Kauai Anniversary Trip Day 6

 *Regular Font: David
*Italicized Font: Shantel 

Our last full day on the island and it was perfect for us. Remember at the beginning of the trip when we talked about how we thought that our trip couldn't get any better but that in reality we planned our schedule perfectly? This is a great example of that. Here was our order: 

1st- River Kayak and Hike (SO fun to introduce us to Kauai, and a great start with a small hike and small waterfall.) 

2nd- Hike along the rim of the Nepali Coast after seeing Waimea Canyon. (Got to see the Nepali from the top down with breathtaking views)

3rd- Go to the North side of the island and actually hike INTO the Nepali Coast. Beautiful scenery, amazing hike, plus a waterfall that was 3x as big as the first. 

4th- Boat tour along the Nepali coast. Tired from the aforementioned hike we got to sit back and enjoy, spotting the Pihea trail where we hiked along the crest of the cliff AND the area that we hiked through along to get to the Hanakapi'ai Beach and falls.

It was the perfect order to do the things in and the weather was dreamy. (Our friends came in May and got rained out of about all their activities. The only time it rained on us was when hiking the Pihea trail and that only added to our fun because it was only a light misting rain.) 

The boat ride was a last minute add-on to our trip. We hadn't planned to do this when we planned to come in 2021, but when we rescheduled we were able to add one more day and ended up deciding that it would be worth the money to go. It was SO worth it. Of all of the things that we did, that is the thing that I would do AGAIN if we came back, even though it was expensive. 

We booked with Makanna Charters and the boat captain and crew were friendly and knowledgeable about the land and it's history. I loved hearing from them about what Hawaii means to them, in addition to some fun facts about the area. We were able to see dolphins, go inside sea caves, get drenched by a waterfall flowing off the Nepali cliffs, and snorkel with rays, fish and TURTLES! It was amazing. 
The boat tour really was so perfect. First of all, we had just had a big hiking day the day before, and so we were totally ready for just a day to sit on the boat and relax. I loved feeling the Ocean spray as we sped along the island. Then being able to see the Nepali coast after having hiked into it was so cool. I had also never snorkeled before and it was so cool. I remember getting in the water and and as I lowered my head down immediately within reaching distance were 10-15 beautiful fish swimming right in front of me. It was so cool to swim through the coral and loved see the fish and turtles. Shantel and I spent as long as we could in the water and then when we got back to the boat we went on top of the boat and got to jump off into the water and I loved that too. I also just loved sitting next to Shantel and holding hands and relaxing. Also, having the driver take the boat back into the sea caves was really cool. As a note- we went on a smaller boat (12 person) and that was really perfect. It was more comfortable than some of the inflatable boats that just ride on the water, but was better than if we had been on one of the bigger boats with lots of people. 










We continued our day with Snowcones (from JoJos) which ended up being the best ones of our entire trip. Stopping at the Spouting Horn Blowhole where David heroically saved a woman's hat from being lost over the fence forever. The spouting horn was definitely a very underrated stop. I could have spent 2 hours just watching the ocean there. I loved the sound of the ocean and the waves crashing. Then back to our hotel to finish our Kauai puzzle, and eat a fancy dinner at our hotels upscale restaurant complete with string lights and the sound of the ocean in the background. (And shrimp!)  

It was the perfect last day, and even though part of us wishes we could have stayed forever, we missed our kids. We can take joy in the trip and the days that we had together. David and I haven't really taken a trip like this since our honeymoon 13 years ago and it was a dream. To be with David uninterrupted  for 7 days anywhere would be a dream, but to be together in Kauai, knowing our children were being well cared for at home, adventuring, relaxing, exploring, eating.... ALL the things. It was wonderful. 

Kauai Anniversary Trip Day 5

*Regular Font: David
*Italicized Font: Shantel 

Kauai day 5 was planned as our North Island day. Our biggest item was doing the Hanakapi'ai Falls trail via the Kalalau trail. 

Since our hiking in Waimea Canyon earlier in the week I had really been looking forward to this day. (I was really looking forward to it before too - but even more so after we had so much fun hiking). This hike came highly recommended from multiple of our friends, although they had only hiked to Hanakapi'ai Beach. According to All Trails the hike is 7.7 miles, however, Shantel's watch had us hiking about 10 miles total, so I think the trail was actually more like 5 in and 5 back (with a little walking around at the beach). 

Alright - I'm jumping the gun though - let's start at the beginning. 

This is us - once again very early in the morning. To do this trail you need a permit. There is very little parking and while we tried to get a parking pass those were gone within 1 minute of the spots opening, so instead we booked a shuttle spot that also gives you a permit for the trail. The shuttle was for 7:30, so we left around 6:15 am to get to the shuttle spot with plenty of time. 

I have to add that I originally was NOT going to have us do this hike. There are lots of places to hike on the island and this seemed like a lot of effort because you have to get a permit, take a shuttle, etc... But a couple of my friends went to Kauai earlier this year and said that this was a MUST do. However, I felt like if we were going to do this hike I wanted to do ALL of it. Hypothetically it's 2 miles to the beach, 2 miles to the waterfall, then 4 miles back. I knew that I would be sad to only get to the beach and not go the whole way, and even though it took basically our whole day I am SO glad that we did. It was incredible and I loved the entire experience. 

