2009—Feb. solo trip to Waikiki-then to Kauai

Feb. 18-22, 2009

  This was a solo trip for me.  I hadn't planned to go off to Hawaii by myself, but an unfortunate circumstance resulted in this opportunity. I had picked up a week at the Wyndham Waikiki Beach Walk for a friend and her cancer stricken husband, but he ended up too sick to take the trip. So it was lose the whole week and the money I paid, or go by myself and "try" to enjoy myself. The decision wasn't too difficult to make. Ken and I were scheduled to go to Kauai on award travel the following Sunday, so I was able to change my flight to go out on the previous Wed.  I didn't get the whole week there, but did have 4 nights on Waikiki.   Unfortunately hubby couldn't get off work for those extra days.

This was my 4th trip to Oahu, so I felt pretty comfortable wandering around Waikiki by myself. I liked that I could wander around the streets and beach without being accosted by poverty. Everything was clean and the people are helpful.  I even used The Bus enough during the past 3 trips that I felt comfortable using it by myself.

It was a bit cool this trip with temps only about 70 and the winds were pretty high. But it definitely beat the 20s and 30s back home. There were spritzes of rain and lots of clouds, but the clouds were the type that made for fabulous sunsets. 

 2009-Feb. 18: STL-LAX-HON-LIH

2009-Feb. 19:Walking around Waikiki, Beach, and Sunset cruise

2009-Feb. 20: Foster Gardens, Waikiki Aquarium

2009-Feb. 21: Waikiki beach, Marina reflections

2009-Feb. 22: HON-LIH

  2009 Wyndham Waikiki Beach Walk 1 bdrm

It was a short stay in Oahu, but it turned out to be a really great one.  I've not taken a vacation by myself before, so was really hesitant to do it, but I really enjoyed myself!  Maybe I should do this more often!!!  And only 4 nights there wasn't bad since I had almost 2 weeks on Kauai to look forward to now.

For my 2009 Kauai blog, check out: 2009 Kauai

2009 Kauai with Angie and Josh

2009 Kauai- Feb. 22 - March 8-Angie and Josh trip: Napali cruise; Smith's luau; bird whisperer; Hyatt lighting ceremony; waimea canyon:

 

 We love showing off Kauai to friends and family.  So when Angie and Josh wanted to join us, I was really excited!  It was their first time to any of the Hawaiian islands.  Plus I know Angie enjoys the ocean and snorkeling almost as much as I do.  They weren't here the whole time we were, but long enough for us to show them some of our favorite things:  lots of snorkeling; or just enjoying the beautiful beaches;  tried to take them on a Napali cruise to see the striking cliffs; feasted and enjoyed the Smith's luau which we love for it's great food and young performers; bot to mention lots of time at their resort in the heated pool and jacuzzi.

Note on cameras this trip:  above ground-Canon 20D; underwater-Coolpix S-5 with housing.

 

2009-Feb. 22: travel day and Lydgate

2009-Feb. 23: Lawai, farmer's market, Poipu

2009-Feb. 24: ride to the North shore, snorkel Anini

2009-Feb. 25: Lawai

2009-Feb. 26: sunset cruise, Hanapepe, Waimea Canyon overlook

2009-Feb. 26: No Hoku and Smith's Luau

2009-Feb. 28: Lawai, Maha'ulepu beach

2009-March 1: new Wyndham owners, Tunnels

2009-March 2: the bird whisperer, poipu; lawai

2009-March 3: McBryde/Allerton office garden, Hyatt

2009-March 4: Lawai, Waimea Canyon, Saltpond

2009-March 5: Kee, Tunnels

2009-March 6: Hanalei, Lydgate

2009-March 7: Hyatt grounds

2009-March 8: Kileaua lighthouse, Anini, East side

All in all, another great trip to Kauai (8th trip to Kauai if I'm remembering correctly)! Still finding plenty of things to take pictures of even after 8 trips! Not as warm and sunny as usual, but I won't complain about 70ish. Lots of rain, but where were all those rainbows they promise with the rain?! Not much time on the northshore, but we did get 1 beautiful day there and the south shore surf was excellent for snorkeling the whole 2 weeks. Ruined another camera, but now have an excuse to buy a new one. Got 2 beautiful pendants from NaHoku jewelers this trip (one that I bought on Oahu and one that my daugher and son-in-law got me). Only really great sunsets this time were from the short while I was on Oahu. Very very windy for the first 7-10 days---sustained 30m/h winds! Whale watching didn't seem to be as good this year. Got to enjoy showing our island to some newbies (my daughter and son-in-law). Even got to meet a fellow trip advisor.

