Hawaii 2018

Cousin Trip to Kauai

Jan 6 to Jan 13, 2018

Saturday, Jan 6

The cousins - Kim and Marg, Coleen and Rick, arrived about 10:30 pm this evening.  The sky is cloudy, so we can't see any stars, and it is pitch black because there are no street lights, so we didn't see much as we drove back to Princeville.  We got everyone settled in and then we got caught up on the family news before getting some shut-eye.

Sunday, Jan 7

The day started very early.  I think they were all up quite early because of jetlag, as they were on their second pot of coffee as we dragged out of bed at 7:30.  They headed off to an island orientation while we went to the timeshare meeting.  Then we headed south to Costco.  On the way south, we stopped at all of the beaches and viewpoints so the cousins could see the scenery and admire the waves.  There was a high surf advisory for the island, so the waves were spectacular.  We saw several whale spouts and maybe a whale breach.  

Once the food shopping was looked after, we headed to the pool to try out the new snorkel gear.  There we were, snorkeling the pool in the light rain.  Heaven!

Monday, Jan 8

It is rainy in Princeville, so we headed south to Waimea Canyon and Hanapepe.  In the south of the island, it was hot and sunny so it was easy to wander the shops in Hanapepe and nibble on almond croissants from the bakery.  We then drove to the canyon, stopping at the small creek, and the viewpoints of the canyon, Ni Hau, which was cloudy, and then the very top and the glorious view of the Napali coastline.  Several hikers were reaching us after their 12 mile hike.  They were looking pretty tired and muddy from the slippery, wet trail, but they were happy to have seen the views.

This picturesque site is on the way up to the canyon!

Tuesday, Jan 9

Today it was clear and hot, so we headed to Annini Beach to see the turtles.  While out snorkeling we saw two large green turtles and a small turtle on the reef.  This is their favourite hangout area, so we can see them every day, if we wish.

Annini beach

When we had had enough sun, we drove north to Hanalei for shave ice at Jojo's.  We had a tropical big kahuna, while Rick and Coleen had a small tropical, and Kim and Marg had a small banana split flavour.

Shave ice! Delicious!!

We wandered the shops and then braved the  traffic over the one one-lane bridge.  We stopped at the viewpoint to admire the taro fields below.

Tarro fields from the lookout by Princeville.

We headed to the reception area to enjoy a Mai tai and Hawaiian music before dinner and darkly.  Colleen and Kim were the winners today.

Wednesday, Jan 10

We took the day off, so we lazed by the big pool in our resort. We worked on our tans.  We also worked on our farkle skills.

Thursday, Jan 11

Today was a great day to go to the Kileauea Lighthouse.  We saw Lesson Albatross, frigate birds, tropic birds, and shearwaters.

Albatross roosting on the cliff tops.

Out in the ocean, there were several whales spouting and two who decided to wave their flippers at us while swimming in front of the bay.

Can you see the whales?

This beautiful island is just off the point of the lighthouse headland.

After lunch, we drove north to Tunnels Beach (Haena) and Ke e beach.  The surf was really high, so the waves were pounding in.  We had to stop in Hanalei to have another shave ice. 

Friday, Jan 12

The sky was clear and the temperature was hot, so we headed to Annini Beach for another look at the turtles.  We found out that one spot they go to is a cleaning station where the ref fish each off the algae from their shells.  The visibility was not as good because of the high surf, but we were still able to find four more.  One swam under us, surfaced to look at us, and then dove down and started to swim away.  Of course, we had to follow I'm for a bit.  We were tired long before he was (I need an underwater camera if we ever go back to this beach).

Saturday, Jan 13

Today is our last day on the island.  We fly out tonight.  We were in the process of eating our breakfast when all of the cell phones started honking with a missile warning.

We were just happy it was a false alarm!

We looked around, and could find no place run to that would protect us, so we sent a message to our children and continued with breakfast.  We turned to CNN, who were able to give us a little more information.  Anyway, as you can gather, the missile warning ended up being an error (or a real event that was spun for the tourist's benefit.  I guess we will never know).  We are still here.

We drove down the road to Rick and Coleen's new digs for the next week, and then continued on to a Harley Davidson store, a farmer's market for some delicious pineapple ice cream, and then into the harbour area of Lihue for lunch before Kerry, Kim and I went on our helicopter ride over the island.

The ride was amazing.  We lifted off and headed south and west over mountains and valleys just to the north of Poipu.  There, you can see several sites that were movie locations.  On wards towards the Na Pali coastline and several waterfalls.  The swell on the north coast was large - about 50 feet.  There was no boat traffic up there, but the waves were crashing in and several whales were playing in the water.  We continued on through the interior of the island on the east side, before landing again.  Kauai is truly a beautiful, lush place.

After dinner, we headed to the airport.  Our two weeks were over.  It was time to head one to cold weather and snow.