dcd

20 years had passed since I last made the trek to Hawaii. Went to Maui and Oahu. My then wife was just 2 weeks out of the hospital for her first manic episode. This was a year and a half into the marriage. The doc said to go and we did. She was depressed throughout the week long trip but we made the best of it. While I'm sure her situation colored my memories of Hawaii, the fact is that those islands didn't overwhelm me like I'd been expecting. Nice, yes, but they didn't wow me. Considering that the Carribean is so much closer to my home town (St. Louis), I had no real desire to go back.

Then I started reading some threads here, took a look at some of the pics also posted here, and talked to a close friend who has been going there for years. Kal's dire warnings notwithstanding, I decided it was time to give Hawaii a second chance with my DW of 7 years. Sure glad I did! This was paradise found.

Our dates of travel were 9/20 thru 9/29, departing on a 10:40 pm flight. We arrived at Lihue around 4:30pm on time, picked up our Alamo rental car (they had by far the best rates--$240 total for a midsize which ended up being a full size), and headed for the Lihue Wally World for some provisions to stock our rental home. Good move. Knowing the scandalous prices that awaited us at Safeway and Foodland, we stocked up on some of the basics: 8 bottles of wine. I was pleasantly surprised to see that they had a good selection at very good prices. Oh, and we also picked up a dozen eggs, butter, OJ and a few other things. This isn't one of their supercenters with a full grocery store, unfortunately. But we saved some serious money here.

Lodging. I stressed over this the most and did a ton of research. I was initially looking at Poipu but the comments here about the beauty of the north coast finally persuaded me to go there. We wanted a full kitchen so we could do some cooking and save on the meals. I looked at all the condos but couldn't find that right combination of facilities, location and price.

I then turned to VRBO.com, something new for us. Read every one featuring 1 or 2 BRs. We settled on one the owners call "Hale Maluhia" located as part of the Hanalei Bay Villas in Princeville. Best decision we made. What a find!! Stand alone, 2 story house with 2 BR and 2.5 baths; full kitchen and cookware/glasses/plates and blender(!!); large family room with stereo, TV, and VCR and a cabinet holding some CDs and Hawaiian movies; washer/dryer; snorkel gear; beach chairs; cooler; etc. Like most of the lodgings in Kauai, there's no AC because you don't need it. There are ceiling fans and too many windows to count, all with louvered slats that can be opened and closed as needed to control the airflow and ocean breezes.

But the best part by far are the views. For those who have never been to Kauai, the north coast has a gorgeous, jagged mountain range that parallels the coast and is perpetually green. The ocean is a clear, deep blue. The house has a deck off the family room which faces the mountains. The side view faces the ocean which can be seen in the distance, past various blooming trees and a row of palm trees. The deck is one of those places where you just plop down in one of the chairs, gaze at all the lushness, beauty, the ever changing clouds as they sweep over and around the mountains in a never ending drama, and pinch yourself.

The location is superb, too. Immediately in front of the house is a 2 lane road which is not particularly busy or noisy. Immediately across the road is a fairly small park-like area with 3 benches for viewing the ocean directly below. It's also where 10-50 people congregate each night, with cameras and/or drinks in hand, to watch the sunset. I'd estimate the distance from the front door of the home to the ocean's edge at no more than 50 short yards.

The Princeville Hotel and its ammenities are at the end of the road, just about a half mile from the house. Hanalei is an easy 10-15 minutes drive; the Foodland store is about 5 minutes; the various north shore beaches are as close as across the street (and down a steep set of steps) and as far as 20 minutes away (Secrets), with most being 15-20 minutes away (Kee, Tunnels, Hanalei); the Lihue airport is about 45 minutes; Poipu is about 60 minutes; and Waimea Canyon is about 90 minutes.

For the golfers, there are 2 courses just up the road maybe half a mile or so and one of them is the No. 1 rated golf course in all of Hawaii.

And it cost us just $150 per nite. Regular price is $200 (still a great value). It's one of those places I hope doesn't get too popular because it's where we'll want to stay when we return.

Finally, the owners, Melissa and Michael Kalt, are incredibly nice and responsive. You can check out the property at www.kauaivilla.com.