We will be back!

 To check out my 4 solo nights on Oahu leading up to this Kauai trip click: HERE

2009-March 8: Kileaua lighthouse, Anini, East side

Almost all packed and getting ready to leave. I looked outside and what did I see?!---some sunshine!

Not sure what we'll do today. Our flight isn't until 9pm. We do get a courtesy hour here at KBV from 5-6, so we may still take in some more snorkeling.

But first, off to Kountry Kitchen.

Then to the East side walking trail

 kealia beach

Back to finish up this 2009 Kauai Blog------

The weather was beautiful (for the most part) on our last day in Kauai. We decided to head up to Anini, stopping in Kilauea for a few photos by the lighthouse. Again, found a cute sign.

It was a beautiful day for snapshots of the lighthouse from the lookout. We even saw a couple whales spouting from a distance.

Also enjoyed watching the red-footed boobies and even a few frigates. Here I caught them in fligh and lounging.

Then we were on to Anini for our last snorkel fix.   Out to the rocky area to the right of the big parking lot we found quite a few fish. At one point, I was just drifting along and happened upon a large brown eel. Shocked me at first as I was almost on top of it before I looked that direction and saw it.  Too bad my underwater camera wasn't working anymore.

About then the skies started clouding up at Anini so we swam back to shore and headed back to the East side.

We had heard if you throw you lei into the ocean and it comes back, you'll return. So we've made that a little tradition of ours--although we just throw the flowers in, not the string. Here we are on the East side by where the Wailua River meets the ocean. There was lots of brown water there, but still saw plenty of surfers out in it. We made sure we threw the flowers in an area where the waves brought the petals back to shore.

From there we went back to the condo and hung out at the pool and jacuzzi until time for our courtesy hour.

After our hour at the condo, we were off to gas up the car, grab a quick McDonald's, drop off the car, and check in at the airport. We got there with plenty of time to spare and started our long trip back home.

The flight to LAX was on time and went by rather quickly. The 3 1/2 hour wait in LAX for our STL flight seemed to take forever. The 3 hour flight to STL from LAX was on time and rather quick, too.

2009-March 7: Hyatt grounds

I'm starting this earlier today. No need to be out of the condo too early today and no sun reports anywhere, so we're taking it a bit easy this morning. We even got a reprieve on the early morning wake up call this morning. The rooster must have slept in, too, and we didn't get up until 9 am. It's cloudy again. I've checked the forecasts for north, east and south---all areas say clouds and chance of rain. We'll probably head south anyway. At least the winds are down so snorkeling should be good there. Ken cooked up the last of the eggs and bacon today. Tomorrow it'll be our traditional mac pancakes at Kountry Kitchen's for our last breakfast on the island this trip. We're about ready to head out now. I think we'll stop at the Ben Franklin craft store on our way south. Haven't been to one of them in years.

 It's about 71 degrees and a light off and on drizzle, but the winds are very still today. Off in the distance (the other side of the resort), I can hear the motocross riders on the track adjacent to the property, but we've never been bothered by their noise. They don't seem to start until mid morning and I think they're only there on the weekend.

We did get to the Ben Franklin Craft store and I was very impressed with it. Then we went to the Stitchery store and I was equally impressed with it. The craft and fabric stores around home don't carry the tropical and Hawaiian things like these stores do.

When we finally headed south, it was close to 1:30, so we stopped at the little Poipu Grill for a quick bite. It's just a window next to a grocery store, but the food was very good. We shared a fish and chips and lilikoi cheesecake. Loved it all.

Then we headed on to Lawai beach. It was still overcast and some off and on rain, but the water was great. We spent a couple hours there. I even saw a couple fish I hadn't seen before.

We went from there to the Hyatt. When we were there the other day for the lighting ceremony, I noticed they have beautiful grounds. So today we went back there to wander around. I can sum up their grounds in one word----WOW! If I were going to stay in a hotel, I'd sure love to stay there!

