Kaua'i Discovered!

May 11, 2012

Kaua'i Discovered!

We are back from an INCREDIBLE, beautiful trip to what we really feel like was paradise created by our God.  Everything was so bright, colorful and amazing! Kaua'i is one of the Hawaiian islands that is less-commercialized and very laid back. 

All the locals favorite words were "right onnnnn" and "hang loose" haha, so we tried to pick up the lingo ;)

Our airplane got in at 7:15 this morning... so we are pretty much walking zombies...haha! So how did I already write a post?! Oh...on our 8 hour plane ride!! What else? ;)

 After many long hours on the plane....we finally made it!!! I took a lot a lot of pictures, and I really had a hard time narrowing it down...but i tried for this post ;)

We LOVED our hotel. It was set up on the cliffs of the north side of the island where we could literally see for miles of the ocean.

The pool was incredible.

This island was completely over-run by CHICKENS and roosters. they were everywhere!!! But the lil chicks were adorable. The roosters...not so much at 4am...

The day we arrived we did a little exploring before dinner and found this really neat water cave.

We made our way to Ke'e beach (where a long 11 mile hike starts, but we didn't do that this time)

We called it an early night after our travel day and went to check out the view from our hotel room!

We made it a point to search out the "hidden" beaches, because it's so much more fun when it's an adventure right?!

This is at Tunnels Beach on Day 2

The backdrop of this little strip of beach was an incredible mountain with a waterfall coming down the center. We had to scurry down a few tree roots to get to this beach.

This is a great beach for snorkeling. We saw some really cool caves and underwater cliffs here. You can see the coral in the background.

Around the corner from our hotel was the Kilauea Lighthouse. It seriously looked like a painting!

Be ready to be impressed...I ate Wahoo fish! And liked it! 

Day 3 -- we went four wheeling through Kipu Ranch on the south side of the island. Check out our HUGE helmets. 

 This was one of my fav things. We saw 2 waterfalls and got to Indiana Jones rope swing into a river!

The sights were gorgeous.

1....2......3........swing!!!

This waterfall is where Season 2 of America's Next Top Model had a photoshoot.

We got SO sandy from those four wheelers!!

The bamboo there can grow up to 5" a day!

 The last waterfall we saw on the tour we hiked down into a small valley to see...

It was verrrry chilly! But beautiful!!

After we finished the four wheeler tour we took some time to sight see around the south end of the island since we stayed up at the north end.

Spouting Horn -- A natural formed "spout"from lava rocks. 

Po'ipu Beach with great coral reefs

The sea turtles were everywhere!!!

On our way back we went on a hunt to find 3 other waterfalls on the island!

This is Wailua Falls...and the rainbow was only showing for a split second! It was gorgeous!

Opaeka'a Falls

The last waterfall was about a mile hike through the "jungle"

And we found it!! Ho'opi'i Fallas!! Along with the local kids (background, i would be one nervous mamma if i had kids living in Hawaii.)

Day 4 we spent some time at Hanalei Bay.

Then went to find another hidden beach! This was the "gem" of the trip!! "Secrets Beach" is the name.

Seriously was a long hike, steep down to the beach (and not fun getting back up... but totally worth it)

On one side you could see the lighthouse in the background, and the other was natural lava pools!! Seeing these incredible creations that God made .... 

The lava pools amaze me...

And we finished the day by the pool ;)

Day 5 we went back to the lava pools to explore more. I got quite nervous a few times....thinking Jeremy was going to get swept out into the ocean. But thankfully we all made it back safe.

This pool was amazzing. The huge stones in the bottom could be seen easily through the crystal clear waters! And then a wave came when I crawled in....

As we kept hiking along the rocks...we literally came over a cliff and saw this...! AH my dream. To find a waterfall.

So of course we crawled down and got in! Check out the rocks stacked on top of each other!

On the other side of the waterfall was a CAVE! Seriously.. 

We got up on top of the waterfalls and saw the sites from up there. It was amazing!

 The very last night....we went to a Luau! Saw a roasted pig, ate the pig, saw hula dancers, and lots of botanical gardens!

There were LOTS of peacocks around the luau! That brings a whole new meaning to "shake your tail feathers" haha!!

Last but not least we grabbed a "shaved ice" aka snow cone and matching tanks and headed to the airport ;( 

Beautiful, beautiful place!

 Aloha Kaua'i!!