanted the full experience. Sooo off we went on the 2 mile rugged dusty hike down the twisty turvy road. It took us an hour. The road hugged the coast and the views were amazing! The hike was one thing...once we got there we literally had to climb to the beach (shaped like a giant bowl, you have to climb down the side of the "bowl" to reach the beach).  There were very few people at the beach when we arrived (maybe 15). The water is not safe for swimming, there is a strong undertow. Shane just had to try it out. He said that the current was crazy strong, he didn't stay in for long.

After our adventure to green sand beach we headed back to the resort to watch a beautiful Hawaiian sunset & relax in the hot tub. We ate dinner at the Hilton (where Dog & Beth got married), it was just down the street. WOW what a resort! It had a tram inside it! The restaurant we ate at was called Kamuela Provision Company. it was beach side...tiki torches an all. Very nice! We ate lemongrass poached jumbo shrimp cocktail, Waimea tomato salad, I had the Ginger steamed monchong and Shane ate Mauka Makai.