Kauai, Our New Favorite Hawaiian Island

I’m sorry Maui, but you’ve slipped a notch. Kauai is our new favorite island!!!

We made a brief trip in 1997 while island hopping, but it rained 3 out of the 5 days we were there. Our memories include pouring rain and slipping and sliding on the one and only hike we decided to brave.

We were really struggling with where to go for our 25th wedding anniversary. It had to be someplace special (and tropical). We checked into Jamaica, The Bahamas, and even Mexico, but kept coming back to Hawaii. It has a special place in our hearts. Maybe it’s because we had our honeymoon there (and promised to return on our 10th Anniversary …but had to wait until our lucky 13th due to children and finances). We’ve been fortunate enough to go several times since then and we’ve never had a bad experience yet! Maui has always been our favorite island but we have a family trip planned in November (we promised Libby while in ICU) so we wanted to go someplace different.

So, after much discussion we decided to give Kauai another shot. This time we would stay 16 days…to allow for some rainy days on The Garden Island. IT NEVER RAINED ONCE!!! It spritzed one afternoon (the day before we came home) but we were hot and ready to come in from the beach anyway. By the time we walked back to our condo it was over. Other than that, nada!!!!!

We were amazed at the beauty of the island. The North Shore is even more lush than where we were staying (we opted to stay on the South shore where it is drier). We went on several hikes: along cliffs, to secret waterfalls, along the valley ridges, and to lookout points in Waimea Canyon. Spectacular hiking areas! We went to the botanical gardens. We rented a kayak and paddled down the Wailua River. We snorkeled at several beaches (our favorite was called Hideaways). It was a steep climb to the beach but very secluded (maybe a dozen people max) and the snorkeling was fantastic. The water was crystal clear and the reefs were overflowing with coral and fish in every color imaginable! There are so many beaches on the island of Kauai, there’s no way we could have seen them all! We probably only visited 7 or 8 beaches during our stay, but we simply ran out of time. Sometimes we planned on seeing 2-3 beaches in a day but we always ended up enjoying the first beach too much and we never wanted to leave! I guess we’ll just have to come back one day!

We know we’ll have to prepare ourselves for rain the next time we visit Kauai , but as it stands, were giving it a BIG thumbs up!!!!

This is a hike along Kuilau Ridge Trail. The ridge was completely covered in ferns.

It reminded me of some sort of fairy tale...like a fantasy land


We hiked along these cliffs. Saw hundreds of turtles swimming below.

We were at a lookout point and heard this funny noise. I turned around and there was a young guy running with this little pig chasing him and crying while trying to keep up with him. He's his pet pig. His name is concho. He said he'll get to be 150-200 lbs. If he makes it that long. ...kinda sad but very common on the island.

View of the Princeville resort on the North Shore.

hiking along the cliffs.

The Hilton Resort. Beautiful grounds. For the Rich and Famous (not the Schnabel's)

I loved the way the sun was shining on the cliff. A lot of our pictures were taken while hiking along those cliffs.

Resting. Actually he's waiting for me to catch up. I tend to get sidetracked taking pictures!

Beautiful birds. I can't remember the name of this guy....

We were hiking all by ourselves when suddenly three women on horseback appeared. They asked if I would take a picture of them, then offered to take a picture of us. ummm, sure. I'm in my bathing suit and Mike has no shirt on...but ok. I'm glad she did. It's like the only pic of the two of us from the entire trip.

Secret Beach. Shhhhhh!

Is this red sand not incredible????? Such contrast between colors on this island!!!

Ok, this is where I dropped my lens cap and it fell in some rocks below. Mike to the rescue!

I have to proect my lens at all cost. It could get scratched or something....

More red sand!

Waimea Canyon

Waimea Canyon

A picture of Jill with Palms growing out of her head. I like to think of them as wings!

We went to one viewpoint and it was completely covered by the clouds. We went back a few days later before going on a nearby hike. I'm glad we went back. The view was amazing.

It looked kinda cool with the cloud cover though.....

Taro Fields

Are these cattle aware of the beauty that surrounds them?? I was quite envious of these critters until I inhaled an Angus Burger.

View from our condo. Pretty huh? It was like being in the middle of rain forest (sans rain). There were birds every where. I loved listening to them in the early morning.

Shave Ice with mac nut icecream on the bottom. Quite refreshing after a day of snorkeling :)

The viewpoint at one of our hikes.

Same hike. I called it the Puffer Hike. Mike called it the Ball Buster hike! Elevation gain of 1700 ft in 3 miles. Why did I gain wt on this trip? Guess it was the mai tais!!!!!

I actually got quite good at paddling. And NO, we did not run into that bank!

We beached our kayak and hiked to the falls. Quite beautiful!

Mike's duties included making slushy mai tais as soon as returning from a hard day of snorkeling, hiking, or lazing around on the beach. He's quite a dandy bartender.

This really is our first drink of the day... although it looks like he may have already had a few at this point!!!!

So, why is it that Mike's photo with the point and shoot comes out clearer than my pictures with the fancy dancy Digital SLR???? Must have been a fluke.

I love me some sunsets. I must admit that Kauai didn't measure up to Maui's sunsets. I guess every island has it's flaws...if you want to call this a flaw.

ok, so this is a typical Mike and Jill moment. I set up the camera with the remote control (see it hiding in Mike's hand???) I thought it would be cute to hold up a "2" and a "5" (25 year anniversary...get it???) I told Mike to hold up a 5 and he said, "no. You hold up the 5 and I hold up the 2. I never argued. In 25 years he's never been wrong. Why would he be wrong now?????

That's OK. Just ask Mike...sometimes it feels like we've been married 52 years!!!!!!

I have about 235,890 more photos but I'll spare you.....