A Trip Far From The North Cascades, Kauai, 3.7.14 - 3.14.14

For years our friends Bob and Dana have been wanting us to join them on a Hawaii trip so after accumulating mega points on our card (thanks to Andrew's tuition payments), it was time to cash in and make it happen. We decided on Kauai, known as the Garden Isle and it was just an incredible experience. By total coinicidence our friends Kent and Candice from Colorado were also there at the same time and good times ensued all week long.

Bridgit and I left Seattle at 2:30AM to fly to Lihue via San Francisco. Dana and Bob chose to go first class direct so we met them at our hotel, the Sheraton Kauai in Poipu Beach. It was kind’ve drizzly when we arrived and more rain was expected throughout the week. Our room was pretty basic but had a great view of the inner garden from the balcony.

**The view of the garden at the Sheraton Kauai where we stayed**

Since it was raining pretty hard, Bridgit and I headed for the tiki bar for a couple of Mai Tais. While we were sitting there looking out at the ocean we spotted some whales breaching and one even did a tail flip. We were blown away as this was the first time I had ever seen a whale.

The next morning the weather looked pretty sunny so we decided to check out Waimea Canyon. Known as the Grand Canyon of the Pacific, Waimea Canyon is over 3,000’ deep and the color of the rocks and soil was like nothing I had ever seen before. It was almost unreal how vivid the colors were.

At the top of the road we were at an altitude around 4,000’ at the Kalalau Lookout. Normally there is a beautiful view looking down the fluted ridges to the Napali Coast but it was really foggy when we arrived so no views there.

On our second full day there (Sunday) it was pretty rainy but we headed out anyway and drove up to Wailua Falls which were made famous in the opening credits of the TV show Fantasy Island. It poured the whole way there but we still got a good look at the falls.

We were a bit concerned about the weather by this point. We had been there three days and it had rained every day. Sure enough, Monday morning we had a reservation to go on a helicopter tour of the island and it was raining really hard when we arrived at the heliport. Luck was on our side though and almost as soon as we took off the weather cleared and we had an amazing aerial tour all around the island. We flew in and out of Waimea Canyon, all along the Napali coastline which was truly breathtaking, up the pristine Hanaleis River Valley and over several of the waterfalls so abundant on Kauai. I was lucky enough to have the front seat in the chopper so I was able to take lots of photos along the way.

Following our exhilarating helicopter tour we headed back to the hotel bar where Kent and Candice joined us for several rounds of Lava Eruptions. Later we all planned to go to a great luau but due to the iffy weather they moved it inside and it turned out to be pretty disappointing.

Tuesday the six of us drove to Port Allen to go on a catamaran whale watching tour with Blue Dolphin Charters. I was pretty optimistic since we had seen them from the hotel already. The weather was great on this day and the catamaran sailed very smoothly over the water in search of the big mammals. We finally spotted a mother and her calf and while we didn’t get to see any breaching we did see some good tail splashing and also had a bunch of dolphins swim alongside our catamaran.

Kent and Candice had bought into a timeshare so they were staying at the Westin near Princeville on the other end of Kauai. It is a beautiful resort and what was even better was the fact that it included access to the opulent St Regis Hotel in Hanalei.

On Wednesday I was incredibly excited to have a chance to finally go a hike. Not just any hike. For many years one of the highest on my list of must do hikes had been the infamous Kalalau Trail. This trail starts at Kee Beach and goes eleven miles along the Napali Coast with breathtaking ocean and jungle scenery all along the way. It has a lot of ups and downs and some treacherous sections. If it has been raining, which it had all week, it is highly recommended that you stay off the trail as the hard packed dirt becomes extremely slippery. There are places all along this trail that you don’t want to slip or you will fall a very long way down cliffs into the ocean far below.

Knowing this trail was not going to interest Dana or Bridgit, we made a plan for them to drop Kent, Candice, Bob and me off at the trailhead and pick us up later. We had no intention of hiking the whole thing. Instead we planned to just do the first section, a five mile out and back to Hanakapi’ai Stream. I was concerned about the trail conditions and even talked to an activities director who strongly suggested that it would be a bad idea to even try it. Undeterred, we moved ahead with the plan and figured if things got too gnarly we would bail.

We hit the trail with perfect weather at 9:20AM. There were lots of other folks on the trail from all over the world. The trail was plenty dry enough. At first we worked our way up a steep hill covered in big roots up to a point that gave us our first views. High above the ocean we could look back at Kee Beach far below us. Looking ahead we had a unbelievable view looking down the length of the Napali Coast. Brilliant blue green water churned into bright white surf as it crashed into the coastline. Jagged cliffs covered in shades of green, brown and red stretched down the coast. We could see whales breaching out in the water and this was unlike any hike I had ever been on. Absolutely beautiful.