From the Shuttle parking lot it was about a 30 minute ride to the end of the road and Ke'e Beach. We got hiking right away. Here is a map from the day.  

The first part of the hike is about 2-2.5 miles from Ke'e Beach to Hanakapi'ai Beach. This part basically runs along the cliffs of the Napali Coast from Ke'e Beach to Hanakapi'ai Beach. The first half of the hike is a huge climb up, then you work your way along the cliffs until you drop down into the beach. 

Just after the shuttle there is a short walk to Ke'e Beach and there were these beautiful trees that were just covered with vines and all shorts of other vegetation just growing off of the trees. 

I loved this first part of the trail. It felt like Hawaii with the types of vegetation and since we had such an early start and everyone was walking towards the beach, we really did not see many people along this part of the trail. You would walk through these beautiful tress and then pop out and see unbelievable views of the Napali Coast. No picture could do justice for how breathtaking it was. 

After a mile or mile and a half we found this beautiful spot to sit and look at the coastline and eat a snack. I loved just sitting and talking to Shantel with this view while we enjoyed eating. 

We got to the beach, but decided to head straight to the falls and come back to the beach on the way back after we had done the falls. The hike to the falls was basically just up hill the whole way, but not extremely steep until right towards the end. It was again about 2-2.5 miles up to the falls and while it was not extremely steep, it was up for 2.5 miles and was a lot of work. One of the favorite things we saw early on this second leg of the trail was this grove of bamboo trees. This part of the trail was also really peaceful and we really did not see a lot of people. We just worked our way up following along next to the river. 

Here you can see the waterfall from the distance and then close up. The waterfall was magical. It was right at the end of the valley with sheer rock cliff closed all the way around it except where the river runs down. It is about a 300 foot waterfall and was really beautiful. When we got there we got right in the water. All the water had been so warm (oceans, rivers etc.) up to this point, but this was the first time the water was actually cold, but really refreshing. We spent a long time playing the water here. My favorite thing was to swim to the back wall, go behind the waterfall and then swim underneath the waterfall and feel the water falling down on my head and back. Then I would float on my back and look straight up at the waterfall. Then as I started to drift away from the waterfall I would close my eyes and it was the most peaceful and serene experience. With my ears under water and looking straight up, I could not see anything but the falls and could not hear anything. I would just float for a long time and was perfectly relaxed. I loved it so much. Shantel and swam for a while, then got out and ate our lunch. Then decided to get back in again because we loved it so much. 

Once we were ready to go, we found a little trail up the side to get a side view of the waterfall. 

We headed back down the trail. On the way up we had seen this little pool that looked like a perfect swimming spot and stopped there on the way back down. Then we swam over because it had a little mini-waterfall that we climbed up. I thought it was really fun and loved it. Coming back down it was super slick so I was basically going down it like a waterslide into the pool below. 

Once we got back to the beach we spent about 45 minutes exploring there. It was really cool because the river flowed down to the ocean, but the tide was low enough that the ocean was just barely coming up high enough to have the river and the ocean meet. There was a huge cave that the river ran through that you could tell would meet up with the ocean on higher tide. I loved the cool river water and walking through that and the cave. 

We started heading back to the start of the trail after that, but it was already pretty late because the hike had been long and then we spent a long time (maybe about 2 hours) at the falls and then 45 minutes at the beach. We had a pretty good pace coming back up from the beach up to the ridge and this was the first time we really started to feel tired and how much we had hiked. 

I feel like I tried to train for this hike through all of the hikes we did this summer, and that training plus the elevation difference made the hike enjoyable the entire time. By the time we got to the end of the trail, my legs were a little shaky and we had definitely pushed our bodies hard. It felt SO good. I felt strong and happy and capable. After 10 years of growing children (quite literally) I'm learning what my body can do post-pregnancy/nursing and it was a really great feeling to know that I had accomplished such a big goal. Hiking 10 miles on vacation might not be everyones goal, but it was perfect for us. 

We finally made it back to the start of the trail and Ke'e beach. I really wanted to go swimming there, so we stopped and went swimming for 30 minutes to an hour. I loved swimming with Shantel as the reward for such a long hike. It is the longest hike Shantel and I have ever done together. 

By the time we got to the shuttle we were on the 6 pm shuttle (6:30 pm was the last shuttle) and we rode the 30 minutes back to our car. Then we headed over to Hanalei Bay to check out the beach there. We made it just in time for sunset. 

This was my favorite sunset. It was breathtaking! The pier was packed, but David's phone automatically takes background people out of the photos which is cool and represents how it felt. Even though there were lots of other people there, I felt like we were the only ones. There was a man and his wife sitting on the beach playing the most beautiful saxophone music and the whole thing was just really so lovely and peaceful. 

We also wanted to do a tour of the Kileau lighthouse, but you have to schedule that and we just were not sure when we could for sure do it without not being able to be more flexible with our plans. I'm glad we did it that way, because we probably would have scheduled it for the afternoon, but we really enjoyed having more time for the hike and at the waterfall and beaches. However, we did want to go at least see it, so we stopped to take a look at it from the lookout point. 

We finished the night by grabbing a pizza from Diamond's Pizza and took it back to our hotel. It was so delicious and the perfect food to end the day. I would put Hanakapi'ai Falls on the must do list in Kauai.