Our visit started with an immediate, although unintentional off roading trip in our Jeep Wrangler. We decided to go for a cruise right from the airport and ended up at one of the only two places we were instructed to avoid; the long and extremely rugged road to Polihale Beach.
Kauai was full of adventures for us and made up for the unfortunate weather, but it was to be expected when visiting one of the wettest places on earth during rainy season.
First, we went zip lining with Just Live Zipline Adventures in Lihue. Being slightly afraid of heights, this one was a challenge for me; near tears for those initial rope ladders I saved face in front of the group of high school cheerleaders that were part of our group. It was nerve racking at first because we were pretty high up in the trees and you would have to unclip from the tree to attach to the zip line. Matt, being more of an adrenaline junkie, was jumping off and spinning and turning himself backwards, and even hopped on the monster swing and dropped from about 40 ft in the air! By the end, we both had enjoyed ourselves.
Kayak Kauai took us on another cool excursion: a kayak and hiking trip to Secret Falls. After a rainy, but beautiful ride on the river, we docked the kayaks and started the hike. It had been raining for days so the trail was completely muddy. Matt and I being the only Hawaii residents on the tour, we opted to go barefoot. The tourists mocked us mercilessly in the beginning, but one by one they kept slipping all over the place and we didn’t fall once. That is until right before we were getting back in the kayaks to leave. Our hike took us through forests of Hala trees, or ‘walking trees’. We also stopped to hop on a rope swing and jump in the river and were lead to a beautiful waterfall you could swim right up to. We stayed here for a dip and a picnic. When we were done, our feet up to the top of our shins were completely covered in mud.
Waimea Canyon was definitely one of the highlights of our trip. It is so amazing to witness the incredible things nature is capable of. Matt has been to the Grand Canyon before and says it is beautiful, but Waimea canyon is filled with amazing colors, like green, red and yellow, making for a much more vibrant canyon according to him.
Kauai was our favorite island. Although we only spent 4 days there, it was long enough to see that it was much more of an authentic experience. Even though we found ourselves flooded out of seeing beautiful beaches like Hanalei and Tunnels Beach, we made up for it by experiencing as much of it as possible. And all the rain made a lot more time to enjoy the bars and bistros. We did so much driving and exploring that by the time we turned that brand new Jeep in, it had over 300 miles on it.
Safe Travels,
NFT