More to follow. Dave

sistahlou

dcd!

Soooo very glad you made it back and gained new perspective on Hawaii. Great trip report so far. Since the first time I saw them, I loved those villas!!! Now learn to never suggest them as they will be all booked up when you try to return.....right IAMQ?!?!? Never stayed in one but have saved yours just in case I bother to return to that HellHole, since you now know.....

"Kauai is way overpriced, touristy, dark, over ridden with roosters and chickens and mosquitoes. The food is lousy, overpriced, and lets not forget those freeway traffic jams in Kaapa!!!

and it rains ALL THE TIME.... Maui mo bettah!"

Good times indeed dcd!!!!

dcd

sistahlou, In case you missed the first report, written by my evil twin, here it is: http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...1&tid=34880458

iamq

dcd,

You primed the pump, now on with the show!

Rule #1 about lodging in Kaua'i:

NEVER divlulge the particulars of the place you are staying, especially if it a very cool rental. No gushing allowed. If you do, you'll be rewarded in the future by no availability and skyrocketing prices. With the lack of really good places to say on that dreaded stink-pit, you need to hang on to those really great places that you find with a tight fist and not share them with anyone...except the K9s of course.

More report please.

Bill

Julie304

Hey Dave, it sounds like you guys were just across the street from us for a couple of days. We could see your sunset viewing area from our balcony at Pali Ke Kua. I agree about it being a fabulous location. Glad to hear you had a good time. I'm slooowly working on our trip report too (we were there from 9/24-10/8). Hope you'll be posting some additional thoughts. It will be nice to compare notes.

Julie

Kal

WHAT!?!?!?

The first one wasn't the right one?!?!?!

Shame on you!

makai1

Dave... so you loved the villa too!!! sssshhhhhhhh! me too...

Looking forward to more reporting...

Aloha,
makai

dcd

Julie, Pali Ke Kua looked very nice, too. Sounds like you had a unit with great views. While walking thru that complex, we noticed some units' views were definitely better than others. Looking forward to your report!

Makai, after finding Hale Maluhia thru VRBO, I then cross referenced it here (of course) and found your great trip report which gave the home a glowing review. That sealed the deal for us. Interestingly, ownership has changed since you were there. As noted above, the new ones are fantastic. Anyway, I want you to know that your report and pics were very helpful to me as I planned this trip. Thank you!! I've responded to a couple of recent Hawaii posts and have given the link to your photos as proof positive that the north shore of Kauai is paradise personified.

BTW, after comparing your pics to mine, and they are hauntingly similar, even the location of the rainbows are the same...., your pics of the mountains behind Hale Maluhia came out way better than mine. Yours show that the mountains really are green. Mine not so much so I'll be going back to the lab today to see if they can tweak the color. Or it may well be that you're the superior photographer!!

I'll be posting more on the trip soon.

dcd

Gee, Mr/Ms Fodors Editor(s), any reason my earlier tongue-in-cheek review of Kauai was deleted??????? Can't we have some fun??!

dcd

Anyway, on with the report.....

Food glorious Food...

We didn't eat out much but here's my take on the places we did try:

Breakfast: We hit the Polynesia Cafe in Hanalei for some pancakes and they were very good. You gotta love the informality of this place. I mean good food on paper plates. A cost saver for them and no fuss no muss dining for us.

Lunch:

Bubba's in Hanalei: We grabbed a couple of burgers and were underwhelmed. They're OK but nothing to write home about. Price is certainly a plus.

Tropical Taco: The fish tacos were large, messy and very good.

Scotty's Beachside BBQ in Kapaa: Now I love BBQ and have been to hundreds of joints over the years. So I was eager to see if the owners, who are also the authors of the "Ultimate Guide", were blowing smoke when they gave their own place the highly coveted "Ono" ranking. Foodwise, I thought they were. Tried the brisket and pork. Much preferred the brisket although it was only good, not great. The pork was pretty dry and had almost no smoke flavor. The waiter conceded they don't use much wood in the smoking process. Say what???????? Next time I'll try the ribs. But the reason to come here is the view. It will make most people forget how good or bad they thot the food was. There are 2 large open windows fronting the ocean with a row of picturesque palm trees swaying in the breeze. Interestingly, the windows can be covered in inclement weather by a couple of glass garage doors which form part of the ceiling decor. Never seen that clever configuration before. Bottom line, this is my favorite locale ever for BBQ even if the Q itself is only average.

