Destination - The Island of Kauai

"A traveler without observation is a bird without wings."  Moslih Eddin Saadi

Wailua Falls, Kauai

Kauai has the lushest scenery. Its nickname is the Garden Island, and it is a favorite of honeymooners. It is also popular with backpackers and hikers, because of Waimea Canyon. It gets more rain than the other islands, which is why it has so much vegetation. But don't let the rain stop you from going there. We were there for a week in January, and though it did rain a little bit everyday, it was still a warm rain, and it never stopped us from doing anything we wanted to do. We did have to change our helicopter trip to a different day, because of the rain, but most of the time we were there, the skies were blue.

There are 3 areas that tourists usually stay in Kauai. We stayed in Princeville when we were there, because that is where our timeshare was. It is on the northern part of the island. There are also resorts on the western shore near the town of Lihue and Wailua and more resorts in the southern part near Poipu. During the summer the best beaches are on the North Shore, particularly Hanalei Bay. During the winter months Poipu has the best beaches. No matter where you stay you will need a car to get around.

Waimea Canyon

The main sights of the island are Waimea Canyon, Wailua Falls and the Fern Grotto. But there are some nice little towns to explore and there are lots of activities to keep you busy while there. You can book a tour of the island, or better yet, fly over the island in a helicopter. That is the easiest way to see the Napali Coast on the east side of the island, which is inaccessible by road. We booked a catamaran snorkeling trip which advertised that it would go up the Napali coast as part of the all day trip, but they seldom actually do that, because of water conditions which make it too rough to go that direction, at least during the winter months.

Mountain Tubing

A really fun thing we did in Kauai was mountain tubing. Years ago irrigation ditches were dug to take water from the mountain areas and bring it down to the pineapple fields. They had to actually dig tunnels through the mountains to do it. The tunnels were dug by hand, so they are only about 6 feet high and maybe 10 feet wide. They are no longer used for the pineapple fields, so now they use them for tubing. You have to book with a company. They then take you by van to the ditches and provide the inner-tubes and helmets with lights on them. If you are claustrophobic you might not want to do this, but if not, it really is a blast. You get into the inner-tubes and you float through these tunnels. There are 5 tunnels all together, the last tunnel is over a mile long and it has several bends, so it is dark in there. We all agreed to turn off our lights and go through it in the dark, that was fun. You are not floating really fast, but at a good pace, and the tubes keep hitting the sides of the tunnels which give you a bounce and a constant twirling motion. The tunnels are not wide enough for 2 tubes side by side, so you also bounce off of each other, kind of like bumper cars. It really was a fun afternoon.

Zip-lining was another option. We didn't do that while there, but next time I plan on trying that. We did enjoy our catamaran snorkeling trip, and saw lots of pretty fish, and from the boat even saw some dolphins and whales.

Wild boar dinner from Farmers Market

The Farmers markets are very popular in Kauai, and we stopped at a couple of them. There was one that was between Princeville and the town of Wailua. It had crafts and fresh vegetables. There was a grill going and they were cooking chicken and wild boar. We each ordered a plate to go. They boxed it up and it came with potatoes and corn on the cob. We took it back to our condo and it was an excellent meal, and quite inexpensive. We also found shrimp trucks on Kauai, just outside of the town of Wailua, and they were as good as the one's on Oahu. Also in Wailua is a really great place to get shaved ice, so that is also, not to be missed.

Napali Coast from our helicopter

Our week in Kauai was fun, laid back and relaxing. We had some really good food, and enjoyed out time exploring, snorkeling, tubing and our helicopter trip over the island. *

*If you would like to read more about our trip to Kauaii, go to the side page under "Trip reports from trips we've taken" and click on the Oahu & Kauaii 2011 trip.