Sunday, November 14, 2010

Kauai, Day #1: The North Shore

Let’s start with the short two minute video, taken right outside our cottage, that took THREE hours to upload!  This place has wi-fi, but just barely!  (From now on I’m taking Jennifer’s advice and going to the Small Town Coffee House, just down the street, to upload videos!)

A 360-degree “tour” just outside our cottage, taken whole someone was still sleeping!

After breakfast today, we headed north from Kapa’a with no real destination in mind. The plan for today was just to explore the North Shore of Kauai.

First stop (“Stop! Gotta get this shot!”) was at Waipouli Beach Park where I played with the Nikon D40 that Kat let us borrow.

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This rock is known as King’s Kong’s profile.  See it?

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Next stop: the look-out to Kilaeua Lighthouse.  Yes, the water really is that color!DSC_0549

Then we came upon a gorgeous beach called Anini Beach…

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“You comin?  Whatchu lookin’ at?”

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“Nothing, dear.  Certainly not long-haired Brazilian men in Speedos.”

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By the way, these guys (the roosters, not the long-haired Brazilian men in Speedos) are EVERYWHERE on Kauai!  Zillions of them!

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I’m don’t think this beach even has a name.  Isn’t it beautiful? 

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This is “a land called Hanalei:”

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It’s actually more of a bay.  That’s the pier from South Pacific and, according to Tom, a “bunch of other movies.”

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And see those jagged cliffs jutting sideways?  Those are the “back side of NaPali.”

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At Hanalei Bay, Tom had his first shave ice since Maui in 2006. He was in heaven!

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I love this church, built in 1834, in Hanalei:

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We left Hanalei Bay and drove past Waikoko Beach.  Those are resorts in Princeville across the water.  And yes, the water really is that color!

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Just a few miles down the road, I again begged Tom to stop because I spotted a beach through some bushes.  I thought it might be a small beach, but oh how wrong I was!  It was Lumaha’i Beach a long, gorgeous , desolate beach!

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(Yes, the water really is that color.)

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This is Wainihi Beach Park.  Tom stopped the car right in the road so I could jump out and take this shot.

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The beach at Ha’ena Beach Park is amazing!  There’s an expansive shallow shelf of really cool little tide pools and beyond that a beautiful beach!

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And then we hit the end of the road.  A “wet cave…”

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…and Ke’e Beach – which we were expecting to be awe-inspiring, but which we didn’t like as much as some of the beaches we’d seen earlier.

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By this time we were both really hungry, so we high-tailed it back to Kapa’a and had dinner at Scotties (which is co-owned by the author of Tom’s favorite “Ultimate Guidebook” series about the Hawaiian islands)…

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…where we had a great table and a great view:

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After dinner we headed to a small bar right near our cottage in Kapa’a and listened to a great local singer, whose name I unfortunately didn’t catch.

Tomorrow we’ll rent snorkeling equipment and head southward toward Piopu Beach.  Stand by!  I think I can promise you at least one photo of a waterfall tomorrow!

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9 comments:

Lynn said...

Thanks for sharing your visit to paradise! Looks so peaceful and relaxing--especially that long empty beach. It's especially fun to vicariously tag along with you beach bums when it's cold and drizzly here. Boy, did you pick a perfect week to escape the PNW. Keep 'em comin!

Jean said...

Carol, try Anini for snorkeling. It's considered a nursery by the locals and not a lot of people go there so it is very peaceful. How was dinner at Scotties? I haven't tried that yet.

Margaret said...

What a gorgeous place! I want to be there too. (gray and rainy here)Have a wonderful time snorkeling. :)

Anon said...

More long-haired Brazilian men please. In or out of Speedos.

c said...

Hanalei is our stomping grounds when we go to Kauai so I'm really enjoying your photos.
We usually hike up the Na Pali Coast just for an hour or so and then turn around.... and there's Limahuli Tropical gardens in Haena, now called the National Tropical Botanical Gardens which you might check out.
Last visit we did the traditional Luau and boat ride to the Fern Grotto at Smith's Tropical Paradise in Kapaa. It was corny but I loved it.

allieg8r said...

make sure you visit the Queen's Bath:
http://www.hawaiiweb.com/kauai/sites_to_see/QueensBath.htm

and Postcards Cafe in Hanalei! We had the BEST meal there for my 30th birthday.

Goofball said...

not fair that it's so far and therefore unpayable for us to go there....looks like paradise


any idea what the water temperature is over there? Is there much currents? is there a lot of scuba diving activity in the area? just curious

Goofball said...

I wonder if the water is really that color? :p

Carol said...

Goofball, the water temperatureis WARM! Like a tepid bath! No kidding! When you're in the water, it feels like heaven! The currents CAN be strong, so you do need to be careful. And yes, LOTS of scuba diving!

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