Our last days on The Big Island and Kauai

Monday
We decided to rent a kayak to go see the Captain Cook monument at Kealakekua Bay. You have to get a special permit to do this so we felt lucky that we got 1 of the 10 allowed per day. We paddled about 1 mile to the monument and then landed our boat on some rocks near the shore. The monument wasn't anything that exciting, but the snorkeling was amazing! We were surrounded with beautiful fish and the underwater coral formations were spectacular. This was definitely our favorite thing we did our entire trip in Hawaii. We loved it! The only thing we wished we saw were some spinner dolphins which our rental company said we would see. Oh well there is always next time!

This fish reminded me of the childrens book The Rainbow Fish

This was a spotted Eel we saw in the rocks

This bay had thousands of Yellow Tang

Tuesday
On Tuesday we decided to go hike to the Green Sand Beach. It's a 5 mile hike round-trip to a gorgeous beach. The hike wasn't very strenuous, had a nice sea breeze, and had gorgeous views of the ocean so we actually found it relaxing. The beach was perfect for swimming and we really enjoyed ourselves there.

Matt had a blast body surfing in the waves

This picture attempted to show the green sand,but it's hard to see

Wednesday
On Wednesday we packed up our bags to move to Kauai. We had to check out early so we decided to kill some of our time by checking out a cool park near us. Matt and I agreed that this was the coolest park we have ever been to. We will have to take our kids there someday. After we enjoyed our picnic at the park, we returned our rental car and waited at the airport for our flight. We took a prop plane over to Kauai. It was a pretty slow plane, but we really enjoyed seeing views of Maui, Lanai, Molokai, and Oahu on the way there. Once we landed we got our rental car (a Cobalt) and then went to Costco to grab some food for the week. After that we headed to our condo at The Cliffs in Princeville.





Thursday
We decided to head to Anini beach to snorkel since it was supposed to be a good snorkel spot. We didn't see any fish so we decided to drive to a prettier beach. We aren't sure what the beach was called, but we loved watching the huge waves crash against the coral bottom. We enjoyed acting like kids again and made a sand castle. We both decided we were hungry and headed to the Princeville shopping center to get some delicious tacos at Fredericos. We finished the day by going to the hot tub at our hotel.

Friday
We started the day by going to the Kilauea Lighthouse. We enjoyed looking through the telescopes to see some monk seals lounging on the beach as well as thousands of seabirds, but other than that the light house was a let down. It was really run down and the paint was in bad shape. It didn't compare to the lighthouse we saw in Oahu, but it was free due to our national park pass so I guess we can't complain. Since we had so much fun the previous day at the beach we decided to go back. Matt decided that he wanted me to bury him in the sand. He changed his mind a few minutes later when he felt some sand crabs on his toes, but I wouldn't unbury him until I was able to snap a couple pictures first. We swam around in the ocean for awhile then headed to Lapperts to get some ice cream. I got the coconut fudge macadamia nut ice cream and it was the best ice cream I've ever had. So good! Matt liked my flavor better and kept stealing bites. Luckily I'm a good wife and shared, although I would be lying by saying I wasn't tempted to eat it all myself.



Saturday
On Saturday we drove to the Waimea Canyon lookout to see what everyone calls "The Grand Canyon of the Pacific". We hung out at the lookout for awhile then drove down the road to Koke'e state park to take a hike to Waipo'o falls. The hike was only 2 miles, but had the most gorgeous views of the canyon. The waterfall was pretty, but nothing compared to those gorgeous views along the way. This was our favorite hike in Kauai.





Sunday
We thought Sunday would be a great day to drive around to see some of the waterfall lookouts. We drove to Opaeka'a Falls and Wailua Falls. Both were really beautiful and it was nice just getting out of the car and being able to see these waterfalls. We wanted to see more so we went to see the wet and dry caves. The wet caves were really cool and we saw some people swimming in them, but we didn't want to risk getting Leptospirosis.





Monday
On Monday we decided to test our endurance and hiked 8 miles round-trip of the Na Pali Coast to a gorgeous waterfall. The hike wasn't that hard except a couple slippery/dangerous parts, but we had on shoes with good traction so we were fine. Actually we thought we had done harder hikes in Utah as far as steepness goes. The waterfall at the top was gorgeous and we really enjoyed swimming in the pool below it. Since the water was constantly flowing we felt safe swimming in it. Along the way we met a German couple that we befriended. They were really nice and we really enjoyed their company. While we were talking to them, we had a cool missionary experience and clarified some of their misconceptions about the Mormon church. We got there email address so we will have to keep in touch. If you do end up doing this trail make sure to look for the trail really carefully. We took a wrong turn and got a little lost on the way back.






Tuesday
On Tuesday we were both sore from hiking so we took it easy. We caught up on work then decided we really just wanted to eat and take a nap. We drove to Kapa'a and got some really yummy Pad Thai at East Village Chinese then took a nap. We finished the day by watching the sunset near our hotel and watching a movie in our room. Lame I know, but we were so exhausted.

Wednesday
On Wednesday we had to pack up again to go home to Utah. Our flight didn't leave till 6 pm so we decided to get some more sightseeing/fun in. We headed to Costco to get some Chocolate Macadamia nuts to take home on our carry-on. Then we went to Poipu beach to walk around. It was a very beautiful beach and we enjoyed seeing some more turtles and another Hawaiian monk seal. We wished that we had spent a whole day here. After we were done with the beach, we drove to sprouting horn since it was close by. This is a cool ocean blowhole. We watched it for awhile and then watched some cute baby chicks. They have some jewelry stands at the blowhole so I bought some cute earrings and got some jewelry for my mother in law for Mothers day. Matt then let me go fabric shopping at Discount Fabric Warehouse. I got some awesome Hawaiian prints for only $3 a yard. I can't wait to make some summer skirts out of them. We then drove to the Kilohana Plantation to check it out. We walked around for awhile, but no one was there so we left since it seemed like there was nothing to do there. We checked out Hilo Hattie for fun, but thought everything was way overpriced and left. After that we went to McDonald's to get some yogurt parfaits and by the time we were done it was time to return our rental car and head to the airport. We were surprised how much fun we had just killing the time.

Our flight home was a red-eye which wasn't fun since we had trouble sleeping with some screaming babies on our flight, but we made it home safe and sound. We will miss Hawaii and we can't wait to go back! We really want to go back to The Big Island and go to Maui.