2005 Kauai

2005 Kauai---Our 4th Kauai visit, alone this time: Queen's Bath; Napali/Niihau snorkel tour; Waimea Canyon; Kipu falls

Another year passed and February finally rolled around again. At the end of the month we were heading back to Kauai for our 4th time there. Instead of renting another week, we picked up another 1 bedroom/1 bath unit at Pahio KBV off Ebay for about $1200 for another EOY ownership. We were again upgraded to a 1 bedroom/2 bath unit and were able to stay in the same unit for both weeks. It seemed a little odd being there all by ourselves for both weeks, but we had a great time none-the-less.

Our daily routine is usually to check the forecast for the north shore in the morning. If it looks like it's going to be sunny there, we head north. Sometimes we luck out and have lots of nice days there, other times hardly any. Being the rainy season when we're there, the north shore gets a lot more rain then the south side.


2005-2-7---north to Anahola and Tunnels

2005-2-8---Lihue:

2005-2-9---South, Glass Beach, Saltpond:

2005-2-10---north, queens bath, hanalei, kee

2005-2-11---Kipu, Maha'ulepu Beach:

2005-2-12---Shipwreck beach, sunset at Poipu:

 2005-2-13---Waimea Canyon:

 2005-2-14---Portifino's on Kalapaki bay:

2005-2-15---moloaa, Kilauea Bay, anini:

2005-2-16---Napali cruise:

  An end to another great vacation and start of another long year until the next Kauai vacation.

2005-2-16---Napali cruise:

 Since our first Napali Cruise was a bit of a disappointment with the high winds and mist shrouded coastline, we decided to take another one. This time we opted for the longer Napali/Niihau snorkel trip. We did check the weather this time and chose a calm sunny day. Even so, the cruise over to Niihau was a bit rough. Snorkeling there was a little disappointing. The water was super clear, but we were anchored in water about 30' deep, so the fish were pretty far away and hard to see. But the topography of the ocean floor was pretty neat. Coming back from Niihau was even rougher as I guess we were going against the current. There were a lot of sick passengers. But we enjoyed the ride.

2005-2-15---moloaa, Kilauea Bay, anini:

One of the interesting houses on the East side near Moloaa bay.

Being on the East side and not protected from the waves, it's usually rough this time of year.  Pretty to look at, though.

the way down to the beach at Moloaa.

Heading back north, Kilauea Kong Lung Historic Market Center is a neat little shopping center. One of the shops here is a soap/candle shop where they actually make them. To keep the guys happy while their wives shop, they've designated special benches for them.

Love the lookout for the Kilauea lighthouse.

Love the landscaping around Kauai, too.

As we followed a road through Kilauea and a little east, we ended up on another dirt road that led us down to sea level. I believe this is Kilauea Bay. An interesting looking area, but we didn't spend much time here.

neat area that we've never really explored.

how some people get rid of their old vehicles on Kauai.  At least I hope it's an old vehicle and not a lost wrecked vehicle. 

Looking back towards Kilauea from Anini.

Our final beach today was Anini. A little more snorkeling, a little more relaxing on the beach.

another well protected beach and pretty good snorkeling if you know where to go!  Took us 3 or 4 years to find the "where to go" in Anini bay.

But it's so pretty and calm most of the time that we kept going back.

never very crowded, either.

Anini also has a pretty nice restroom and ourdoor showers.  We often make this our hang out place before our flight back to the mainland after we have to get out of the condo.

2005-2-14---Portifino's on Kalapaki bay:


Kalapaki Bay is a beautiful large cresent bay, but we find it rather difficult to get to. There is some public beach parking at the Marriott, but not much. There are also shops and restaurants along the bay, but parking is a problem with them, too. We did eat at Portifino's on Valentine's Day and dinner was very good, as was the view of the bay. We would probably spend more time here if it wasn't so crowded or hard to find parking at.

2005-2-13---Waimea Canyon:

Although we don't go here every year, we have been to Waimea Canyon a few times, too. This time it was a gorgeous day.

2005-2-12---Shipwreck beach, sunset at Poipu:

Back to the South side.  First stop---the little garden by the office to McBryde Gardens.  Nice little garden to spend a half hour or so in.

Lots of pretty flowers growing here.

2005-2-11---Kipu, Maha'ulepu Beach:

Another place I'd read about was Kipu Falls. Another controversial spot, but we wanted to check it out. It's noted as not being a safe place to park---lots of break-ins happen there, so we didn't meander for very long. The trail took us through some sugar cane fields and brush.

After about 10 or 15 minutes walk we came to the upper river to the falls.

Reminded a lot of the area around Falls City in Oregon. Looked like a neat place to hang out, but we were afraid to be away from the car for too long.

Here is the falls. It's also known as a dangerous place because people like to jump off the falls into the pond below. We've read about many drownings here, too.

Time to explore another new area---Maha'ulepu Beach is off an old cane road on the south side. I guess they aren't too concerned about traffic on that road.

Even the monk seals like to frequent this area.

Although the ocean along here is pretty rough, it's another beautiful stretch of beach. It's usually pretty windy, too, so we've spent hours watching wind surfers here.

Also along the cane road is an old sugar cane factory. I'm not sure which factory this is, but as of late in 2009, all sugar cane production on Kauai has ended. It was once Kauai's main agricultural crop. Now the new dominate crop is seed corn. There is still lots of sugar cane growing on the island, but it's mostly wild now.