Kauai, Day #1: The North Shore

Let’s start with the short two minute video, taken right outside our cottage, that took THREE hours to upload!  This place has wi-fi, but just barely!  (From now on I’m taking Jennifer’s advice and going to the Small Town Coffee House, just down the street, to upload videos!)

A 360-degree “tour” just outside our cottage, taken whole someone was still sleeping!

After breakfast today, we headed north from Kapa’a with no real destination in mind. The plan for today was just to explore the North Shore of Kauai.

First stop (“Stop! Gotta get this shot!”) was at Waipouli Beach Park where I played with the Nikon D40 that Kat let us borrow.

This rock is known as King’s Kong’s profile.  See it?

Next stop: the look-out to Kilaeua Lighthouse.  Yes, the water really is that color!

Then we came upon a gorgeous beach called Anini Beach…

“You comin?  Whatchu lookin’ at?”

“Nothing, dear.  Certainly not long-haired Brazilian men in Speedos.”

By the way, these guys (the roosters, not the long-haired Brazilian men in Speedos) are EVERYWHERE on Kauai!  Zillions of them!

I’m don’t think this beach even has a name.  Isn’t it beautiful? 

This is “a land called Hanalei:”

It’s actually more of a bay.  That’s the pier from South Pacific and, according to Tom, a “bunch of other movies.”

And see those jagged cliffs jutting sideways?  Those are the “back side of NaPali.”

At Hanalei Bay, Tom had his first shave ice since Maui in 2006. He was in heaven!

I love this church, built in 1834, in Hanalei:

We left Hanalei Bay and drove past Waikoko Beach.  Those are resorts in Princeville across the water.  And yes, the water really is that color!

Just a few miles down the road, I again begged Tom to stop because I spotted a beach through some bushes.  I thought it might be a small beach, but oh how wrong I was!  It was Lumaha’i Beach a long, gorgeous , desolate beach!

(Yes, the water really is that color.)

This is Wainihi Beach Park.  Tom stopped the car right in the road so I could jump out and take this shot.

The beach at Ha’ena Beach Park is amazing!  There’s an expansive shallow shelf of really cool little tide pools and beyond that a beautiful beach!

And then we hit the end of the road.  A “wet cave…”

…and Ke’e Beach – which we were expecting to be awe-inspiring, but which we didn’t like as much as some of the beaches we’d seen earlier.

By this time we were both really hungry, so we high-tailed it back to Kapa’a and had dinner at Scotties (which is co-owned by the author of Tom’s favorite “Ultimate Guidebook” series about the Hawaiian islands)…

…where we had a great table and a great view:

After dinner we headed to a small bar right near our cottage in Kapa’a and listened to a great local singer, whose name I unfortunately didn’t catch.

Tomorrow we’ll rent snorkeling equipment and head southward toward Piopu Beach.  Stand by!  I think I can promise you at least one photo of a waterfall tomorrow!