Thursday, July 6, 2017

Kauai: Part 1


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Oh, Kauai! Our favorite of all the islands we visited. From Hilo we flew to Lihue, where we were greeted with beautiful weather. Our week on the island flew by, and even in the rain we discovered how beautiful it is!

We quickly learned that we should keep everything we might need in the car; you never know where you are going to find the sun and when you do, you must stop and find something to do in the area. The first 3 days were filled with lots of clouds and some rain, but we didn't let that ruin our fun. We chased the sun and managed to find it most days!
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Near Kapaa on the east side is a paved bike trail along the ocean, so one morning we biked along that admiring the gorgeous views before heading south to Poipu, which is known for being sunny most days. After some snorkeling and beach time, we found some turtles playing in the waves down the shore. It was hard to capture them, but it was so fun to see them lapping in the waves eating sea grass!
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When our all day sea kayak trip got canceled (more on that in a future post), we decided to kayak the Wailua river and hike to a secret waterfall. It's not so secret as there are tons of tours that go here, but it was still a beautiful way to pass the morning. The hike was super muddy, but swimming in the waterfall made it worthwhile, even if it was freezing cold water!
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We also managed to find some beaches each day that had sun for at least a few hours. Anini beach was very quiet and local, and had some good snorkeling for Nick.
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Tunnels Beach is stunning with the cliff backdrop. On a sunny day, the water is calm and blue and great for snorkeling because of the reef (first picture in this entry). The day we spent most of our time there, it was fairly cloudy with patches of sun, but it was still beautiful (until it started pouring!)
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And then the weather turned into picture perfect weather for the rest of our week. (Turns out no one trusts the weather forecasts because they always predict rain!) We spent a lot of our time at Ke'e Beach, where low tide meant shallow, beautiful waters protected by a reef. Great for swimming and snorkeling!
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Sunsets on the ocean are always beautiful! The clouds seemed to always just pop in front as the sun was setting into the ocean, but that didn't make it any less beautiful. Again, Ke'e Beach was one of our favorites for the sunset, with the coast in the background, but Hanalei Pier and the beach near our Airbnb also made for some beautiful locations.
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Read all about the Na Pali Coast and beautiful North Shore in part 2!IMG_0942

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