Kaua'i is the oldest and northern most Hawaiian Island. I landed here a little over a week ago with a renewed feeling of excitement for exploring a new place. This island can be summed up in one word, magical. My accomodations the first few nights were at the Kauai Beach Hostel. This hostel is centrally located in the town of Kapa'a and just 75 yards from the ocean. My desire though was to find a community to stay in for my 3 weeks on Kaua'i. I found Ahupuaa Village and moved into a cabin also bringing new friend Arnold who I met at the hostel and old friend Leif who traveled with me from the Big Island. This community is much different than Kipuka Temple in that the majority of people here are doing their own thing as opposed to getting involved in a lot of group activities.
Arnold, Leif, and I along with another hostel traveller, Safira, traveled all over the island. The typical day trip would include sightseeing and hiking followed by swimming at a beautiful beach. The size of Kaua'i makes it easy to go anywhere on the island, spend the day, and be home by early evening.
Our first excursion was to the south side of the island to the towns of Poʻipū and Kōloa as well as Spouting Horn, Maha'ulepu Beach, and Kawelikoa Point. We hiked through some sand dunes to reach Maha'ulepu Beach and then continued along the coast checking out various cliffs, pools, hidden beaches, and caves.
The next day we headed to the "north shore" side of the island which is centered around the town of Hanalei. We first stopped at Queen's Bath which is a unique and sometimes dangerous tide pool. We did an afternoon hike on the Okolehao Trail which gave us great view of Hanalei Bay and the surrounding area. Finally, after searching several side roads we found Secrets Beach which was as beautiful beach as I've ever seen.
If these excurions weren't enough we followed these up by going to Waimea Canyon State Park. This was mostly a driving and sightseeing trip taking in different views of the incredible Waimea Canyon. I plan on returning here to do several hikes. This picture is a good representation of the vast beauty this canyon offers. If you find any of the pictures on this blog too small remember to click the picture to see a bigger version.
I've covered the highlights from the first week but also have to mention a few other amazing places I"ve been fortunate to visit. This list includes Kapa'a Beach, Donkey Beach, Larsen's Beach, Ke'e Beach, Tunnels Beach, Salt Pond Beach Park, Waikapale'e Wet Cave, Waikanaloa Wet Cave, and Maniniholo Dry Cave.
