Kauai - Princeville and Lihue

We spent the middle part of our Hawaiian vacation on the north of the island, staying in Princeville. We went to Hanalei to tandem kayak out the Hanalei River and along the ocean. Our guide told us to hop into our "divorce boats" which Jer and I laughed about and only minutes later we were ready to throw each other overboard! I guess you could say I didn't like the way the "steerer" was steering and my helping out wasn't helping. We were definitely irritated with our rough start but we can laugh about it now! The bonus for us was when the other couple on the tour was broadsided by a wave and ended up dumping out in the coral. We both agree that single kayaking is the way to go; that post in the near future! We stopped in two locations to snorkel; Jer loves to snorkel and this was my first time. Hideaway beach is pictured below; it was a really nice area, our favorite of the two. I had slight issues with my mask. My first mask wasn't sealing, Jer noticed that part of the side band was broken (these were rentals). Our guide gave me another mask, made sure my hair wasn't breaking the seal, I sucked in to seal it and still had issues with my second mask so I just left my life jacket on so I could empty the water from my mask without getting beat in to the coral.

My life jacket saved me here. While under water I asked Jer to take my picture and laughed so hard at how it sounded that I breathed in a bunch of ocean water. I was dry heaving for a while, it was so nasty!

I'm not as big into snorkeling as Jer; I get too cold.

If you don't kayak to Hideaway, the trail to get down to it is really steep and you have to hold onto a rope. We took the short hike so I could warm up.

Our little group heading back up the river. While we were out snorkeling, our guide told us that if we saw any sea turtles to go ahead and touch their shells. Jer and I were surprised because we learned last year in Maui it's a state and federal offense to harass (touch) sea turtles and if you see any while snorkeling to not swim towards them. What a guide.

A taste of Kauai: Coconut shrimp, shaved ice, puka dog, and Jer LOVED eating lots and lots of  poke


After snorkeling we drove over to the Kilauea lighthouse

That evening we walked from the Wyndham resort we stayed at (thanks Dad and Mom!) to Queen's Bath. The waves come crashing in pretty hard so people like me don't swim in places like this.

There was lots of turtles swimming around…safe from sharks

A small waterfall on our hike to Queens Bath

A few pretties we saw on the island

The next day we headed out early to hike up to Hanakapi 'ai Falls. It's eight miles round trip and the last mile to the waterfall is not one we'd take our kids on; not even Troy alone. Jer loves hiking and kept us moving so it didn't take us long to get there

We had to cross this creek a few times and could barely find the trail at times

You can barely find him, but Jer swam under the waterfall. As hot as the hike was, the cold water wasn't tempting enough for me so I stayed on dry rock to take his picture :)

Along the ocean on the hike back

After hiking, Jer wanted to snorkel so we literally walked across the road from the end of our hike to Tunnels beach. Jer went out where everyone was snorkeling; I kept an eye on our belongings on the warm beach:) Jer LOVED snorkeling at Tunnels. There were so many turtles and different fish. He said they were super friendly and curious. 

We were wearing ourselves out. We got back to the resort that evening, took a three hour nap, ate, then went to bed at nine!

We went to Tunnels each day we were up north so I got a few more sunset shots

We stayed in Lihue our last two days.  Our last adventure was a nine line zip line. It was fun, definitely not a rush-filled adventure but we had a fun group and guides.

Right side up and upside down. lovely.

Jer preferred going upside down on the few lines we were allowed to. I'm glad he carried our backpack, I would have dropped it!

The last line was really short and was over a fresh water pool. Along with all of the snorkeling he did, Jer hit the water crocked and his ear had finally had enough. He's had to go in a few times and still has audiology appointments to get his ear checked out. Too much fun for one guy.

Jeremy planned almost the entire FANTASTIC vacation (with my ok on what he signed us up for, of course) and we were worn out and missing our little guys like crazy! The boys also had a fantastic time with Grandma and Grandpa, Cael--our biggest mommas boy-- did great (so they say) but it took almost two weeks for him to break the habit of yanking his glasses off if anything or nothing at all irritated him. He sure showed us for leaving him!