This is a view of a fraction of their pool areas.

Here's another pool there.

 some of the beautifully landscaped grounds

more grounds

  Their over the water restaurant

 one of the jacuzzis

 a man made waterfall on property

More of the restaurant--too expensive for our tastes

This is looking up to where the lighting ceremony is held.

Just another gorgeous flower here on Kauai, by the Hyatt.

ANd more.

 We also wandered around the beach by the Hyatt.
Looking pretty bad for sunset!

a very large monk seal

Since Leilani and ? were singing when we were done wandering around, we stayed to listen to them and catch the lighting ceremony again.

It's short and sweet and we were able to tell Janet from the tripadvisor forum hi and goodbye, too.

Then we headed back to the east side. By the time we hit the tunnel of eucalyptus trees it was raining pretty good. It's a good thing we hadn't tried to go north today! We heard the rain flooded the bridge into Hanalei this morning and was closed. Not sure if it's been reopened yet.

We stopped for a quick dinner at Taco Bell.

Back at the condo, it was time to do more laundry and start packing.

2009-March 6: Hanalei, Lydgate

Another cloudy day on the east side. I don't know if it rained on the east side. If it did, it was while we were out and about. At least the wind was way down and the surf advisory on the east side was finally dropped.
The surf was also still down on the north shore, so we headed north again. But with a little lack of enthusiasm today. We have a resident rooster that doesn't let us sleep past about 6:30 and it's beginning to wear on us. We had to be out of the condo by 10am for monthly bug spraying here at Kauai Beach Villas, so we headed north in search of low surf and sun. We found low surf, but no sun.
First we stopped at the Wyndham Bali Hai and talked to the Wyndham person there and had a few more questions answered. Tomorrow is the last day to recind, but I think we're going to keep it this time.

It was after noon by now, so we stopped at Bubba's in the old school shopping center for a bite to eat. The teriyaki burger with pineapple was actually pretty good.

We rode down to the Hanalei pier and noticed that the surf was indeed down again.

We headed on to Kee and Tunnels and under most circumstances would have jumped at the chance to snorkel there, but with being a bit tired and it only being about 67 degrees (our Hawaii weather went to St. Louis today!), we headed back to the Bali Hai and hit the jacuzzi instead. We're beginning to whimp out!

We had planned to stop at Anini on the way back, but ran into a heavy downpour. So we continued on.
By the time we got back to the East side, the weather there was 10 degrees warmer and the cloud cover was high and thin, so we headed to Lydgate. With the surf and wind being down---as well as it being near low tide---snorkeling there was great today.

We left there about 5 pm and headed to the heated pool and jacuzzi.

About 7 we decided it was time to think about dinner. We decided to head to The Bullshed. We tried to go there a couple years ago, but they were closed for some reason. So this was our first time for The BUllshed. We were both impressed. The food wasn't all that expensive and it was very good. We even had swordfish for the first time.  (although it had been a favorite of ours from then until 2016, they've now priced themselves out of our normal budget)

After a short stop at an ABC store after dinner, we headed back to the condo.

2009-March 5: Kee, Tunnels

I get to start off this blog a little differently! We actually saw blue stuff in the skies on the east side today! No rain, lots of clouds, very little wind, about 70 degrees... .
We checked the surf forecast for today and saw that it was only suppose to be 1-3 feet high in Hanalei today, so we headed north.
As we went through Hanalei, we decided to head to the beach there to see what the waves looked like. The lots were packed and somewhat flooded, so we didn't stick around Hanalei. There was a lot of standing water and high springs throughout the north side. Looking towards the mountains, you could see lots of waterfalls along their faces. Looked like the north side must have gotten lots of rain in the past few days.

We thought it was interesting how the surfers decorated the stop signs in Hanalei with surfer stickers.

From there we went straight to Kee. The lifeguard said it was a great day for snorkeling both there and Tunnels and took the "no snorkeling" sign down as we stood there. Since it was only about 1pm then, we decided to hang out there for a bit. The water was great---very calm.

Of course my underwater camera did indeed bite the dust after yesterdays bath, so I wasn't able to get pictures there today.

I did drag my DSLR out and got a few pictures above ground.