Dinner:

Cafe Hanalei (which is in the Princeville Hotel). It was our only dinner out and we saved it for our last meal on the island. On Friday nites, they have this wonderful seafood buffet. Considering it was my B-day, we overlooked the $65 per person charge. And that doesn't include an ounce of liquor, ordinarily. But in light of the occasion, that gave me a complimentary Mai Tai, a very nice touch. You can dine either inside or outside on the terrace. If it's a nice evening, that's a no-brainer. The terrace overlooks Hanalei Bay where the sun sets every night. But if you want a terrace seat, you need to reserve for 5:30pm which is when the restaurant opens. We got there around 5:15 and there was already a line to get in. Overall, the food was quite good although the ambience and sunset views from the terrace were probably the highlight.

The buffet featured about 5 stations of food. One contains a bunch of appetizers, including nice sized shrimp for peeling and eating, calamari, mussels, a couple of different oyster options, grilled vegetables, dungeness crab legs, a grilled salmon and tomato concoction, and several others.

There were also stations for salad/bread and sushi. Since we don't care for sushi and don't believe in filling up on salads or bread, we didn't investigate those.

The entree station featured about 8 selections: prime rib which was very tender, salmon roll with a light crust, seafood pasta, a clam and mussel with rice dish, fresh seafood of the day which was a snapper perhaps poached, a fish sausage dish which was quite good, fried coconut shrimp, and a breaded and baked mussel dish. Outside there was a grill for chicken and beef teriaki kabobs along with a grilled white marlin tempura (quite tasty) and tuna (ahi) tempura.

Finally, there was a long, long dessert bar with all kind of goodies, including a chocolate fountain with cut up pineapple, strawberries and 3 different cake cubes. But we liked the flourless chocolate cake the best.

For all the other dinners, we ate in the Hale Maluhia, our home away from home. Those evenings started with a daquiri cocktail (either the orange mango/limeade or the lemmonade/limeade) while we watched the sunset and were followed by the fresh catch of the day, a bottle or 2 of wine, Josh Grobin or Erin Bode on vocals, a candle, and those gentle ocean breezes as we dined on the deck. It just doesn't get any better than that. After all that romancing, dessert was usually, well, er, you know...............

A word about the fresh catch of the day. If you like fresh fish, head to the "Hanalei Dolphin Fish Market" which is attached to and immediately behind the Hanalei Dolphin Restaurant in Hanalei. There's nothing better than fresh food and this fish was right off the boat. We'd never heard of Wahoo, Moonfish, or Ono but they are some kind of good!! We were also impressed with the pink snapper.

The Foodland grocery store is expensive (bag of lettuce $6.00; 8 oz of mushrooms $5.00, OJ $5.00, etc) but do what others have been recommending here for years -- sign up for a member card when you first check out (it's free) and you'll save a lot.

The fruit was fresh, too. Picked out a pineapple in Foodland and was impressed by the $0.69 price tag. Must be so cheap because they're plentiful, or so I thot. The checker then told me I must not have read the fine print: "per pound"!! That local pineapple actully cost $4.50....... LOL. You can tell I'm a Hawaiian rookie.

We went to the Hanalei Farmer's Market and were there when it opened at 9:30am on Sat. We'd been told by fellow Fodorites that there's a mad rush at the opening and that was certainly true. For a moment, we thought we were on Wall Street at the opening bell. You kind of get suckered into the "hurry up and find what you want before someone else snaps it up" mentality. Maybe for some things but not for most. If you show up an hour or so later, maybe everything is gone. The pineapple there was no cheaper than in Foodland. We tried a mango and papaya or 2 but they weren't for us. Now the flowers were a good deal. I picked out a nice arrangement of tropicals for $7.00. That was easily $50 worth back home. There are also lots of jewelry kiosks there as well. I picked up a few pair of earrings for DW, but those would pale in comparison with what was to come later in the trip........

