Kauai 2024 - Day 7 - Beaches

Today was our last full day in Kauai so this is likely the last blog post for our trip unless something interesting happens tomorrow. We headed south as Carter wanted to check out the beach with the turtles again and we've discovered that the most cost effective location for macadamia related products is Costco. There were no turtles at the beach today but the weather was great and Kerry and Carter tried snorkeling as we had some equipment available with our condo. This isn't a great spot for snorkeling since the interesting locations are outside the reef and the life guards had to use the loud speaker to warn snorkelers to stay inside the bay every 15 minutes.

After the beach we stopped in at Kauai Coffee again so that Callie could get some crushed pennies. After that we stopped in at a local pie shop. It wasn't in a great location so I don't think they as much foot traffic as some of the other shopping areas so I found my piece of Island Lime a bit stale. Callie and Kerry really like their coconut cream pie and Carter enjoyed his mango. There are a ton of local shops on this island and it would take a while to visit and rate them all. 

We made our way back to Costco where we finally found what we thought would be easy to find. An egg. At first the theory was that it was just someone's egg they bought at Costco but it was a bit small and dirty. Most chickens lay eggs daily but we're not sure what happens when they suddenly become wild chickens. Do they still lay daily? Are all the eggs fertilized with all the roosters around? More research required. 

We really enjoyed our trip to Kauai, even with all the roosters and chickens waking us up every morning. The weather was very unpredictable but didn't stop us from doing anything. Even when it rained it seemed to rain for less than 5 minutes at a time. The beaches were great, the shops and restaurants were great and I didn't run into any locals that wanted to beat me up. (Ever since watching Forgetting Sarah Marshal I live in fear of accidentally ending up on the turf of Hawaiian locals.) 

 

Kauai 2024 - Day 6 - Mud Hike

We had another hike on the agenda for today. For this one, the entrance was in a residential area and the local courtesy was to not arrive until after 8:00a. There was no official parking so you just had to find a spot that hadn't been marked as "No Parking" which meant the side of the road where the family had to crawl out the left hand side doors. There was no official entrance sign and there were actually several different spots where you could enter. In hind sight, the lack of direction has lead to several different paths through the jungle. If they made it an official trail they could probably control some of the damage.

The trail itself was for the most part not too challenging but there were a few things that made it tricky. The first issue was the mud. Being on the east side of the island vs the south, it gets more rain so instead of a dusty trail, you had a very muddy trail. The other issue was that as you got closer to the water fall there were some very steep parts that required you to hold on to tree roots and effectively climb down to the waterfall.  I think if this had been an officially supported trail, someone would have put in some stairs or even a ladder. The falls were great though we knew not to swim in them as up stream are several septic systems.

Once we made our way out, our shoes were all thrown into a plastic bag as I don't think we'll get our deposit back on the Jeep if we get too much of this mud on the seats and floor. We stopped in quickly at a local McDonalds to get a coffee and use the bathroom before driving to another waterfall. This one was not a hike at all but still had it's challenges. You drove to the top of the canyon and had to just park on the side of the road which meant the road ended up being one way, making it alternatively difficult to get in and out. This waterfall was definitely worth it though. 

We made one last stop at a newer shopping mall that didn't have quite the personality that the older shopping malls have. Cramped conditions seem more authentic regardless of where you go. We went back to the condo where Kerry enjoyed cleaning our clothes and shoes of the mud. Carter's white shoes were of course the biggest challenge. She was successful and we are forever grateful. For the evening Callie signed up for a yoga class and on our way to pick her up for dinner we managed to pull over to a spot that we pass every day to take some pictures of the valley and ocean. 

As great as the views of the mountains are I'm noticing for the first time how social media impacts your perception of a place. Everything is beautifully green here but seems slightly dull. I'm realizing now that it's because people enhance their pictures with filters when they post, making the greens greener. I'll have to avoid looking at too many pictures in advance of our future trips. Dinner was at a local restaurant called Kalypso. There was a chicken in the rafters above the table next to us. Food was very good and it was packed. 

Kauai 2024 - Day 5 - Farmer's Markets

It's Saturday and we'd seen several advertisements for Farmer's Markets so that was the plan for the day. The first one was in Princeville where our condo is. I'm still not entirely sure what Princeville actually is. I think it's kind of like "The Villages" in Florida where it's just a number of individual condo associations. There is a small shopping area a few minutes from us but other than that there doesn't appear to be any organized town center. The first market was our favorite and we got lucky with parking. Kerry picked up some gifts for people back home and Carter found Mango Granny as he calls her and got a good deal on three Mangos.

