On Our Way to Hawaii
The first island we visited was Kauai "The Garden Isle". It is the most beautiful paradise I've ever seen. Picture perfect to the point where you feel like you're in a movie or a vacation magazine....we also felt like we were in "LOST" or "Jurassic Park", haha.
Kauai Airport
Aloha!
Newlyweds in Hawaii!
Everything is green, lush, and blooming. The people are friendly and it's not a built up island, so you really feel far away from the world. It's a true escape. We arrived here after a LOOOONG, but uneventful flight. We stayed at the Grand Hyatt in southern Kauai in the town of Poipu. The Grand Hyatt was BEAUTIFUL. Nothing goes unnoticed or uncared for at this resort. It was impeccably decorated and clean...it was all open air and smell deliciously like fresh flowers. Our room was on the lawn and opened out to the front of the hotel and the ocean....perfect. The pool there was amazing...it is a big lagoon that zig-zagged it's away up and down and all around the land of the resort. there were little downhill rivers, waterfalls, jacuzzi areas, adults only area, and big part that was surrounded by a beach. The Grand Hyatt also sits on Shipwreck Beach and there's a 50 foot sea cliff, Makawehi Point bluff there as well. Nick, myself and two other guys (honeymooners we met at the pool) actually jumped off this cliff after a few mai-tais and into the rough water...big, powerful surf. Everything I've read since says don't jump off this cliff. It wasn't one of our brighter moments. I will say we asked a local surfer kid to do it first to see if he survived. Luckily we all survived...with a few bruises from hitting the water...wouldn't do it again nor recommend it.
front of our resort
Resort Panoramic - click on it for a better view
Shipwreck beach and sea bluff
Day 1 in Kauai we relaxed...we couldn't sleep in due to the time difference so so we walked around the resort and had a DELICIOUS buffet breakfast on the outdoor terrace next to the resort waterfall. awesome. then we went to the pool and relaxed, read our books, then went cliff jumping. Later that night we drove to Scotty's BBQ in Kapaa.(recommended by our good friend, Rebecca Harper) We had some delicious Hawaiian BBQ at the seaside restaurant.
up early and taking pics!
resort lava rock jacuzzi
relaxing at the resort salt water pool and beach
Day 2 had some adventure. We signed up for zip lining in northern Kauai, in Princeville. We got our harnesses on and were taken out to the Princeville Ranch which is in the middle of a jungle with 9 different zip lines of different heights and lengths. The adventure included lunch at a hidden swimming hole, so myself and a 12 year old girl got to carry the lunch backpacks to add some weight to us. (embarrassing) This was to make sure that we could gain some speed and make it to the other side of every line....I would also get a running start and curl up in a ball to go fast! This worked every time except the last....on the double zip line, King Kong. This was after lunch (empty backpack) and Nick and went together and started off holding hands...really slowed me down. Guess who made it to the other side and who didn't...the guide tried to throw me a rope, but she threw it too late and I missed it. I slid allllll the way back down the line to the middle, where I just hung out (literally) above the jungle and a nice little creek below me. for about 10 mins till the guide made her way to me and the group reeled us both back in. To make it a little more embarrassing, there were other zip lining groups who stopped to watch the rescue and clapped at the end. It's always something....
Zipliners
The king kong zip line!
Afterwards we went exploring! We found Queens Bath, Hideaways Beach, Secret Beach, Princeville which was surprisingly a really nicely laid out community. And our favorite spot was the Secret Lava Pools...REALLY hard to find. We found a random path between two oceanside mansions and followed it. The path led to this incredible lava formation between two cliffs where the water comes in to form little pools. There were tons of little fish, crabs, sea urchins and lord knows what else in the pools. Nick and I both jumped in the deepest one and immediately jumped out for fear of weird sea life...hahaha. We then trespassed (opps) onto one of the mansion properties to the top of a sea cliff to find a gorgeous view. This is a perfect example of why I love to travel...finding something that's not touristy, off the beaten path, and makes your experience incredible! On our way home we needed a snack so we stopped in Hanalei at Bubba's Burgers. They have 3 locations in Kauai and made what we thought was the most amazing hamburger of our lives.
Queen's Bath
Hideaways Beach
Secret Lava Pools Explorer
That night we had dinner at one of the best restaurants on the island which happened to be at our resort...Tidepools. Gorgeous thatched roof restaurant with little huts over the koi filled lagoon.
The next day we headed north again...this time to Hanalei, Tunnels Beach and the Na Pali Coast. We stopped at an awesome roadside stand on the way to grab some delicious fruit and sandwiches for our picnic. Then we stopped in Hanalei to check out the surf shops...Hanalei is a quaint, beautiful beach town in Kauai. If we make a trip back to Hawaii, we'd like to rent a house here. Then we made our way to Tunnels Beach. Tunnels Beach is hands down the most beautiful beach we've ever seen. Like something on a postcard. The large green mountains of Kauai descend down right on the beach. At the base there is a very cool cave and then a gorgeous beach. The water is crystal clear and the reef there is amazing. We snorkeled amongst some colorful fish and numerous sea turtles! Those guys are so chill....just floating along occasionally using their fins to get some speed. Really cool to see. We had our picnic lunch on the beach and relaxed for a bit.
Tunnels Beach
Fresh Coconut juice and some crazy beach hair
Next we headed up the road to the start of Na Pali coast hike. It's 11 miles along gorgeous sea cliffs where there are no roads. If you want to do the whole thing people recommend camping...if you don't want to hike it then lots of people see it by helicopter or zodiac boat. The first 2 miles of the hike take you to a beach and a waterfall....that was our goal and then to turn around. Since we had such a great time at Tunnels Beach and were on a timetable to get back for the Luau that night soooo we did 1 mile, experienced the cliffs and gorgeous views and then turned around. hahaha. a little disappointing, but leaves something for the next trip. To anyone who wants to do this - it's not an easy hike. It has lots of rocky, muddy parts and tons of tree roots...parts of the cliffs are windy (I had to anchor my foot under a root to not get blown off the cliffside!).
Na Pali Coastline
The luau that night at our resort was pretty fun, we sat a table of honeymooners and two of them happen to live in nyc on the upper west side! such a small world. We had some good mai tais and hawaiian cuisine while watching the show and dancing. Glad we got to see a luau.
Our last day in Kauai was spent relaxing around our resort in Poipu...we saw Sprouting Horn, a natural lava formation that blows out water when the waves crash. We had some famous Hawaiian hotdogs at Puka Dog, sooooo good! Then we laid by the pool with some frozen drinks till our sad departure from Kauai.
Puka Dogs
Sprouting Horn
Hawaiian Monk Seal on Poipu Beach
Last frozen cocktail at the Grand Hyatt Pool
I would've loved 1 more day in Kauai and at our fabulous resort...so I was kinda sad to leave. Nick kept saying, "we're still on our honeymoon! We're going to another island!" haha...I knew I would love Maui too...but Kauai was an incredible time.
Off to Maui!
Ready for more honeymooning
Married :)
No comments:
Post a Comment