Next up: Botanical gardens and nude beaches!!!

sistahlou

You're on a roll!!! I need ahi now!!! That fish market brings such joy!

Nude beaches in hawaii?!? I know of white sand, black sand, green sand and red sand....there's nude sand too!!!???

Carry on!

dcd

Botanical Gardens. DW and I love Botanical Gardens, and we visited 2 of them, both on the north shore.

Limahuli Garden is located about 5-8 minutes west of Hanalei, almost to the end of the road. You'll turn left or away from the water. This garden features all plants/trees native to Kauai. There are guided and self guided tours here. We missed the guided tour so we did a self guided one ($10 each) and were not disappointed. You get a pamphlet which discusses the garden's origin and suggests a walking trail. Along the trail, various plants are numbered. You then look in the pamphlet, find the number and read up on the plant.

We spent a couple of hours here one beautiful afternoon. They have bug spray and umbrellas available at no cost. There aren't a whole lot of blooming plants, one of the few places on the island where we found that to be the case. Nevertheless, it's very pretty. The garden is built along the side of a hill and features a terrace garden. Those of you who have trouble walking might not enjoy the hike, however.

The other garden, Na 'Aina Kai Botanical Garden, was our favorite. We'd go back tomorrow. It's located about 15 minutes east of Princeville, just past Kilauea turn off. Easy to find. It sits on 240 acres near the ocean. There are no self guided tours available. Instead, you must choose either a 1.5 hr ($25), 3 hr ($35), or 5 hr ($50) tour. There are several options for the 3 hour tours. Reserve early in your trip or before you arrive if this garden is a priority for you. Groups are limited to 9 people. We chose the 3 hour tour which included a visit to the beach and were very pleased. This tour covers most of the gardens. At one point, you take a mini bus to another part of the garden, which was a nice break. Unlike Limahuli, there are blooming plants everywhere, including orchids. It's just gorgeous. We highly recommend it. And don't worry about the weather. If it should start raining, they have complimentary umbrellas. They also have free bug spray which came in handy.

BTW, we were pleasantly surprised to learn they had reciprocity with our botanical garden back home, which gave us a $25 discount toward any tour. So bring your membership cards from home.

Beaches. One of the questions I had when searching for a place to stay was whether I wanted to be directly on the water. There's nothing like being able to roll out of bed and be on the beach moments later. That's advantageous for lots of reasons not the least of which is that the bathroom is nearby and so is the blender. Well, that's one of the trade offs when staying on the north shore. Those kind of places are far, few and in between.

Fortunately, instant beach access turned out not to be an issue because there were lots of great beaches within 20 minutes of the house which made getting to and from them a breeze. Plus we're not the kind of people who crave sun and 8 hours of rays. Give us a couple of hours in the morning and/or afternoon and we're fine.

We visited 5 of them.

Secrets Beach: Went here first. Now I'd read in the Blue Bible that there might be a nudie here but, honestly, that's not why I picked it..... Besides, I'd never been to a nude beach and I knew DW wouldn't approve.
So that's my story..... Anyway, this beach, like several on the north shore, requires a pretty easy 15 minute hike downhill to reach. Once there, we practically had the place to ourselves, or so we thought. The beach is wide and long and the surrounding scenery is gorgeous. This is a swimmable beach. The sand is brownish in color and somewhat course. DW dropped anchor and I then set off with camera in tow to capture the beauty. Honestly, I always do this.... Way down at the other end near the Secret Lava Pools, I noticed this guy with shoulder length hair running along the beach and occasionally diving into the waves. As I got closer, I realized his hair wasn't the only thing flapping in the breeze. And then I saw his young lady friend on the beach laying on her stomach without a towel or any clothes. She had a pretty impressive tatoo on that backside. She seemed pretty nervous as I walked by, seeing that camera dangling from my neck. But I'm ever the gentleman so she needn't have worried. I dropped my camera, peeled off my suit and joined her man in the water.... Yeah right.

