Kauai
We made it to Kauai on Saturday. The Sheraton is a lovely resort on a nice stretch of Poipu Beach, where the surf pounds against black volcanic rocks all day as the sun shines brightly and benignly on. The resort has a nice laid-back rhythm to it – breakfast between 6:30 and 10:30 a.m.; hanging out on the beach in cabanas or by the pool until about 5:00, when the daily hula and ukulele show and free mai tai bar starts; and then your choice of dinner places from 6:00 to 9:00; followed by hanging out at the bar at the rocky point until you’re so exhausted from what you did all day you need to go to bed!!
Saturday night was sake and sushi (for Sam; tempura shrimp for me, the non-sushi person) at the Japanese restaurant here at the Sheraton. We noticed that Kauai has a much stronger Asian influence than Maui – many more Japanese and Chinese restaurants and beautiful Japanese gardens. Sunday saw us hanging out all day in a cabana on the beach, reading, napping, swimming, and surfer-watching. The surfers are literally everywhere at all times of the day. Sunday night we had an excellent meal at The Beach House – a beautiful ocean front place. There were a couple of bride and groom couples having their after-wedding parties there, which made us reminisce about our wedding and what fun we had with you all there. In fact, as I write this, we’re sitting out on the balcony of our hotel room, listening to Frank Sinatra and other music we had played at the wedding and drinking our congratulatory bottle of champagne compliments of the Sheraton.
But, back to my story…Monday we went for our helicopter ride, which was quite a ride!! All I’ll say is this: if you have any form of claustrophobia, take some drugs or drink a lot before getting in a helicopter!! I’m still having nightmares about it! But, aside from that little kink in our plan, the ride was stunningly beautiful. The Na Pali coast and the Waimea Canyon are awe-inspiring sights (more on those later). It was a bit misty and rainy while we were airborne, which made for some of the most spectacular rainbows we’ve ever seen. Once Sam got the feeling back in his arm (from me having it in a death grip the whole hour we were up there), things were just right again.
After the helicopter ride, we drove the one road that circles the island to the north side all the way to Hanelei Bay. Now, any of you who remember the song "Puff, the Magic Dragon" might remember that Puff lived in "a land called Hanelei" and this is indeed the bay where Puff lives. Whoever wrote that song (with whatever hallucinatory help they were getting…) was here in Kauai and looked around at the mountains that ring the bay and decided they looked like a dragon (and they do, actually, even without the mushrooms). The author who wrote things like Jurrasic Park (also filmed here) – Michael Crichton – owns a huge swath of Hanelei Bay. In fact, large parts of Hawaii are still owned by individuals or corporations (Dole pineapple, anyone?). One family owns an entire island, called the Forbidden Island to scare people away from going there!
Monday night we ate at a superb restaurant called Tide Pools at an absolutely stunning resort – the Grand Hyatt Kauai. We tried to behave ourselves so no one would discover we were interlopers from the Sheraton (obviously from the wrong side of the tracks when you see the Hyatt!). Seriously, though, the Hyatt resort is absolutely amazing; we’re already talking about saving enough to come back and stay at the Hyatt (25th anniversary, maybe? ;->).
As usual, we were in bed pretty early since most of our activities were scheduled to start at the crack of dawn. And Tuesday was no exception as we had our bike ride down the Wiamea Canyon slated for 6:00 a.m. Unlike our bide ride down Haleakala in Maui, this bike ride went off without a hitch and was, in fact, perfect! The company was excellent, the views were gorgeous, and the ride itself was wonderful. We got up to speeds of about 25 miles per hour on the last stretch of the way down. Woohoo!
After that activity, we went to visit another beach where there is a naturally occurring blow-hole – called Spouting Horn beach. When the water hit the rocks, you’d swear you were at a geyser, it sprayed so high. Then, we came back to our little stretch of Poipu Beach and chilled out until the 5:00 Mai Tai party, which we of course joined!!
This morning was our long-awaited snorkel trip to the Na Pali coast. We had an absolutely wonderful experience!! The Na Pali coast is so stunning it takes your breath away. Naturally formed volcanic cliffs jut right out of the sea – all black rock contrasted against the azure blue of the Pacific and the white spume as it pounds against the rocks. Amazing!! Then, just when you think you’ve seen it all, you come across a stretch of waterfalls that spring forth from the black volcanic rock and fall right into the ocean! Wow!! So beautiful! We saw more dolphins and a couple of giant sea turtles as well.
Now, this boat trip was really rough because of the very high winds (thank God or whatever pharmaceutical company makes it for Dramamine!). The captain of the catamaran we were on decided to put her under full sail, so we sailed around off the coast for a while. This experience was so peaceful and gentle that we really did feel like part of the sea. Then, we did a bit of snorkeling, but the sea was so rough that the visibility was not too good.
And now, here we are. Sitting on our balcony looking at the Koi in the fish pond below, drinking champagne and wishing we didn’t have to come home tomorrow. Not that we don’t love and miss you all, but this really is paradise and as you’d imagine, paradise is pretty damned hard to leave!! At least our plane doesn’t leave until 9:00 p.m. tomorrow, so we have a few more hours of fun in the sun…
So, we just checked the site at www.pictage.com to see if the wedding photos were up yet, but alas, they’re not… They should be up soon, though, so keep checking for them!
And lastly, a huge, hearty thanks to all of you who celebrated with us on August 27 and who contributed in one way or another to the most amazing trip of both of our lives!!! We would thoroughly recommend Hawaii to anyone; it’s worth the long airplane ride!
We’ll see you all soon.