Kauai 2017 Days 5 and 6

I was woken up by the early morning birds taking off from Lawai Beach Resort.  So I thought I'd get caught up on this.  The parakeets that arrive at sunset here and take off at sunrise are quite noisy and it reminds me of Hitchcock's the birds.  I remember now that when we stayed at Kuhio Shores on our last trip, we made sure not to park under a tree as our car was covered in bird droppings after our first night.  Anyways, day 5 was our transition day from Hanalei Bay resort to Lawai Beach Resort and the timing was pretty good as it was raining all the way from Princeville to Lihue.  We took the bypass route thinking to save time going around Kapaa but traffic was so bad, we crawled bumper to bumper from the traffic circle to Coco Palms when it opened up a bit and started to flow better. We stopped at Ross's to get the guys some new shorts and at Walmart for some golf balls.  We had said we weren't going to golf this trip but as addicts it's just too hard to resist.  We can manage the cost if we golf Puakea which Kelly and I enjoyed on our last trip.  We got to Lawai Beach Resort early but they had our room ready and were able to check in.  We are in a one bedroom in the Coral Building and it's lovely.  We overlook the pool and can just see the ocean to the side of the Beach House.

This is a very nice place.  I won a silent auction prize to get this room.  I follow the Poipu Beach Resort Association on Facebook and they have a silent auction in December to raise money for the New Year's Eve Fireworks.  One of the prizes was a one week stay in a one bedroom Coral room at Lawai Beach Resort.  My bid of 550 dollars stayed good all day until the last minute when somebody beat me out with a 600 dollar bid.  I was disappointed but thought oh well it wasn't meant to be.  I then got an email in January saying the winner didn't claim their prize and it was mine for my original bid if I still wanted it.  Of course I did and we're finally here.  Once we got unpacked and I did our laundry we wandered down to The Shops at Kukuiula for some dinner and a margarita at Tortilla Republic.  After dinner it was an early night as we had a fishing charter the next morning.

Day 5 we were up before the birds and the sun making our way to the Lihi Boat Ramp to meet Terry from Hawaiian Style Fishing for a 4 hour  charter.  The weather was beautiful but the swells were high and it didn't take me long to succumb to Mal de Mer.  It was the first of several episodes even though I'd taken sea sick pills but I still managed to stick it out for the 4 hours.  Kelly and Evan had no problem.  We caught several Aku and a couple of Yellowfin and considered it a succesful day.

When we got back to shore we even saw this fellow swimming around by the boat launch.

We got back to our condo and showered and cleaned up and Evan and I went to get a Puka Dog and some groceries.  We played some mini golf and lazed around the condo for the afternoon as nobody had much energy.  Kelly made some ceviche from some of the tuna and I pan seared the rest with some pasta salad for dinner. We watched a little tv and had a hot tub and that was it we were done.  The fresh air day on the water really wore us out.  Today we don't have plans to venture too far.  We'll get some snorkel gear and try Lawai Beach and maybe Koloa Landing and Poipu Beach. The sun is up now and looks like it's going to be a beautiful day on the south shore. 

Kauai 2017 Days 3 and 4

Wednesday was a bit of an errand day.  I had a tattoo consultation in Lihue.  We headed south and stopped at Lava Lava Beach Club for breakfast.  Beautiful setting and great food.

Next stop was Costco.  I made an error in judgement and packed my Maui Jim sunglasses in my checked suitcase and they disappeared somewhere on route.  I was choked because I bought them at Costco on our last trip in 2015 and there wasn't even a scratch on them.  Replaced them and as a bonus found a great bathing suit there at a terrific price.  Next we found the tattoo shop where I'm getting my tattoo done and met with the artist who will be doing this. I'm pretty excited about this.  My first tattoo to celebrate turning 50 soon and a forever souvenir of Kauai.  After this was over it was time to head back.  We stopped at Wailua falls overlook to check it out.  The falls were flowing pretty good and I really liked the rainbow that formed at the bottom.

Next stop was Hula Girl to find my son, who's watching my dogs at home, the Magnum PI red parrot shirt.  Success!

It was very hot and time to get back to the pool.  We hung out by the pool for a while and listened to the live music.  Kelly and Evan decided they wanted to go down to Puu Poa beach for a bit but I decided to hang out in the ac in the room.  Pizza from North Shore General Store for dinner and a little tv and that was it, lights out and good night. 

Thursday morning was a lazy start.  Did a load of laundry and had some fresh fruit and cottage cheese for breakfast. My son texted me from home letting me know with a picture that it was snowing. I had to then create a side by side picture of my vacation view and home view.

