Kauai

Kauai ... the Garden Island. What a beautiful place, and tremendously friendly people.

We started out our 30th Anniversary with a surprise ... after 30 years I finally proposed to my beautiful bride, on the beach, at sunset ... fortunately, she said, "Yes!" :-) Ann Eu of Heavenly Creations catered our evening ... it is/was an amazing gourmet meal and evening that we were presented out of the back of her pick-up truck. We were on the north shore on Anini Beach, just the most beautiful setting, calm seas with huge waves breaking out on the reef. Heavenly Creations isn't just the name of Ann's company, it is what she delivers ... Ann is amazing!

From 101028_Kauai

Moloaa Valley is where we rented our Magical Moloaa Cottage from Tom and Linda Summers. And Moloaa Bay became our beach of choice. We could stroll on the beach, swim, snorkel and boogie board all on our own virtually unchartered, unknown, secluded beach. It isn't a well known beach, and it is some what remote, and it has very limited parking ... all of which makes it that much better for the 'locals' that live there. We became one of the 'locals' by having rented a cottage with a short stroll to the beach, or we could kayak through the lagoon to the beach. The cottage had a huge beautiful Mimosa tree in the back that covered a huge part of the lagoon.

Moloaa Bay is where we ran into this big fella out sunning himself. We had seen him swimming in the bay earlier in the week. Then all of a sudden we showed up, and there he was, looking like one of the rocks until you got up close and realized it was a giant sea turtle. He was there for probably an hour.

From 101028_Kauai

We took Jack Harter Helicopter's for a tour of the island ... spectacular views. Our first of three different visits/views (hiking and then boat) of the Na Pali coast. The Na Pali cliffs are the second highest sea cliffs in the world and they are just spectacular from any vantage point.

From 101028_Kauai

Waimea Canyon was our driving and hiking destination. Referred to by the locals (guides) as the Grand Canyon of the Pacific. From the helicopter is was awe inspiring and it did remind us of the Grand Canyon, but we have the real Grand Canyon in Arizona as our back yard so we do know the real thing. But, Waimea Canyon is a modest replica and does have its similarities, especially in the variation of green on the rim to the red of the canyon. This hike version along a ridge line was up in the clouds, and they would come and and go providing a constantly changing view. On one side of the ridge was Waimea Canyon and the other was a valley that lead out to the Na Pali coast and the ocean.

From 101028_Kauai

Shave Ice. Somebody needs to explain why we don't we have Shave Ice on the mainland. Shave Ice is the BEST ... no such thing as a bad Shave Ice ... can't even be compared to a Snow Cone. On the west side we stopped at Jo Jo's in Waimea, it was our first and the best, with ice cream on the bottom. However, the friendliest (and tied for best) was Aaron at Hawaiian Blizzard on the east side in Kapa'a. He didn't have ice cream in the bottom but, Aaron did have cream to put on top and that was just as good. And did I mention that Aaron was the friendliest :-) We also had a good Shave Ice at the Wishing Well on the north side in Hanalei, the smallest, but the cheapest as well. Also in Hanalei we had Shave Ice at Shave Ice Paradise, probably the least best :-\, it was packed too tight and I couldn't get a spoon into it too well. Ono Ono Shave Ice on the east side in Kapa'a was the biggest and the gal there was very friendly as well. No such thing as a bad Shave Ice, we would've gone to Aaron and Hawaiian Blizzard repeatedly, but he wasn't there on several trips we made through Kapa'a. But we will be back ... Aaron is the BEST!

Holo Holo Charters was our boat cruise to the Na Pali coast and out to Lehua (little island north of Niihau) for snorkeling. The snorkeling wasn't as good as we had in Molokini off Maui, but that was 16 year ago. Capt. Wendell and the crew were very helpful and excelled as guides and hosts. The ride in from Niihau was 'exciting' which we were warned about. The seas were fairly high that day and it was like a roller coaster ride for a little over an hour. Fortunately nobody appeared to be sea sick so it was a lot of FUN!

From 101028_Kauai

Zip Line. We didn't intend to save the best for last, we actually got to slip in an extra 'best' adventure on our last day. The Zip Line adventure on the north side at Princeville Adventures was nothing less than the BEST paid for adventure of our trip, so we had to do it twice. The first time that we went we had Aaron and KeKe as guides, and then Aaron and Mark the second time. I would say they were all the best. The best guides, the best gear, the best lines, the best scenery and just the best FUN. I'm a 'little' afraid of heights, so I wasn't sure that this was going to be my cup of tea ... but, Cookie wanted to go, so off we went. WOW! After the first Zip line proved to be so easy, it was on to the next and 9 zip lines later the fun was over way too soon. Cookie, said let's go again, and sure enough, we were able to sneak in a second trip on our last day before our flight out.