Waimea Canyon, Poipu Beach
[ Main Index ] [ Previous Day ] [ Next Day ] [ Photo Gallery ]
We’ve come to enjoy waking up and sitting on the couch for a bit to watch the ocean and listen to the birds. The bird songs we hear are definitely different from in Oregon and we’re very appreciative that whatever bird we have here, that we’ve designated “the one note bird” for obvious reasons, does not live in Hawaii. The songs were much more musical and pleasant. Even the roosters. Well, maybe not the roosters.
We found a good breakfast spot up the road a bit — the Kalaheo Cafe. Seemed like a spot the locals liked too, which is always good. We ended up eating there multiple days. We followed the signs to Waimea Canyon – the “Grand Canyon of the Pacific”. It was a very twisty-turny road and not much to see for awhile. We were beginning to wonder what all the hoopla was about. We finally got to the Waimea Canyon overlook and walked up the short path. It’s spectacular. A deep canyon, dark reds and greens, with a river running through it. Not on the scale of the real Grand Canyon but certainly worthy of the hoopla. There were a few more overlooks farther up the road that we stopped at, but the first view was the best.
At one overlook you could see the canyon on one side of the parking lot and the ocean on the other (and chickens in between). You could see out to Niihau, the last of the ‘big’ Hawaiian Islands (the 8 islands represented on the state flag – Niihau, Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, Lanai, Kahoolawe, Maui and Hawaii).
Niihau is much smaller than Kauai and privately owned as it turned out. It’s famous for its shell necklaces. The natives scour the beaches for just the right set of small (but very pretty) shells, match them up in a design, drill very tiny holes through them and make very nice necklaces that are sold throughout Kauai (and elsewhere presumably) for thousands of dollars. They can take years to make. But honestly, you’d want to wear a little sign with that whole story along with the necklace, because otherwise it looks like it should be $79.99 at Macy’s. Actually, the tradition is dying out, which is sad. But I think that’s why. There are 200 or so native Hawaiians still living there ‘in the traditional way” meaning with no running water, cars, electricity, etc. They talk it up on the signs as very deep and meaningful they live that way, but I think they just don’t have the wherewithal to get out of there. Those that do, have, and that’s why there’s so few left.
Anyway, we didn’t stop long to ponder this at the time. We continued up the road to Kokee, a park and campground. They had a ‘museum’ and gift shop we stopped in to see (carefully avoiding chickens in the parking lot).
They had some cool displays of local wildlife and some geological history. Marion bought some ornaments. Past the museum the road turned into a goat track. Pot hole city. But then, inexplicably, good paved road with a double yellow line for half a mile, then pothole city again. Weird. There’s a NASA station at the top of the hill and a big Air Guard radar station at the Na Pali lookout with a radar dome that looks like a giant golf ball.
The lookout was quite amazing. A view from the top of the cliffs into the Kalalau Valley and down to the water with fluted cliffs on either side. Before the islands were discovered, Hawaiians use to live in this valley. Which makes sense as it’s one of the few places along the Na Pali coast where two people could stand next to each other without falling off a cliff. Now we really want to take the boat cruise.
We drove back down the twisty-turny road. One more stop at the canyon overlook, where the crowds had started to form. Nice we got there early. The Polynesian Adventure bus was there. Then back to the main drag. On the way down we passed a fork in the road for another highway. It seemed to go in the right direction but we weren’t sure so we didn’t take it. I looked it up on Google later and discovered it’s a much more direct route up to the canyon. Yet unmarked down below. I think the locals don’t want it cluttered with tourists so they send us on the meandering road.
We had lunch at Grinds in Port Allen, a pretty good place. We watched some Wimbledon on TV while we ate. Then we took Marion back for a nap and I ventured off to the Wailua waterfall just north of Lihue. Only 8 or 10 miles but a 35 min drive. Nothing happens quickly here. But the road from our place to Lihue still impresses when the light hits it.
The waterfall turned out to be uninspiring at first. Another viewpoint from the road and warning signs not to walk down to it. The State of Hawaii seems very concerned about getting sued. But then the sun came out and it got better. A rainbow appeared in front of it and the water lit up a bit. I struggled with the tripod to get a good view over the wall but did ok. I couldn’t quite get it oriented the way I wanted.
I stopped at a Kalapaki Beach near Lihue for a quick look on the way back. Not bad. Small and a bit tourist infested. But it seemed a decent beach. Only a few chickens. We probably won’t get there for snorkeling or anything though.
I headed back to get Marion, with another stop to try to photograph the tree tunnel again. I did a little better this time.
We took the snorkel gear to Poipu Beach just down the road. It was pretty crowded but not so much in the water. WAY more fish though. We saw a bunch of different kinds. I’ll need the fish finder to identify them all but at least 8 varieties including that striped things from Nemo (the Denis Leary character in the aquarium) and a very colorful long rainbow sort of thing (the Latin name – Longus Rainbowus Thingambus). The water was a little rough and was making Marion seasick but I stayed in awhile. The defogger we discovered in the snorkel bag was working well. And I managed to smash the mask on my face well enough to mostly keep the water out.
We headed in when we got worried about sunburn. Off to the Poipu Mall for dinner where we ate at the Tropical Burger place. Excellent burgers with pineapple and sweet chile and various other things. Tasty. Then a wander around the mall where we found a cool sunset photo of the Na Pali we bought. And then a brief jaunt along the promenade to catch the sunset.
I should mention that the particular stretch of road in front of our condo seem to be the place the local youths like to come and ‘watch the ocean’. There always seemed to be a few cars parked out there and sunset definitely attracted them like moths to a flame. Usually some loud music, some beer, some wild gesturing. I’m not saying they were drug dealers and juvenile delinquents. I’m just saying that wouldn’t be a bad guess. But they didn’t bother us and we didn’t bother them.
In fact in general, one of the things we like a lot about Kauai was it wasn’t a ‘party island’ the way Maui struck us. People weren’t there to drink and party and parasail and jet ski and all of that. It was much quieter and much more pleasant because of it.
We got back and I tried to book the cruise online but got web failures both times. I’ll have to resort to actually calling them. How quaint.
[ Main Index ] [ Previous Day ] [ Next Day ] [ Photo Gallery ] [ Top ]