Kaua’i Visit
hele = to go
In early November, my dear friend Ilse invited us to join her at her time share in Princeville, Kaua’i, and we, of course, jumped at the chance! Here’s our first view of The Garden Isle from the plane.
Day 1 – Hanalei
After we landed and drove to the northern part of the island, we toured the adorable, laidback town of Hanalei, just a few minutes up the road from Princeville. Many of the shops are in older, “vintage” buildings, set in the lovely Hanalei Valley. We strolled through a beautiful Polynesian art gallery, home goods shops, and stopped for shave ice.
Afterwards, we went down to Hanalei Bay, at the mouth of the Hanalei River, for a quick dip.
To cap off our Hanalei experience, we visited the Hanalei Bay Resort, which has open-air lounges with gorgeous views of the resort and the bay, and had a few Mai Tais 🙂
Day 2 – Kalalau
The highlight of our quick visit to Kaua’i has to be hiking the first two miles (and back) of the Kalalau Trail. We took dozens and dozens of photos. To see more of them, please click on November’s Featured Hike!
After an exhausting but glorious day of exploring the Napali Coast, we headed back to Hanalei and had a fun dinner at Kalypso.
Day 3 – Touring the Island
On Day Three, we literally went all around the island (except for the northwest corner which is impassable), starting with nearby Anini Beach, where we snorkeled with lots of turtles, picked a few tiny Niihau shells (which the exquisite necklaces are made from), and wandered down the lovely coastline.
Next stop was Hanapepe, a tiny little side street of a town with an old swinging bridge and sweet pickup truck mascot. And we stopped for garlic shrimp because of course we did.
Our last stop on the tour was the spectacular Waimea Canyon, which is less “grand” than but equally impressive as the Grand Canyon, located on the west side of the Napali Coast. A couple of other visitors asked Troy to take their picture, and when he did, the man dropped to one knee and proposed to his girlfriend! Troy was smiling for hours. From the panorama view, you can also spot Mount Wai’ale’ale (with a cloud overhead, on the right side of the range) which is one of the wettest places on Earth!
On our drive back to Princeville, we pulled over at sunset time and found a quiet beach to celebrate the end of another magnificent day.
Day 4 – Koloa
As an added bonus, Ilse, Troy and I spent a morning ziplining above the jungles, forests, and lakes of Koloa in southern Kaua’i! It was an incredible experience and we all got really adventurous – trying the Superman (head first), Spiderman (upside down), and backwards positions! A scary visitor surprised us at the end of our day.
Around the corner from the ziplining office is one of the many beaches called “Secret” in Hawai’i. We stopped at this one to see the lazy monk seals and napping turtles, before a downpour cut our visit short.
Once we’d escaped the rain, we drove over to the farms at Kaua’i Coffee and took a self-guided tour.
And then it was time for us to head home to another magical island, with a head full of special memories and a heart full of love for this exceptionally enchanting place.