 Kee from the Napali side of the bay

 Wanting to take advantage of the great conditions, we headed over to Tunnels for awhile, too.
Here is a picture showing how calm the water was today. We were there at low tide, too, so lots of the "tunnels" were showing. (one of my all time favorite pictures of Tunnels)

A short ways up the beach was a large sea turtle enjoying the sun, too.

Another picture of tunnels.

This was taken farther up the beach by where yet another monk seal was resting.

Just another look at my favorite mountain view.

Here we made friends with our Cardinal buddies.

About 6pm a rain squal sent us fleeing up to the cover of a tree.

We decided since the sun doesn't set over the ocean from Tunnels, we would head back to Kee for sunset. Plus we were able to use their brand new bathrooms to change out of our wet clothes.
The sunset at Kee was pretty much another dud, but at least it was pleasant sitting around waiting for it.

By 7 we were on our way back toward the east side. In Kapaa we stopped at Pizza Hut and had their dinner buffet. It was actually quite good! And a lot cheaper then Brick Oven Pizza! Then it was back to the condo,

That ends a really great day in paradise!

2009-March 4: Lawai, Waimea Canyon, Saltpond

Today started out just like most of the rest of the days this trip----cloudy and rainy on the east side. No breaks of blue sky, though.

First we headed towards Kapaa. The surf on the east side was still above advisory levels, as it has been the whole time we've been here. At least the winds were down---not gone, but down. We stopped by Lydgate to see how it looked. It actually looked pretty good considering the high surf, but we weren't ready to go snorkeling yet.

We went up to the lookout just north of Kapaa in hopes of seeing whales, but no such luck. The whale viewing hasn't been as good as it's been for us in the past years. Don't they like wind?!

We decided to stop at the Kapaa craft market. Wandered around for awhile, but didn't get anything.

I can't come to Kauai without getting some Hamura's lilikoi chiffon pie. So we drove by there and got a piece of pie to go. As I recall, a piece of pie was $2.85 plus tax.

Now we were in search of sun. It was a sustained rain lasting longer today then it had any other time since we've been here this trip, so we headed south.

It wasn't raining at Lawai beach---at least not at that time, although it was totally overcast---so we decided to do a little snorkeling. At least the surf on the south shore has been a consistant 1-2 feet the whole time we've been here. Doesn't look too hopeful for snorkeling on the north shore this trip, unfortunately.

Snorkeling has been really good at Lawai, as it usually is.
One of the plentiful Moorish Idols

 and and Orange bar surgeonfish

Here I got a picture of a female bird wrasse.

Here's the male bird wrasse.

A school of racoon butterflyfish

Unfortunately my waterproof housing sprung a leak. Another camera bites the dust.
Here's my last picture with that underwater set up of my Nikon S-5 and housing.

And, again, there was a monk seal there.

When it started raining, we packed up and headed farther south/west. We thought Saltpond might be sunny, but it wasn't. I did get a kick out of this sign there! I certainly hope planes aren't flying so low as to bother people on the ground!

Since we were still in search of sun, we headed farther south. When we got to Waimea, we noticed the canyon wasn't fogged in, so we headed up the canyon.

Not sure what these things are, but they look like they belong in a Dr. Seuss book! They were all over the canyon ride, as well as other places around Kauai.

By the time we got up to the first lookout, it was almost 5:30. The light was fading fast and clouds were shroading the top of the canyon.

The road up the canyon reminds me a bit of Maui's Road to Hana.

Just past the first big lookout are a couple great pullouts with great views.

And more great views of the canyon. By now it was almost sunset, but it was another dud of a sunset with the heavy cloud cover.
We raced up to the end of the road hoping to have a bit of a clearing and sunset view over the ocean, but it was socked in with fog. The total mileage up the canyon is about 12 miles and rises to about 4000 ft. The temperature at the top was about 52 degrees. When we got back down to sea level, the temps were back to about 71 (at about 7pm).
We made it down the canyon before it got totally dark and found our way to Wrangler's Steak House for dinner. Our dinners were very good---my pepper steak and Ken's Ahi fish. It was rather expensive ($25 for my steak), but it was our one splurge on dinner this trip. They also have a small salad bar which was very good---love the papaya seed salad dressing!
Back at the condo, time to hit the computer and catch the TopChef reunion.

Just another day in Paradise.