Wolf and Jan Travels: KAUA'I HAWAII NOVEMBER 2011

Our flight here was good, no problems with connections or baggage, which was great considering we were flying AIR CANADA.

We arrived in overcast skies, called our car rental man, Steve, and he showed up with our BEATER CAR. Yes it is a beater, or was I guess as we have since traded it in on another beater!!!!!

lovely bouquet of flowers on our table when we arrived

It rained all the way from the airport to Steve's house where Wolf had to fix the seatbelt that would not fasten on the passenger seat, take $30.00 of rental for that. Then we drove up to Kapa'a to our cottage in the pouring rain with windshield wipers that are right down to the metal, good visibility when you have no idea where you are going and it is dark. It is a 20 min drive from airport in Lihuie to Kapa'a, can be longer during the day when there are many cars on the road, but it is a nice drive.

Our first day we took a short drive north of town to check out the beaches, found a couple very nice spots.

lookout just north of town

We did manage to do some swimming and snorkeling one day, but the snorkeling was not all the great, swimming was nice, very warm. Wolf got in a couple runs on the boogie board.
Off to explore the north end of the island, we drove out to the lighthouse on Kilauea point for a fantastic view. Along the way we stopped at more beaches to check them out, and also drove into some of the smaller towns. Found a great farmers market at Waipa, where we got fresh grapefruit and avacado for 50 cents each, plus a few other treats of veggies. Also along the north coast is the resort areas where the big condos and hotels are located, Princeville being the largest with many resorts and a couple huge golf courses. At the end of the highway is Ke'e Beach and as far as you can go with a vehicle. This is the start of the west coast trail hike, the only way you can really see the west coast beauty is by hiking in.

Our next big trip was going south and up part of the west coast. South east brings you to Lihue where the airport and large box stores are located. Further south is another resort area call Po'ipu, nice beaches,lots of people and lots of resorts again. Not our kind of place. We kind of like our funky little town of Kapa'a, lots to do. After the south point we headed more west towards the coast. More farming country and very lush. This is also the way to head up the Waimea Canyon which is a trip on its own. Waimea river flows out to the ocean and at the mouth the sand is very black from running out of the volcanic mountains. This is also where Captian Cook made his landfall.

this photo is a little out of order, this is a large dry cave we found on the north end near the end of the road.

this is called Spouting Horn near Po'ipu

Captian Cook.

The west side sport some of the most beautiful beach area, but you cannot get to it as the Pacific Missile Range Facility takes up most of it. The end of the highway and road is at Mana, which is also not there all gone. The next 20 minutes is worth the trip on a bumpy, sand, coral, red dirt road that ends up at the most fantastic beach ever. Polihale State park, nothing but sand for miles, no resorts and very few people on the beach. A definate place to come back too for a beach day ................................