Adventures in Kauai

After the crowds of Honolulu, I was hoping to find blissful solitude in Kauai. Shortly outside of the main town of Lihue, I ran into a traffic jam that lasted most of the way to my hotel. While known as the most rural and laid back of the islands, it is certainly not undiscovered, and so has its fair share of traffic as well. Still, the towns feel small and cozy and there is no shortage of nature. I rate this island second so far, behind the big island.

The first day started off with a helicopter tour of the island. This was a bit expensive, but was definitely worth the money. So much of the island is off limits or inaccessible by land that the only way it can even be seen is from the air. There were so many waterfalls (including this one from Jurassic Park) that they couldn't be counted.

From Kauai

And good views of the rugged coastline.

From Kauai

After the helicopter, the rest of the day was just driving around the countryside nearby to a couple of waterfalls and beaches.

From Kauai

From Kauai

The next day was almost entirely devoted to touring Waimea canyon. The canyon is vast and deep and really reminds me of the Grand Canyon, except greener.

From Kauai

From Kauai

I also did a hike there, which turned out to be a little harder than I expected. The hike went through the trees for a long time, but at the end came to a nice view.

From Kauai

The last day on Kauai was spent driving all the way around to the north side of the island and stopping at every beach along the way. The trip was only maybe 30miles from my hotel on the south side, but it took a couple hours to do.

From Kauai

From Kauai

From Kauai

The north side of the island is much less crowded (partly because it is full of the ultra rich). Still, I think I liked this part of the island best, and think it had the best beaches too.

From there it was off to the airport for my next 24 hours and 12 time zones of flying back to Holland and straight to work.