Tunnels/Haena Beaches: These are supposedly 2 different beaches yet they're side by side so it's impossible to know when one starts and the other ends. But we didn't know that. Our objective was Tunnels but we couldn't find a parking space where we thought it was located (there are no signs saying "you found Tunnels!"). We kept on driving and it wasn't long before we find a large parking lot with lots of spaces directly in front of a beach. No hiking to this beach. We park and soon realize we're on Haena Beach. But we didn't mind. It was wide, long and beautiful (this will be a recurring theme). DW picks out a spot and sets up the chairs. No one is snorkeling on this stretch of beach and, after a few inquiries, I learn that Tunnels is "over there". As in a half mile or so east. I came to snorkel so off I go. Good exercise and, when I got there, the fish did not disappoint. By far the best snorkeling of the beaches we would hit. The water temperature was perfect, too.

Anini Beach: Another one not requiring a hike. Easy to find, lots of parking, facilities, benches, etc. And real pretty. Plenty of shade here. Snorkeling was good not great. Beach is not as wide as the others if that matters to anyone.

Kee Beach: Although there's a fairly large area to park here, it's so popular that parking can be a challenge anyway. We got lucky. This was by far the prettiest beach scenery-wise with the mountains behind it and the NaPali Coast in plain view off to the side. The beach, though, had kind of a dirty appearance to it. It's lined by pine trees (now that's different) and their needles and small cones were everywhere. But that didn't bother me. Lots of shade here. The beach goes on forever although most folks congregate in one area nearest the parking lot. Snorkeling was very good. Water temp again just perfect.

Hanalei Bay Beach: Lots of parking, no hiking required, but not much shade. It is a very wide and long crescent shaped beach. Just beautiful. There are actually 4 beaches here all running together. This had the finest sand of the ones we'd visited. This was also the only when where we saw lots of dogs.

Next up: the Canyon, a helicopter ride and those golden pearls

dcd

The Grand Canyon is one of my favorite places. Its majesty is beyond compare and when I gaze out into the layers of time stretching back billions of years, I realize my time on this planet is ever so brief and won't amount to a speck of dust here. So maybe all the stuff we tend to get caught up in isn't worth the angst we give it because time marches on. For me, the GC is the ultimate perspective getter.

I was therefore eager to visit Waimea Canyon, the grand canyon of Kauai, and see if it would have that same effect. In short, no. If you'd never seen the real GC, I'm sure Waimea Canyon would be rather mind blowing. But for those of you who have not been to the real GC and think you might now bypass it because you've essentially seen it on Kauai, you would be making a big mistake IMHO. That said, Waimea Canyon is terrific and definitely worth a visit. It's 1 mile across and 6 miles long and features that multi-layered look made famous by the real GC. There are various lookouts as you drive around. Many are worth a stop and by all means, drive to the end of the road if you can. We could not due to some construction. The Blue Bible says the view from the last lookout is the best. We were able to drive as far as the Kalalau Lookout, which is at the 18 mile marker, or just 1 mile from the last lookout. From there we could have walked to the last lookout but decided to save our legs for a hike later that morning.

IMHO the view from Kalalau lookout is worth the trip alone. We agreed it was the most incredible view we saw during our 8 days. From there, you see this thin green, jagged wall of mountain running perpendicular toward the bright blue ocean below, gently sloping as it nears the shore. Lush green fields fill the valley and stretch to the ocean. As we looked for the horizon, you literally couldn't tell where the ocean ended and the sky began. Now I understand that clouds often roll in, filling the valley and blocking this splendid view. If that happens to you, I'd plan on coming back in a little while to see if it clears. It's one of those rare places we didn't want to leave. But we had a hike to do.

We picked the "Canyon Trail to Waipoo Falls", one of the Waimea Canyon hikes described in the Blue Bible. A 4WD vehicle would have shortened the initial 20-25 minute walk (8/10th of a mile) to the trailhead which isn't particularly interesting. The first part of the trail is also so-so as you walk mainly through forested areas without any scenic overlooks. But stick with it and eventually you'll come to a wide clearing where you'll be on the rim of the Waimea Canyon with unobstructed views everywhere. That was great. It took about 1.5 hours to get there though. The trail then goes down to a very small waterfall which we didn't think was worth the effort. We spent about 3.5 hours doing this hike.