We then  headed to Anini Beach for some snorkeling.  It was a gorgeous morning and although the visibility in the water wasn't great we still had a very enjoyable couple of hours.  I even saw a huge turtle but didn't manage to get a clear picture of him.  Here's what I did manage to capture.

We headed back to the resort and had some lunch then Kelly and I hung out by the pool while Evan napped for a bit.  I messed around with my phone and some orchids.

After a couple of hours it was time to head back to our room.  I did another load of laundry in preparation for our transition to the south shore while we ate the rest of the perishable food in the fridge for dinner.  We just got back from an ice cream cone at Lappert's and it's lights out early again.

Kauai 2017 Day 2

Today we hiked the Kalalau Trail to Hanakapi'ai Beach.  We arrived at the overflow parking lot at 8:30 am and there was still parking spots available. (When we left cars were parked all along the road from the parking lot to Kee Beach wherever there was a wide spot) I'm glad we got up early and went when we did.  It is not overly difficult but yes it gets pretty slippery and steep in spots.  We managed with no problem in our Keens.  We talked about going to the waterfall but I knew that I wouldn't have been able to do it very comfortably.  It was worth the hike.  The scenery was amazing.  There is nothing that I have seen to compare to the Napali Coast. 

After getting back to the car we were starving.  Stopped at Foodland and picked up lunch.  Fried chicken, spam masubi, and poke.  Good stuff! By this time we were stiffening up and we hit the hot tub and pool and enjoyed the libations from the pool bar.  Rain storm came through and drove us back to the room.  I decided that I wanted new charms for my Pandora bracelet and found a couple that I really liked in the Savage gift shop.  I couldn't choose between the 2 so I bought them both.

We decided on Dolphin Sushi Lounge in Hanalei for dinner.  Amazing food and great service. I would highly recommend this restaurant if you are a sushi fan.

This brings us to the end of Day 2.  A busy day in beautiful Kauai.

Kauai 2017 Day 1

Our travel day was pretty uneventful. We set out on our first leg YWL to YVR at 12:30 in the afternoon.

At The Airport

The next leg YVR to LIH left Vancouver at 6:00 and was a smooth ride landing at shortly after 10.  I hopped on the Alamo Shuttle while Kelly and Evan waited for the bags.  I had already checked in and done the skip the kiosk online so I headed straight to the lot, grabbed a camaro and was back at the terminal before Kelly had even finished his cigarette.  We hit the road and arrived at Safeway with 5 minutes to spare to grab some beer so it was considered a successful arrival.  The ride to Hanalei Bay Resort went smoothly and I'm glad we knew where we were going as it is very very dark here at night.  We checked in and got to our room, had a couple of bevies to unwind and hit the hay exhausted from travel day.

Cheers!

We woke up and were able to see the view from our window.  We are in 9221.  The clouds were burning off and we could see it was going to be very nice out.

Good Morning Princeville

We were hungry so headed into Hanalei for breakfast.  We went to Hanalei Wake Up Cafe.  Good food but kind of overpriced.  Then we went to Pedal and Paddle for some snorkel gear.  A stop at Walking in Paradise for hiking sandals for Evan and some supplies at Foodland and we headed back to HBR.  The sun was in full glory now and it was getting hot.

Looking at St Regis from firepit at HBR

We changed into swimwear and headed down to Puu Poa Beach to play for awhile.  The water was on the rougher side and the snorkeling wasn't great but we had some fun for an hour or so.

We figured that the pool would be a good way to spend the afternoon so grabbed some drinks and settled in. 

After a couple of hours and a couple of cocktails in the heat we decided that if we didn't want to get overly intoxicated before dinner then maybe we should go for a walk.  We changed our clothes and decided to try and find the path to Hideaway Beach.  Holy cow those stairs behind the St Regis almost did me in.  Of course my son was sprinting up them telling me that stair running is a great workout!  We found the path down to the beach and wow I wouldn't want to attempt that if it was wet.

View from top of path to Hideaway Beach

We made it down without falling and man what a pretty spot.  The surf was pretty high and no way would I attempt to swim in it but a couple of brave souls were in the water.  We settled for watching the surfers.  I'd love to come back here on a calm day it's a beautiful peaceful place.

We made it back to the resort for our dinner reservations at Happy Talk.  Good food, good drinks, and some great live music,

Happy Talk Lounge

That was it for our first day. A great start to our vacation.