The second market was picturesque as we were walking up to it as it was near the base of some mountains but the market itself wasn't quite as nice. The parking log area was a bit muddy and it didn't have as many stalls. Callie did manage to get one of her bucket list items for the trip, a drink in a coconut. She brought the coconut back to the condo and frightened us when she started trying to use a knife to open it up to get some fresh coconut. She solved her own problem though by taking it out to the deck and smashing it on the concrete. Not sure what she's going to do with it but it was safer than the knife.

Once we were done with the markets our destination was the local ABC store. We've been to Maui twice and the big island twice and each time we find an ABC store to get souvenirs. This one was very clean but almost too nice. I think they've standardized the items they have because everything was generic Hawaii and nothing was Kauai specific. We picked up some chocolate macadamia related items and I started a new collection of mint tins since spoons don't seem to be a collectable anymore. Kerry didn't find a Kauai shot glass so we'll have to continue to search for that.

It was lunch time and we intended to check out a local food truck lot we had seen from the road but Kauai has some funny hours for stores. The place we went kayaking was closed on Saturday's and it seems most of the food trucks were as well. I can't find anything online that explains this but I think it's mainly just a lack of employees. The island only has 75,000 permanent residents and there are lots of signs saying they are short staffed so Saturday/Sunday are days off. Carter and I found food at Chicken in a Barrel and Kerry and Callie did manage to find a Thai food truck that was still open.

Another site on the Kauai list was the Kilauea Light House. We found it okay but we weren't able to get very close. It's part of some sort of nature reserve and you can go in but you need reservations in advance. There was a sign indicating cell service is bad in the area so it would have taken some time to go back out and get our reservations in place. We might go back later because it looked like a nice little walk out to the light house and I'd like to see what the nature reserve is all about. 

We went back to our condo for dinner and then headed out again to the Hanalei pier to try to watch the sunset. Based on where it appeared the sun was setting it would have been a great vantage point. It would have set right between the two mountains that line the bay. Unfortunately it was cloudy out with more random bouts of rain. We got to see a bit of light coming through the clouds but it wasn't a full Hawaii sunset. The weather forecast isn't looking good for the remaining days so I don't think we'll see one unless we get a break in the clouds. 

Kauai 2024 - Day 4 - Inland Kayaking

Today's adventure was inland kayaking. There is a place just a few minutes from our condo that offers kayaking on a local river and they have their own little channel that provides direct access. The original plan was for us to get two doubles but Carter and I were both a bit worried about the other and felt there was a high chance of capsizing so we decided to get our own singles. We didn't really need to worry though as the kayak's were very stable and they have a dock that allows for you to easily get in. Kerry and Callie didn't have any problems in their double. I was glad I got a single though as it allowed me to explore a few spots that would have been hard in a double.

When you first go out of the channel and into the main part of the river it feels like there is a lot of current but I think it was an illusion. If you stopped paddling it would take several seconds before you started going in the opposite direction and on our way back it felt almost the same as when we paddled out. I think the wind had more of an impact. The scenery was nice, though I was expecting more from the wildlife refuge and had hoped we'd be able to get out of the kayak. You just paddle up river till you hit a red pipe and then you turn around. I'm still glad we did it. It was a good couple of hours of exercise.

On our way back from paddling we stopped for fish & chips and fish tacos and then went to Hanalei Pier. It's a beautiful beach surrounded by mountains and there is a pier that juts out where you can jump off. The water is fairly shallow as Carter indicated he could touch almost all the way to the end of the pier. I went back to the Jeep for a short nap and was awoken to rain coming in the windows. It quickly became an absolute down pour with the rest of the family getting soaked on their way back. The rain in Kauai comes on sudden but ends just as quickly. You need to get to cover fast when it does.

When we got back to our hotel the family of chickens was back and we caved and decided to feed them. They aren't natural inhabitants anyways and it's obvious they get fed by some of the units. We had some stale bread which they loved and it was fun watching the mama chicken break the big pieces up and let her kids eat first. It was only when they got bored that she would eat anything herself. When the babies were done they took a break underneath her. The roosters are not as kind and are quite greedy so we're trying not to feed them. 

 

Kauai 2024 - Day 3 - Exploring South Kauai

"Chickens are believed to have inhabited the Hawaiian island of Kauai since the first human migrations around 1200AD, but numbers have peaked since the tropical storms Iniki and Iwa in the 1980s and 1990s that destroyed almost all the chicken coops on the island and released large numbers of domestic chickens into the wild."

Fast forward to 2024 and chickens are tempting us to have a BBQ with local birds. They are everywhere. In the parking lots, in the stores and on virtually everywhere you look you'll find a chicken. The hens are fine. The roosters have it coming. We have one that likes to cock-a-doodle-doo right outside our window at random times during the day. Kerry is not happy about it. She's also not happy that they seem to start at 3:00a. The idea that they wait until dawn is apparently a myth. Carter had a fun theory that they would not be near the McDonald's for fear that they would become nuggets but apparently they aren't scared. His idea of a 'build your own nugget meal' kit sounds like a good one.

We started the morning with coffee and donuts. The donut shop that we went to yesterday is a chain and this location had a few more options so the kids had one and Kerry and I stole a bite. The parking lot with the donut truck also had a coffee truck. It's amazing how many food trucks and coffee trucks there are in Kauai. People will take virtually any sort of truck, in this case a small bus, build a deck around it and permanently park the vehicle. I'm curious to know how many mobile trucks there are. I feel you could hit three or four beaches in an afternoon and do quite well.

Our destination today was the Waimea Canyon State Park which is as far away from our condo as you can get on the island and takes about 1 hour 45 minutes to get there. Our goal was to go as far as we were planning to on our trip and see what other attractions there were along the way. We don't really have a plan but Kerry does have a list of potential sites to check out including coffee plantations, hikes and various tourist sites. On our way we passed by what appeared to be a major generation station on the coast which I'm assuming is fossil fueled based. Kauai gets most of it's daytime electricity from solar and is transitioning to 100% renewable by 2033.

While we were at the canyon we went on a hike that takes you from the top of the canyon down to a look out about 200m below. The hike itself wasn't too bad though it was 90% downhill on the way out and 90% uphill on the way back. The hard part was the fact that it was absolutely covered in roots and the red clay made it very easy for you to slip on the steeper parts of the trail. The majority of the trail was not dangerous but the last 100m had many warnings about falling to your death. The one complaint is the red dust has ruined virtually everything we were wearing. Will have to rewash these clothes a few time when we get back.

On our way back we stopped by the Kauai Coffee Plantation. Hawaii is the only US state that grows coffee and Kauai is the biggest producer. I'm going to be honest and say I actually had no idea how coffee was grown. It always seemed like something that was like bananas or chocolate and was grown in the deep jungle but in reality they grow it kind of like wine with rows upon rows of plants. Each plant grows about a pound of coffee per year and the beans appear to come off the stems of the plants. Kauai coffee is not cheap at about $18 per pound at this tourist spot. 

We've also been scoping out which beaches we want to check out. We found one on the way back that I think has a lot of local homeless people so I think we'll pass on that one. We found another that had 4 turtles sunning themselves on the beach. I had noticed cones up the beach but wasn't sure what they were for. As we got closer, Kerry walked right past the cones and almost ran over a turtle. The lifeguard was amused at her reaction. As soon as we noticed what we've done we quickly escaped back outside the cones. One of the turtles swam it's way out of the shallow water while we were there past about a dozen swimmers. They are amazing creatures. 

Kauai 2024 - Day 2 - Exploring North Kauai

I was planning on starting this post with something about chickens but I'll save that for later. Instead I'll start by talking about giant snails. Gary is the biggest snail I have ever seen in the wild. It reminded us of that question of whether you would trade 100 million dollars in return for a snail that tracks you for the rest of your life and if he touches you, then you die. If this was that snail I'm not sure I would take that deal. He moves quicker than your average snail and they apparently can get as big as your hand. As far as I've researched, this is a Giant African snail and they are an invasive species though I don't know if they encourage you to kill them. We let Gary live.

We purposely don't have a lot planned for this part of our trip. Summer has already been hectic and there is a lot going on with a Disneyland trip so Kauai is intended for condo and beach time. For our first day our only plan was to explore our local surroundings and figure out what beaches look good. There are several near us that look nice and we stopped at a few to check out the surf. So far Kauai has not been very busy, at least early in the morning. Plenty of parking whenever we wanted to stop somewhere. We made it all the way to the most northern part of the public road. Tomorrow we will go in the opposite direction.

The only minor issue we've had so far with travelling around has been the one way bridges. It always takes a bit to understand an individual one way bridge and figure out how busy it is and if it's your turn to go yet. Kerry likes it best when someone gets there first because we know we can just go right after them. There are lots of signs that say it's local curteousy to let 5 - 7 vehicles go. We did okay but there was at least one bridge where we felt it was our turn and someone else went instead. We also watched someone yell at this poor guy on the tractor which seems an odd thing to get mad at.

We stopped at a local shopping area as it had several items from Kerry's lit on it including shaved ice, a donut place and the ability to rent river kayaks. We weren't planning on renting them until a future day but we wanted to see what the rental place was like. The shopping area was great and parking wasn't too bad. We got some bread, donuts, shaved ice and Callie found a nice island cat to pet. We'll likely stop in here several times including trying to get to the bakery earlier as it was partially closed with not much selection by the time we got there.

The plan for dinner included hot dogs and roasted pineapple so I went to the pool to use the the BBQ's. This is one of the better outdoor areas I've seen at a condo and the BBQs were well maintained. They even had a freezer where you could buy ice and a water filtration system. I think Kauai water is likely pretty good to start with but running it through the filter made it great. We are set for water for the week. I had several gecko friends to keep me company and so far we've seen cockroaches at both our hotels. I think they become difficult to keep out when you go anywhere warm. Tomorrow we will be exploring the south end of the island. 

 

Kauai 2024 - Day 1 - Transition Day

So technically this day started right at 12;01 for us because the plan was to stay at the park as long as possible and then head straight for the airport. The day didn't end quite as Callie was hoping. She usually likes to finish with Space Mountain at 11:59p, however they got stuck on the Nemo ride and didn't make it in time. Everyone came back to our hotel where Kerry rearranged our packing which was hastily done in the morning and we waited for our shuttle at 2:30a. We had thought this was a good time especially if we ended up on a ride as late as 1:00a or 1:30a but we ended up having to wait quite a while with security saying we couldn't nap.

Mellissa's flight was at 7:00a and ours was at 9:00a and we got to the airport by 3:30a so we had quite a wait. Security wasn't even open yet so we had to sit on the floor until about 4:30 before going through. Luckily our flight was on time which was good since there had been a lot of problems with the Crowd Strike incident days earlier. We even arrived in Kauai 20 minutes early. The only chaos was trying to get the shuttle to the car rental place. There was no defined line and several Karen's were trying to direct traffic for their own purposes which wasn't helping anyone.  We did get introduced to the world of Kauai chickens which was fun.

Our first stop was Costco which always seems to be our first stop when we land on a Hawaiian island. Cheap alcohol and POG was on the list as was water but we got distracted by macadamia nuts and Hawaiian cookies and somehow forgot the water. I may have also purchased too many chicken drumsticks but we'll see how the week goes. We also stopped at Walmart which allowed us to purchase smaller batches of things and we got some water. $5.99 for a 40 pack was a better price than $5 for a single bottle in Disneyland. Even though it's Hawaii, prices seem cheap in comparison already.

Our hotel is on the north part of the island. It's tricky trying to understand reviews of the island when it comes to weather. There are different thoughts on which part is rainier and when the rainy comes. So far our experience has been that the weather changes every 10 minutes and you should assume rain wherever you are. A bit different than Maui where there is clearly a wet side and a dry side. Our drive north was smooth and we got to see several nice beaches and lots of scenic areas. We rented a jeep which allows us to remove the top though I'm not sure if the weather will allow us to go too far without one.

We arrived at our condo around 2:00p with Hawaii being 3 hours behind PST so even though it felt very late because of our long travel day, it was actually still quite early. We managed to stay up until about 9:00p. Our condo is quite amazing considering the price we paid. Usually I'm expecting a cramped condo that's very long front to back but this one is quite spacious. It's a corner unit with two big bedrooms and a nice common area with the kitchen. We back right on to a natural area and we're on the ground floor. So far the only problem has been making sure we keep the chickens out.