The trail itself was comprised of rusty red colored dirt with all sorts of strange exotic plants growing alongside the trail. We continued to climb, weaving in and out of valleys cut into the coastline, invariably coming to one outstanding overlook after another.

After gaining about five hundred feet of vertical we began to drop down into a deep valley that culminated in the Hanakapi’ai stream and beach. The stream was freshwater and we had to take off our shoes to ford it before reaching the beach. Here we kicked back, had some lunch and took a bunch of pictures. A steady stream of people came and went while we were there.

From this beach there was a junction, The Kalalau Trail continued and as badly as I wanted to see the entire thing, I knew it would have to wait for another day. A way trail headed up the stream two miles to a three hundred foot waterfall called Hanakapai’ai Falls where a large pool at the base afforded great swimming opportunities. Kent had already been to where we were and was very eager to go up to the falls which he had never been but given that it is a fairly rugged four mile round trip we just weren’t prepared for that rigorous of a day. Still, I was extremely pleased to have finally hiked on this trail I had heard so much about. I’d really love to go back and do the whole thing as a backpack one of these days.

**Looking back at Kee Beach from the Kalalau Trail**

It was still only one-thirty when we got back to the trailhead so we all headed back to the St Regis Princeville Resort. Talk about plush! This was maybe the fanciest hotel I’d ever been in. We were there because along with Kent’s access we could also use the private beach on Hanalei Bay. Yes the same bay that Puff the Magic Dragon lived by. Because the resort is built on a tall bluff, we had to take an elevator down eight floors to reach the beach. Hanalei Beach is a very large perfectly circular protected bay with a soft sandy beach wrapping all the way along the shoreline. Lush green mountains rise almost straight up from the edge of the beach and it is just an exquisite scene. The St Regis is built right on the edge of the bay with luxurious swimming pools right off the beach.

I had never been snorkeling in my life so for fifteen bucks we rented gear for two hours. I don’t think Bridgit had ever snorkeled either. Bob and Dana opted out. With more than a little awkwardness I managed to get my fins and snorkel on and eased my way out into the water until I was about knee deep so I could just stick my face into the water to get the hang of breathing. Well the instant my mask hit the water several colorful marine fish swam right by the front of my mask! I was amazed! The next two hours were so profound it was mind-boggling and led to an experience that will forever be etched in my mind as one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had.

First of all, there was the reef. I knew nothing, absolutely nothing about what I was getting into that day. I got deep enough to float on my stomach and breath through the snorkel which I found to be fairly easy to do. What I didn’t anticipate was just how cool a coral reef is. Swimming along the reef itself was like traveling through a giant video game maze. It had canyons and tunnels and places to swim over and under. All around were tropical fish of every shape and size, swimming so close you could touch them if you tried. This was heady stuff for me. There wasn’t anything remotely like this growing up in Colorado!

Kent, Candice, Bridgit and I noodled around together, pointing when we saw a cool fish and acknowledging each other with thumbs up. After about forty minutes or so I found myself separated from the others. I thought I was swimming up to Kent and Candice but it was another couple. Above the surface they said they had seen a sea turtle down under a coral outcrop. I dove down a few times but didn’t really see anything so I worked my way back to shore where I found the others who had headed to the beach. I wasn’t ready to be done snorkeling yet so Candice agreed to go back in with me. Candice followed me into the water and I tried to find my way back to where they had seen the turtle. As I swam I would alternate between looking down the coral overhang and looking back to make sure Candice was still with me. As we approached the area that the couple had seen the turtle my eyes caught a movement directly in front of me. I looked up and no more than six feet in front of me was a huge sea turtle completely out in the open water swimming right in front of me. I almost gasped I was so blown away. Quickly I looked back and excitedly signaled to Candice. The turtle was so beautiful swimming with such graceful ease through the water with its giant flippers. We followed behind it thinking it would just swim away but we ended up spending the next fifteen to twenty minutes just watching it nibble on things attached to the reef. Trying to keep a respectful distance we just floated around with this amazing creature although in hindsight we were much closer than we were supposed to be.

I surfaced and waved frantically to Bridgit to get out here. Just as she arrived, a second turtle appeared and we watched them both for a while before they finally dove under the coral and disappeared. I will never in my life forget how moved I was. As I think of all the wildlife encounters I have had in my life, I don’t think any came close to what I experienced swimming with the turtles. It was very, very special.

**Hanalei Bay from the St Regis Princeville Resort**

Our final day in Kauai we went on a guided kayak river trip to a secret waterfall. It wasn’t much of an adventure and the secret waterfall was pretty tiny but we still had fun. Overall we had a great time and ended up with enough good weather to really make it great to be in Hawaii. Kauai is an extremely diverse place and I enjoyed it very much. I would definitely go back again but now I’m looking forward to getting back into the mountains.

A Trip Far From The North Cascades, Kauai, 3.7.14 - 3.14.14

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