That was our only hike. We love hiking in beautiful places but didn't manage to get ourselves in the kind of shape we thought necessary to take on the more challenging ones. All the more reason to come.

The other reason to visit Waimea Canyon is that it gives you an excuse to visit JoJo's Shave Ice in Waimea. Talk about a funky hole in the wall place. I wasn't sure about the recommendation to put a scoop of ice cream on the bottom of the shave ice, but when in Rome..... Turned out to be great!! It also ended up being our lunch. (We would later try the Wishing Well Shave Ice and Paradise Shave Ice, both in Hanalei, and while they were good, we preferred JoJo's.)

Next door to JoJo's is a Red Dirt Store and I picked up an "official' red dirt T-shirt. It's supposedly made with the famous red dirt of Kauai. You have to wash it 2x in cold water before wearing. I guess to get the dirt out. Go figure...........

Now it was time for some jewelry shopping. DW was looking to pick up a pair of Tahitian pearl earrings. We'd looked in Hanalei at a couple of places and at a shop near the Kilaulea Lighthouse but nothing stood out. So while we were on the southern part of the island, we decided to check out the Hawaiian Trading Post in Koloa. This is a large store with lots of jewelry. The salespeople do not work on commission. Met the owners who are husband and wife. He's a character who designs and makes a lot of the pieces. He gave us a great education about Tahitian pearls, what to look for, price points, etc. No longer felt like ignoramouses after that. Very helpful. She's the buyer and saleswoman. A real sweetheart. It's her family who started the biz years ago. They're an interesting couple. They had lots of nice stuff and their prices seemed to be better than what we'd seen previously. But DW couldn't find that special something. So the search continued.

We then swung thru Poipu but couldn't find the stores we were looking for. It was late afternoon and maybe a little fatigue was setting in. We decided to head back to Princeville to catch the 6:30pm sunset. Never made it.

As we were driving north, I remembered the Blue Bible mentioning Grande's Gems, a jewelry store between the 1 and 2 mile markers just north of Puhi, in the Kilohan Plantation, now a private mansion where you can take carriage rides thru the grounds, eat in their restaurant, and visit several different kind of shops. If interested, see http://www.kilohanakauai.com/shopping.htm

The Plantation is easy to miss from the highway although there is a small sign for it. It sits about a half mile off the road. Grande's Gems is on the second floor of the main building. Struck me as unusual locale for a jewelry store. Anyway, there are actually 2 jewelry stores side by side. One of them features pearls so in we went.

We had the place to ourselves. The selection is much smaller than the Trading Post's. Heidi patiently doted on us and was a wealth of information. But again nothing really struck DW's fancy. IMO, the Tahitians didn't really complement her coloring all that much. While DW and Heidi continued their search, I wandered around and checked out some of the other cases. That was mistake No. 1. I spied what I would later learn were a set of "golden" pearls. They had the "wow" factor going for them and I knew they'd look stunning on DW: a pair of 10 mm earrings each with a little diamond together with a matching broach featuring a 13mm pearl and lots more diamonds. This was the only set of these rascals in the store. Then I made mistake No. 2, and this was the bigee: "Darling, why don't you try these on." For the first time in our quest for pearls, her face lit up. I picked out a 16" gold necklace to put the broach on and Heidi helped her put everything on. Well, she looked spectacular.

DW, who is shall I say rather frugal, had set a limit of $400-500 for a pair of Tahitian earrings. I should also say that my wife has the opposite of the "Princess Complex" and rarely thinks she's worthy or deserving of anything nice. Which is very refreshing. Heidi explained that the golden pearls, like the Tahitians, are from the South Seas but are rarer and considerably more expensive. Uh-oooooh!!!!!! DW then asked the question she didn't want to ask. When Heidi said how much the set cost, I thought we were going to have to start CPR. Now what.... DW knows I have a knack for negotiating, it's what I do for a living, so I told her to wait outside while Heidi and I "talked".

