Aloha Kaua‘i

Travelling to Hawaii has become a regular destination for us; there’s really no denying that. Specifically we’ve fallen in love with Maui and the relaxing vacations it has provided us. This time around we thought we’d change it up a bit and split our time between Kaua’i and Maui. It’s been a pretty busy year for both of us for various reasons and taking a two week beach vacation was very much needed. A week on each island seemed like the logical choice. 

Kaua’i, also known as the Garden Isle due to its lush tropical rainforests covering most of the island, is the fourth largest of the Hawaiian islands and is also geologically the oldest of the main islands. We broke our time up on Kaua’i by staying four nights in Lihu’e and four nights in Po’ipū. After a somewhat lengthy journey to Kaua’i, we landed in Lihu’e around 7:30pm Hawaiian time. It was already dark because the sun sets here just after 6pm. Thankfully the airport is located in Lihu’e and so our trek in the dark to our hotel wasn’t that long. It was still a little tricky though because our car didn’t have GPS. We had to rely on our phone’s GPS on an island we were unfamiliar with and navigating streets that didn’t always have streetlights. We stayed at the Kaua’i Marriott resort located right on Kalapaki beach. We booked a studio room with a Murphy bed which once we pulled from the wall stayed in its place for our entire stay. Our room had a great view of the resort pool and just beyond, the beach and Nawiliwili Bay. We could hear the waves gently crashing the shoreline; one of my favourite sounds! In fact one night we decided to sleep with the lanai door open. Falling asleep to ocean waves just set me into full vacation mood; little thought of work or live responsibly occurred after that night. The room had a mini kitchen area stocked with dishes, a small fridge with freezer, and dishwasher. 

Waking up the first morning here and looking out our lanai we got to see the most incredible view that would be our view for the next four days. The hotel beach was right on a protected cove which made it a great place for swimming. The water was not deep at all, and the ocean movement was very gentle; no real big waves or major current which made it great for swimming or bobbing. Though there was no snorkelling opportunity here. The grounds of the resort were quite beautiful with a coy fish pond just off the lobby. Partaking in the koi fish feeding was an interesting event. The fish are in most cases quite large (well fed I guess) and to see 

them all fight for space where the food gets thrown in by the hotel guests is quite a sight. They are pretty much all clammering over each other to get to the front of the pond which is rather shallow. All around the resort they displayed many different art pieces and statue carvings. The hotel is said to have the largest pool in Hawaii. Having done a couple water running laps in this pool, I’d say it’s pretty big. It is circular in shape with a bridge over one part and four fountains spouting water into the pool. There are also four individual hot tubs accessed only from the pool. The hotel didn’t have any restaurants on site, however only a short walk were several different options. We ate at Duke’s a couple times for dinner and enjoyed listening to live music one evening while sitting st the bar during happy hour waiting for our dinner table. We discovered that the bar side had more economical prices than the restaurant side; though we tried both. We had breakfast at Kalapaki Beach Hut one morning; a very no frills, good food for good prices place. Z also found a fantastic breakfast place that we ended up at twice, called Java Kai. It was a bit of a drive from the hotel but so worth it. Their Kona coffee was the best coffee we had all trip!!

Kaua’i is a very green, lush island with many acres of tropical forest and mountain ranges. On average it rains more on Kaua’i than on other Hawaiian islands, which helps to keep it so green. The mountain ranges have countless scenic waterfalls that keep flowing due to the high amounts of rainfall. We decided to do a helicopter tour of the island. Our plan had been to do this tour on day two of our week, but as it so happened, the day we were supposed to fly also turned out to be our worst weather day. It started to rain just as our tour was supposed to start and by early afternoon it was torrential downpour like we’ve never seen before. It didn’t stop until later that evening and by the next day the sky was clear as if no storm had ever been present. What was impacted by the storm though was the water in the cove. An adjoining river seeped sentiment into the cove turning it brown in colour and rather unpleasant to want to swim in. Unfortunately it didn’t return to its original beautifully clear water while we stayed at this hotel.  

