2001---3 nights on Oahu

2001---The Bus and Hanauma Bay

About a month before we made our first trip to the Islands --- back in 1998---we went to a timeshare presentation in St. Louis and actually bought an EOY 1 bedroom/1 bath unit at Kauai Beach Villas.  We didn't buy it because we thought we'd be going to Kauai.  We bought it because we were naive and believed we could exchange it and go anywhere we wanted to go.  We had banked the first year in RCI since we already had a TWA Getaway planned for Oahu in 1998.  But we fell in love with Hawaii on that short trip, so when 2001 rolled around we decided to go and see what we actually bought into.  Since we weren't sure we'd like Kauai as much as we did Oahu, we booked a night in Waikiki before heading over to Kauai and 2 nights after our week on Kauai.  Turned out we loved Kauai even more!  We were actually a little disappointed to be leaving Kauai and going back to Oahu.  But, hey, it's still Hawaii!  It beat going back home!!!
This time we didn't do any organized excursions.  Instead we jumped on The Bus and rode a couple of places.  We discovered you could ride all the way around the island for $1.  Took about 2 hours, but it was a great way to see more of the island.
One of the views along the road as we rode The Bus.

 Another view from The Bus.

 View of Rabbit Island.  Not it's real name, but got that nickname because it supposedly looks like a rabbit. 

 We also took The Bus to Hanauma Bay another day. 

 LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the snorkeling there!

 one happy snorkeler.

 a collage of some of the fishies we saw there.

 So even though we were sad to be leaving Kauai, we still had a great time on Oahu.  

2001--Kauai

Our 1st trip to Kauai: helicopter tour; Blue Dolphin Napali tour:

Back in 1999 Ken and I went to a timeshare presentation in St. Louis for a newly renovated condo complex in Kauai. We had never been to any of the islands of Hawaii. Didn't really figure it would be somewhere we'd frequent. But did like the idea that we could (supposedly) be able to trade it for anywhere we wanted to go. We were pretty naive about the whole timeshare thing back then, but I think we pretty well lucked out with our first timeshare purchase, even sight unseen. So for $8,000 we became the owners of 1 week every other year at Pahio Kauai Beach Villas. Since we actually had reservations already for our first ever trip to Hawaii (Oahu) at the time we bought into KBV, we went ahead and banked our first week into RCI as soon as we became owners. 2 years later we decided to check out our purchase before banking anymore weeks. So in 2001, we booked 4 nights on Oahu since we had liked it so much in 1999 (just in case we didn't like Kauai) and booked our week at Pahio Kauai Beach Villas. After a week in Kauai, we were sad to be heading to Oahu for the rest of our trip! We fell in love with Kauai and never banked another Kauai week. In fact, we've since bought 4 more every other year weeks.  (Eventually Wyndham became their management company and after a couple years of that we converted our then 5 weeks to Wyndham points and became VIP Platinum Wyndham owners).

From the moment we drove onto the Pahio KBV properties, we were impressed. We had purchased a 1 bedroom/1 bath "garden view" unit. "Garden view" actually means "parking lot view", but we were upgraded into a "lagoon view" 1 bedroom/2 bath unit near the pool. We both agreed we could live very comfortably there for a lot longer than a week. The pool was a bit cold, but at that time KBV owners were also able to use the pools at the adjoining Radisson hotel complex without a fee. Those pools weren't heated, either, but the jacuzzi was bigger and the pools were more interesting, so we did take advantage of that benefit quite a bit. We also enjoyed the "lighting" ceremony at the Radisson pool a few evenings. (I don't think they do the free hula and lighting show anymore, but we haven't checked that out in a few years---since we're no longer welcomed in their pools; first when the Radisson was bought out by Hilton.  We did get use of the pool back for awhile when Aqua managed the hotel, but now it's managed by someone else and we no longer have pool access as of 2018.  AS of 2017, KBV is no longer managed by Wyndham, either, but the converted Wyndham weeks are still there). Anyway, not only did we love the Pahio resort, but we also loved the location. It was isolated enough to be quiet, but close to 2 of the main residential towns on Kauai, Lihue and Kapaa. It makes a great base for winter stays since it's about equal distance to the north shore or the south shore. We watch the weather forecasts and if the north shores are calm and dry, we head north. Otherwise we usually end up going south. We do drive alot while we're on Kauai, but with the beauty of the island, I've never minded the rides.
Back to KBV----it's on the beach, although most of the units aren't oceanfront. The beach there isn't swimable, but the beach is a beautiful one for walking on. It's truly a home away from home to us.

The 1 bedroom/2 baths and the 2 bedroom units all face the lagoon or ocean.  The 1 bedroom/1 baths face the parking spots.

master bedroom

dining room and kitchen in a 1 bedroom/2 bath unit.

living room and diningroom in a 1 bd/2 bath

kitchen

We were in the A building---overlooking the pool and lagoon.

living room again.

This being our first trip to Kauai, we tried to see as much of the island as we could in our too short week long stay. In our driving around, we stopped at various viewpoints. Here's one on the east
side of the Wailua River. The Wailua River begins near the Waiʻaleʻale crater (whose summit averages more than 426 inches of rain a year) and enters the Pacific Ocean by Kapaa. It is the only navigable river (by boats larger than kayaks) in the Hawaiian Islands.

 Across the street from the Wailua River viewpoint is the Opaeka Falls viewpoint. It is a 151–foot waterfall that flows over basalt from volcanic eruptions millions of years ago into the Wailua River.
It's name means rolling shimp, which comes from the time when freshwater shrimp were abundant there and could be seen tumbling over the falls.