This was our first trip to Kauai.
We left Pittsburgh 8:45am, arrived in Lihue about 6:30pm on Tues, Sept 20th. We were supposed to arrive earlier, but the American Airlines from LAX arrived in Honolulu late and we missed our original connection. Had to pay a $15 per person fee and catch the next flight. They told us to submit to AA for a refund of the $30, but I don’t know if that’ll work or not.
Anyway, after we landed, got the rental car from Alamo and headed out for our hotel in Kapaa (Plantation Hale). We were very pleasantly surprised. Our room(s) were great!!! We had a large LR, a separate BR with 2 double beds, a full kitchen, tv’s in both LR and BR, and a lovely lanai that stretched across both the lr &br and had sliding doors from both. This was really a nice place to stay and I highly recommend it, at under $150 per nite, it’s a great bargain and we loved it’s central location.
As soon as we got checked in, went out to get something to eat. Went to the Shack and got burgers, dh had a nice cold beer (that calmed the savage beast,lol). Food was good, service was a little slow, but we were so tired, we didn’t care. Woke up next morning and went down to Safari for our helicopter ride. Now THAT started the vacation off with a bang,LOL. You just cannot believe how beautiful this island really is. Safari does a good job with their tour. Made reservations online and saved a good deal of $$. They leave from Lihue, so we didn’t have far to go. After the heli, we went up to Safeway and laid in a supply of food for breakfast and snacks. We decided to eat breakfast in, and lunch and dinner out. Worked out well for us. I had downloaded the application for a Safeway card and had it already filled out, so that saved us quite a bit on groceries. Went down to Niwiliwili harbor for a bit and looked around, had lunch at Tropical burgers in Coconut marketplace. Should’ve looked it up in the blue book, ‘cause it really sucked,haha. Food was bad and service wasn’t much better. Hubby had a surprise for me, had to be back at the room by 4pm. Turns out, he had arranged for a massage for me in our room thru Kauai Massage (Heather). The man has learned how to make points,lol. Took 33 yrs to get him trained, but I guess it paid off,heheh. It was great after that long plane trip and Heather was a delightful lady. Cost $80 for an hour. Dinner that night at Coconuts. Food was good, service was decent, and prices modest for Kauai. Continued later, this is getting too long.

OK GANG....I'm baaaack and just in time to save another TR that will have to be topped to try and "keep them together"!


Author: sansue
Date: 10/05/2005, 07:00 pm
Okay, part 2, and I promise I’ll keep it a little shorter,haha.

We took a morning Napali coast tour with Liko and it was wonderful. Those folks really know how to show you a good time.

The seats were padded and comfortable (an important point for us “oldsters”), the food was delicious and plentiful, and Mike, Mindy and Kiko were a lot of fun and very helpful.

Kiko is a native and a real cut-up and had us laughing a lot with his explanations of Hawaiin words.

We saw green sea turtles, lots of spinner dolphins and some bottleneck dolphins, a monk seal resting on the beach, and the view of the Napali coast was beautiful.

OH and we went into the caves,LOL.

After the boat tour, we drove up to Waimea canyon. That’s a great drive and view, not to be missed.

Then we drove around the south shore, thru Poipu, spouting horn, etc. and went to Duke’s canoe club for dinner, sat outside and watched the sunset.

Food and service were very good, and the scenery was well worthwhile.

We went to a luau at Smith’s which was a lot of fun. Food was so-so, show was very good.

We had planned to do the Fern Grotto boat tour, but decided not to.

Drove all over up the north shore and looked around, more beautiful scenery.

Saw the lighthouse and bird sanctuary, that was nice.

Dinner at Scotty’s BBQ. Now THAT was a great place to eat!! We went back 2 more times while we were there and got to know David Narvett (a manager I think).

The food and service were exceptional and they have their tables tiered, so everyone gets a great view of the ocean!! Try their fish and chips,ummmm. Also dh had their “naked burger”.

A burger covered with chili, that he liked so well, he had it the next trip too,LOL. Prices were really quite reasonable too.

Went shopping at Hilo Hatties and bought souvenirs. Drove up to Opaeka’a falls, saw Wailua falls which was one of the nicest falls we saw over there, shopped at Harbor mall and Coconut Marketplace, etc.

We don’t swim, snorkel or golf, so can’t help with any of that stuff. We just enjoyed the scenery, relaxed, drove around and ATE,LOL.

It was a wonderful 5 days. The weather was great! Left Sunday about noon for 5 days in Maui.

Thanks again to everyone on this board that helped with tips and hints. Hope this report will help others. If I forgot anything, or you have questions, I’ll try to help.
Sandy

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Good TR Sandy. Hope you don't mind the "paragraphitization" for us hard of reading!
Just another crappy few days in the #ell hole of the Pacific!!!

84 mo' days!!!!

Just wonderful.......now I'm forced to go back to check out Scotties.....and the rooster population. Mahalo for your report. Always a good thing to revisit the best of the worst destinations!!!

You are a hero Kal!

Are there more parts?

nope
it was duplicate posts I saw

Just what we need. Another crazy person extolling the virtues of that swampy dump.

Kal,

Nice to hear again from the King Glutton for Punishment. Only 84! Isn't it about time for you to start worrying about what shoes to wear?

-Bill

Kal wears shoes???? on Kauai?????
Nope.
Don't believe it.
No way, no how.

Great report, thanks! 11 more days for us.
What type of BBQ does Scotty's have? Although I am from California I learned to eat BBQ in Texas. Especially love brisket and ribs (port not beef) so if anyone can comment on that would sure appreciate it.

Not to hijack sansue's thread, but my BBQ background is Memphis.

Scotty's has great views because their restaurant is on the 2nd floor, and all their seating rows are tiered with a great ocean view.

Their BBQ in my opinion left much to be desired. We had lunch and their BBQ sandwich. They claim their BBQ is cooked for 15 hours, but it was dry and tasteless -- had to soak it with BBQ sauce to give it any since of taste. No sense of any kind of smoked flavor.

Maybe I was just there on an off day.

I have to agree with Budman about Scotty's. However, we went on the day they had a buffet. The food was not very good and the bbq in particular was disappointing. We'll try it again next time, but we will skip the buffet for sure.

-Bill

I, too, grew up on Memphis Q..and the DH grew up on NC Q..so we really like our areas BBQ...but that said, we both thought the meat was pretty good at Scotty's. Not great, but good. Now, the sauces were not to our liking and we had overindulged just a bit in the spirits since we had just had a GTG with friends. Plus, we had to leave the next day....so........maybe the tears lended a little salt and flavor!!
Ahh...Kauai...thanks for rubbing it in sansue!!

Thanks so much, Budman, Bill and iceeu2 for the reviews of Scotty's. Last trip we could not find the place (folks at Wizard Pub said the sign was covered until some kind of permit thing was ironed out). I will definitely skip the buffet then, Bill. Was looking forward to trying a few new places since we stopped going to Roy's and Beach House and Pacific Cafe is still closed. Coconuts (another fav) was definitely having an off night last trip, we will give them one more try though to be fair. Sorry, did not mean to hijack sansue's thread either, should start my own or search on restaurant reviews and trip reports. Jamie

G'lou,
Sometimes on Kauai that's all you have to wear. Doesn't everyone?

Billllaaaaaayyyy,
75! \/