We split our time on Kaua’i so we could experience two areas of the island. We spent the next four days on the south side in Poipu. Here we stayed at the Marriott Waiohai Beach Club and were surprised with an upgrade to a two bedroom villa. This resort was newer than the place in Lihu’e and the villa was very nicely appointed and had way more space than we needed. Having a full kitchen was a treat, not that we did any major cooking, but having it available for what we needed was great. On the night we arrived, there was a local farmers’ market going on at the shopping centre a short drive from our hotel. We enjoyed some local musicians and bought some very tasty papayas. The star fruit we bought turned out not to be very good which was a shame because we were both looking forward to eating them. 

The resort had direct access to a great beach where we were able to snorkel and bob around in the waves without too much difficulty. A little further out, after the coral reef the ocean provided some optimal waves for surfing. Everyday we’d be treated to seeing anywhere from 10 to upwards of 30 surfers catching a wave. The snorkelling here was quite amazing. We saw a large variety of different tropical fish and many quite large fish. One of the coolest fish was a large pinkish fish with a white mouth. It almost looked like it was wearing white lipstick. The only things missing was seeing a turtle. At this beach we were also treated to seeing four monk seals beach themselves one day and at one point three of them decided to play with each other in the water right at the shoreline. The next day two were back sunbathing the day away again. The monk seal is endangered and so anytime one beaches itself, volunteers are on hand and rope off the area around the seal so people do not get too close. On the south part of the beach, you could swim or snorkel out to a sand bar just before the reef. It was a great spot to take a bit of a rest from snorkelling. 

We didn’t spend all our time hanging out on the beach, though a good amount of time was spent there. We explored this beautiful island and drove up to the north shore. We had wanted to check out a snorkelling spot we heard good things about called Tunnel Bay, but unfortunately the surf was too rough and the swells too large for us to be able to go in. In fact, it’s not uncommon at this time of year for the swells to be upwards of fifteen feet. 

We hiked part of the famous trail along the Nāpali Coast. We did this hike the day after the torrential rain storm and so the trail was probably a lot more treacherous than any other day. We hiked 2 miles in to a great beach stop with a cave on one side of the mountain cliff. The trail was pretty well maintained, though after all that rain there were many slippery and very muddy sections. Not a hike to do in nice shoes. There is a creek that you have to go through to get to this beach stop and the water had a pretty good current to it. The rocks in the creek were somewhat slippery and as we were crossing back on our return, I slipped and feel in getting a part of my butt wet but also ended up dropping my hand with my hikers into the water. So the two mile hike back was done in wet shoes. Not the best feeling but at the same time a little freeing as I didn’t feel I needed to be so careful not to step in the puddles along the way. The views along the trail were just stunning. Hiking along the cliff side overlooking the ocean and seeing the mountain ranges on the other side was breathtaking.

We drove up to Waimea Canyon just before sunset one evening. It was cool to see the sun reflecting off the mountains and create differing colour shawdows against the mountains. This is an impressive canyon that has many different hikes you can explore. It is known as the Grand Canyon of the Pacific and is roughly ten miles long and up to 3000 feet deep. 

Kaua’i is known for growing coffee and so loving coffee as much as we do, it made sense to visit the Kaua’i Coffee Company plantation for a tour. We learned some interesting facts on the tour like one coffee tree produces one pound of coffee beans and the only trees planted at this plantation are arabica trees because they don’t grow as tall as other coffee trees. 

One of the highlights for this part of the trip was the helicopter tour we took. We did get rained out on our original day booked, and had to wait until our last full day before we could reschedule. Thankfully this day had good weather and we were able to enjoy an hour open door helicopter tour over the island. Our helicopter pilot, Ian, has a pretty cool job. He did a great job of providing us with good information and some history of the sights we flew over. It was an amazing experience to be able to take in the island from that perspective. We got to see the Waimea Canyon from above and discovered that there are numerous very large waterfalls within the canyon, all of which are rain water fed. 

Kaua’i is definitely an island we want to come back to. It’s so lush and beautiful, less developed as our favourite island Maui, making it less busy and more tranquil.