Marc's Blog: ntrips - A Week in Kauai

π 2024-12-04 01:01 in Ntrips

It had been a good 15 years since I last went, so it was a good time to go back, revisit a few fun things, and check out a few new ones. Once planning and there, I got reminded that this is the least developed of the 4 islands, so lining up attractions and tours or even main national gardens, was not trivial as many things were only open a few days a week, and not all on the same days. Also many things were pre-booked tour only.
It took a lot of juggling to get everything to fit in a week, but after lots of shuffling, I managed to do so, although it did not offer any flexibility in changing things for weather....

One other thing I also found out was that of course the Hawaii islands are not cheap anymore (only the flight is cheap), but Kauai especially seemed especially expensive. Some tours like a simple garden and chocolate tour, would ask for $140 per person (!).

Anyway, here is the map:

after landing, had a quick drive to Wailua Falls while waiting for the flight time:

walked around a bit to burn time

quickly found a friend :)

happiest cat in the world

Day 1: Partial Island Flight

Then, it as time for the scenic flight, which sadly was partial due to weather, but realistically weather was not great for flying for over half the time there. It's the garden (green) island afterall, and that comes from all the rain... Flight details there

rode copilot

same waterfall

Smith Family Luau

After the flight was time for a nice dinner and show at Smith Family Luau

pretty almost viewsonic birds

Starving peacocks and happy duck

yummy drinks

Day 2: Diving and sunset dinner

Diving here: https://marc.merlins.org/perso/diving/post_2024-12-04_4-Days-of-Shore-Diving-with-Dive-Kauai_-to-Avoid_-And-6-Nice-Nice-Dives-With-Fathom-Five.html

Day 3: Diving and kayaking to hidden waterfall

Diving here: https://marc.merlins.org/perso/diving/post_2024-12-04_4-Days-of-Shore-Diving-with-Dive-Kauai_-to-Avoid_-And-6-Nice-Nice-Dives-With-Fathom-Five.html

The kayaking was all fun and good until it started pissing rain :) then again the waterfall was wet too :)

that was me at the bottom :)

I look happy :)

I then had to deal with the dive Kauai and their lying passive aggressive boat driver, Nick, who did his best to ruin my diving by showing how much of an lying p. he could be. Dive Kauai, only barely worthwhile for beginners, was totally not worth it. At least I'm making proper notes this time to make sure I never go back to those people (turns out I had old notes from 2008 saying I also picked them and regretted it, sigh...)

Despite the time wasted by them, had a bit of time to check out an evening art festival at Hanapepe:

Day 4: Diving, McBryde+Allterton Gardens, Koloa Zipline

Diving here: https://marc.merlins.org/perso/diving/post_2024-12-04_4-Days-of-Shore-Diving-with-Dive-Kauai_-to-Avoid_-And-6-Nice-Nice-Dives-With-Fathom-Five.html

McBryde+Allterton Gardens were nice, but you could only see one of them as part of a timed tour, which was not available every day, making the visit not as easy as it should have been. It was a very nice tour, though:

happy ducks :)

hungry, even :)

After the park, spouting horn was right there:

Day 4: Koloa Zipline

And it was then time to head to Koloa Zipline:

Then, almost a sunset:

Day 5: Full Day of Diving (6 dives)

Diving here: https://marc.merlins.org/perso/diving/post_2024-12-04_4-Days-of-Shore-Diving-with-Dive-Kauai_-to-Avoid_-And-6-Nice-Nice-Dives-With-Fathom-Five.html

This was all nice and good until I let an octopus climb on my hand while it was feeding at night, and it decided to cut my finger, inject me with its paralysing poison. Ended up in not the best ER on a sunday night while they tried to figure out whether I had pieces of octopus beak left in my finger that had to be dug out, or not. Not the best night (was over around 03:00).

Day 6: Waimea Canyon

I was supposed to start with 2 dives that morning, but with my previous night's injury and open wound, those were cancelled, so off to Waimea that was:

then it was time to drive up to Waimea Canyon:

the famous red dirt

beautiful scenery

After an mostly unimpeded quick drive down, and rental car brakes that didn't fade, and time for a few quick stops before the 2nd Luau:

Day 6: Aulii Beach Luau

how to open coconuts

yum

Day 7: North Island Tour to Road's End: Princeville Botanical Gardens

I decided to skip Na Aina Kai Botanical Gardens & Sculpture Park as they required slow and painful tours that didn't happen every day, and instead opted for the Princeville Botanical Garden 3H tour which was worth the drive and time.

Day 7: Princeville Botanical Gardens

Day 7: Limuhali Botanical Gardens

From there, 30mn drive to Limuhali Botanical Gardens, which unexplicably also required advance reservations for a limited parking spot and self guided tour: