Kauai - The Garden Island of Hawaii

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Kauai was such a wonderful treat of rocky ocean shores, verdant rain forests, and red dusty canyons, it will always remain as one of our sweetest memories.
Some of the highlights of the trip from the summer of 2016 :
1. Weather - It was spectacular on all days, except a few hours while we were on the North shore, but the bad weather led to some adventure hiking down the slippery trail to the Hideaway beach while hanging on to ropes , and enjoying the sea in the rain, then coming back to our condo in ponchos.
So my advice is to not worry about the weather at all, even if the forecast says 50% rain it rarely amounts to anything.
2. Waimea canyon/Waipoo falls - We spent an evening and a morning out there - its amazing with the red volcanic soil, the canyon from so many lookouts, views of Napali coast from the Pihra trail. We hiked the Waipoo falls trail in about 3 hours - it is a moderately strenuous trail with many elevation changes, but has great views of the canyon and amazing flora.


3. Napali coast catamaran tour - This was an incredible adventure. We were taken into sea caves, drenched by waterfalls, thrilled enjoying the high speed sitting in the open seats in the front, our son snorkeled with turtles and fish - but above all, the views of the huge green mountains jutting straight out of the sea.







4. Flora and fauna - The beautiful wild flowers all over the island- on the trails, by the sea is something we have never seen before. The Kilauea
lighthouse is a must for seeing an abundance of sea birds such as frigate birds, red-tailed tropicbird,wedge-tailed shearwater, nene etc. We chanced upon a monk seal on the beach of the lighthouse, as well as at Haena beach (up close) on the north shore.





5. Beaches - My top list would be the Kiahuna beach (for swimming), Maha'ulepu and Shipwreck beaches (for the very fascinating geology), Secret beach (with the many lava pools), Anahola beach (for the rocks and sunrise), Ke'e beach sunset ( we hiked 0.5 mile up the Kalalau trail to see the beach from the overlook on the top and the Napali coast),


6. Food - We tried the Lihue Fish express (the cajun spiced blackened ono was awesome), Keokis (fish tacos & coconut shrimp were great), Olympic cafe (fish and chips were good but I would avoid the fish tacos), Lotus Thai. at Princeville (loved both the sea bass & mahi mahi there. But the best part was the small shacks - Waimea canyon fruit & fresh juice vendor, the lady selling mango coconut cakes from her truck by the Wailua Falls, shaved ice and cocunut water trucks.


Hope this helps visitors planning their trips to Kauai.

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