About 20 minutes later, after exchanging life stories and beating her down as far as she could go without getting fired, the deal was done. During that time, DW must have put her buyer's remorse aside because she didn't stop grinning the rest of the night. I think she looked at that set 10 times over the course of the evening. I love making my girl smile.

Helicopters. I've never flown in one and a 1 hour tour of the island was at the very top of my to-do list. However, this wasn't even on DW's list. They are risky and very expensive she kept reminding me. Arghhhhhhh..... The standoff lasted through the first 4 days of the trip. Well, timing really is everything. You see, on the 5th day, I bought her those pearls...... On the 6th day, she bid me a pleasant farewell and yes, that was the most expensive helicopter ride I'll ever take but it was SOOOOOO worth it!!!!!!

I took Kauai Air and was very impressed. We had Jody as our pilot. Got his start flying copters in Viet Nam and has been flying them ever since. I felt very safe. It was the 4:00 pm flight on a beautiful afternoon. The prior nite and all morning we were pounded by rain. Then the sun came out and so did all the waterfalls!! Seatwise, I got very lucky. You are seated by weight so there's no guarantee where you'll end up. The best seat is front row, far right (just like the Blue Bible says) where there's nothing between you and Paradise except a full length window on the right and a big windshield in front. That was where I ended up. Took a roll of film it was so spectacular. There was some glare in a few of the pics but really not too bad. Words can't describe the scenery so I won't even try.

DW and I had wanted to take one of those Na Pali Coast boat & snorkeling trips out of Hanalei with Na Pali Catamaran during our last 3 days but the surf was too high each day. At this time of year, the rising surf makes these trips very iffy. The boats are scheduled to go out in the morning and afternoon. You call an hour ahead of your departure time to find out if it's a go. Three strikes and we were out. Oh well, next time.

One footnote here on anit-sea sickness pills. Robin, the helpful gal at Na Pali Cat, strongly recommended Bonine over Dramamine so we bought some. She said to take only 1 pill the nite before and another one an hour before the trip. We took it the night before but we also had a bottle of wine. The label says that mixing the pill with booze may cause an exaggerated effect. And it must have in our case because we felt groggy/dopey for half the next day. Didn't like that feeling at all. Next time, I'd either forgo the wine or decide to go w/o the pills.

The weather, other than that one rainy morning, turned out to be very good. It would often rain at nite which I understand is the norm. It's funny because there were times during the day when storm clouds would be overhead but nothing would come of it. On those clear nites, the stars fill the sky. Just beautiful.


That pretty much covers this trip. This one ranks near the top. We really do want to go back, it's just that there are so many other places we haven't been. We'll see.

Dave

makai1

ALOHA DAVE!!!

Excellent descriptive reporting!

"she didn't stop grinning the rest of the night. I think she looked at that set 10 times over the course of the evening. I love making my girl smile."

Loving your wife... PRICELESS!! ><

Cool about our pix... my camera is a digital SLR... might have something to do w/ the color difference.

Mahalo for the aloha!!!
makai

sistahlou

Wonderful trip. How have I visited that many times and not bought gold pearls?!?! Timing is everything, and you certainly hit it.

Life is good!
Mahalo

iamq

After reading your report, and your account of purchasing the pearls, and your wife's reaction, I am going to buy my honey something special when we are on the hell-hole this summer. I know exactly what it will be too! (No, Kal, not rooster jerky.) Thanks for inspiring me!

-Bill

GeneB

I'd like to add to Dave's post. He is right about the Hanalei Bay Villas. They're perfectly located and very comfortable. We stayed in #25 twice, once in 2003 and again in 2005, and plan to go again soon. Lots of pictures on the website www.HanaleiBayVilla.com. We LOVE the location. In the evening, you can walk out the front door and see the sun set into the Pacific, or if it's winter, you can watch the whales during the day. We particularly loved having dinner on the rear deck and gazing at the stars, and in summer, watching the waterfalls in the mountains. The beach by the Princeville Hotel has some great snorkeling too. We can't wait to return!

iceeu2

Woweeeeeeeeeeee, where was my head when you wrote this?

Splendid......wonderfully splendid!!!

Did I mention we will be on Kauai in 55 more days????

iamq

icee, did you like my "priming the pump" line?

Kal