Kaua'i - The Garden State Travel Agent Expert

Catanaran Tour along the Na Pali Coast

Kaua'i - It's called "The Garden State" for a good reason. Many people would believe 5-7 days is enough to see everything but my husband and I were here for 10 days and we could have seen more had we stayed longer. Everything about this island made me not want to leave. We were there in mid April so it was a great time of the year, nothing was crowded.

What I love most about Kaua'i is, it's not commercialized. You won't find a McDonalds or any other fast food chain here and the food at the roadside vendor was yum yum yummy!. Kaua'i has a grand canyon too! It's called Waimea Canyon, the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific" and is just as beautiful as our very own Grand Canyon.

The Na Pali Coast is also a grand sight to see and is a popular backdrop in some Hollywood movies. We rode on a catamaran along the coast and one of the tour guides pointed out the site where 6 Days, 7 Nights was filmed. As we sailed along the coast, a school of Spinner Dolphins swam alongside us. The captain stopped so we could get pictures. I got an amazing picture of a dolphin jumping out of the water. We continued onto our destination where we were able to do some snorkeling. Unfortunately, I was a little seasick by then so I didn't get to snorkel much on this trip. On the trip back, we saw a beach that seemed to go for miles. It was all at Polihale State Park and Barking Sands Beach, over 5 miles long.\

Being seasick also kept me from eating lunch. So, when we got back to shore, we found a drug store and I picked up some real ginger-ale. It helped a lot and now I bring ginger with me on every trip.

We hiked to a number of waterfalls, Wailua and Opaekaa Falls are the most well known, but we saw many others while hiking, and some from a distance.

On another hike we did, just outside of Princeville, was to the Hanalei Valley Lookout and the Bayside Lookout. Such beautiful scenery and a great view of the bay from above! There was a bit of elevation change but very manageable and worth the energy. We also took a horseback ride out of Princeville. The trail we followed took us up to the Namolokama Peak and got a secondary viewing of Hanalei Bay, from a different perspective. One of our day trips was finding a beach. We always bring our snorkel gear with us in case there's an opportunity to see some sea life. Sure enough, we were snorkeling in some shallow water and came across an eel. At first , my husband thought it was a rubber toy. LOL Of course the camera was on the beach and we were about 30 ft out. My husband went to shore and got the camera while I watched the eel, hoping it wouldn't swim away before capturing a picture of it. He made back it just in time. The evening entertainment was phenomenal too? One of the nights we watched Fire dancers, they put on a great show. One of my favorite excursions was the kayak, zipline and waterfall tour. We started paddling a kayak down a river, used a rope swing to jump into a cold swimming hole, then climbed the platforms to begin the zipline portion of the tour. The last part was spent at a large waterfall where we could swim in the water below. There was a ladder, about 20' high, to climb up to the top of the waterfall and jump off the rocks near the waterfalls. What a great day that was.At the end of each adventurous day, we relaxed at the Islander on the Beach with an ocean view of the Waipouli Beach. To top off the trip, we rented a convertible to explore the island. Such a great trip!