Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Back from Hawaii! (Monica) Part 2

Part II: We headed to Kauai for 5 nights and stayed a the Kiahuna Plantation. Lovely grounds and good location. Beautiful beach within a 5 minute walk from our condo (bldg 17). Loved our place and felt quite at home. Yes, we heard the roosters late at night (or should I say early in the a.m.) but they didn't bother us. Lynda, the condo owner, had one of those noise machine that had the sound of rain, which drowned out the cars passing by and the roosters. Loved Kauai!!! So beautiful and lush. So quite compared to Honolulu. What a difference! We drove to the north side one day stopping at 2 water falls, the guava farm, the lighthouse, and Ke'e beach. Started to hike a little but too rocky and too long for us as we wanted to head back and hit the beach. We took a helicopter tour with Inter Island, the only company to stop (weather permitting) at a remote waterfall along with a deli lunch and time to swim at the waterfall. Excellent company! The helicopters site 4 passengers and the pilot. I sat in the front middle seat and had great views, but couldn't take any photos, so Tony did that for me and got a few good shots. Took a drive up to Waimea canyon. More of an overcast day up there, so the canyon's were quite as spectacular as the postcards I had seen; but still a wonderful sight and drive. We enjoyed both the beaches at Kiahuna and Poipu park. I even took photos of a monk seal sleeping in a corner of the beach. There was a rope about 100 feet around her so no one could get close to her. From what I understand there are only 13-30 monk seals remaining on Kauai. We toured the Kauai musuem, which was very interesting. There's a short 12-15 minute film on Kauai, which I recommend people see early on in their trip. Gives good footage of the island. Back on Oahu for the next 4 nights, we spent our time on the beach, toured Queen Emma's summer home, visited the Japanese temple, shopped a little more, visited Chinatown, and just relaxed. We dined at some great restaurants, which I'll post on my web site. That's it for now! We had a great time and since it was a lot more relaxing than my European trips, it certainly felt longer than 15 days! Always glad to be home, but not enjoying this cold weather! Please check my website soon for photos and my journal. Monica