Honeymoon in Hawaii Part 2: Kauai

After a 40 minute connector flight from Maui, we landed in the garden island of Kauai! We stayed at the Sheraton in Poipu. This resort was only 4 stories high. It was under some construction and was much less populated. Our room was on the second floor and this was the view! It was perfect!

 This was the tunnel of trees! It's only about a mile long, and opens up to a normal road. Very cool how it's only that one section of road that's covered in trees!

 We drove from the southern part of Kauai up to the North Shore. Here we had to stop at Queen's Bath! There's a tiny parking lot in the middle of a residential neighborhood. It was about a 15 minute hike to the bath, but it was totally worth it! Queen's Bath is a natural pool that is filled by the ocean. At high tide it can be extremely dangerous as the waves come crashing in. We were there to experience some of the waves crashing over the barrier rocks. The water is crystal clear and SO deep in some parts! You think you can touch.. but you just can't! The rocks all in this area form little natural pools and are filled with sea life. It's so cool!

Next, Hanalei Bay!

 This beach was name #1 beach in the world before! It was so picturesque! We stopped, swam, and laid out here for a little bit. Very cool how the mountains just jet up!

 Our fishing charter! Too bad we didn't catch anything..

 Really cool tree with fish tails nailed to it!

 Sunset outside of our hotel. So beautiful!

 Hubs by one of the fire pits!

 Sunsets at our hotel. 

 This was my seat for the helicopter ride! That's the driver to my left, and Wayne to my right.

 We flew into a rain cloud and this was waiting on the other side.

 The waterfall from Jurassic Park. I don't think I've ever seen the entire movie, as it has scared me beyond belief, so it should be somewhere in the movie!

 The NaPali Coast! Only really accessable by air or boat. There was a dirt trail we saw, and people have camped out there.

 This area was in a few movies, Pirates of the Carribean, one of them anyways!

Oh NaPali coast! You're so gorgeous. Here we are in front of the doors off helicopter! The pilot was awesome. An older gentleman in the back of he helicopter actually unhooked his seat belt twice. I think my heart stopped each time as there's nothing holding you in at all. The pilot stayed so calm and collected. He instructed the man to buckle the seat belt calmly. He said if need be he would land the helicopter. We were over a lush green mountain range. It looked much like the rainbow picture above. I was FREAKING out. Needless to say he got it hooked again. About 10 minutes later he unbuckled it again. Aside from that, the ride was amazing! If you've got the courage to do it, I totally would! Really amazing experience.

Overall, Kauai was much quieter than Maui. It was great for relaxing, day adventures, and a great dinner. Our hotel bar closed at 7 which was a little disappointing, as if we wanted to get a drink after dinner we'd have to stay inside at the restaurant bar. The food was all delicious, as usual. Kauai really was breathtaking. We just felt moreso relaxed and rested here. I think when we make it back to Hawaii we'll go to Maui and Oahu.

We wouldn't change a thing about our honeymoon! It was so perfect, relaxing, and just an all around great trip to start our marriage on. I could so use a Mai Tai and the Pacific Ocean right now.

Where to go next?

Honeymoon in Hawaii! Part 1: Maui

What better way to break this baby in than with recapping our honeymoon in the beautiful Hawaii. I'm insanely jealous looking back at these photos and really need to plan our next getaway STAT! With all the snow, cold temps and the threat of the next polar vortex approaching, I think we all need some warm tropical surroundings.

We started off our journey on a direct flight from JFK to Honolulu. The flight there was really decent. They estimated for 10 and a half hours to get there, but if I recall we made it in about 9 hours 45 minutes. We napped, watched a movie or two, ate some food and napped some more. From there we hopped onto a connector flight to our first destination: Maui!

We stayed at the Westin Maui on Ka'anapali Beach for the first 5 nights. The location was great! There was a little shopping mall just to the right of our hotel which had a bunch of different shops, restaurants, etc. It was a great location. One restaurant we ate at was seated just along the beach with tiki torches lighting the sidewalk. It was picture perfect. The Mai Tai's were great, the breakfast was good, we didn't really have anything bad to say about our stay here.

They were doing all sorts of renovations at the hotel but we lucked out with being in a separate wing. Originally they put us in an ocean view room, on the 3rd floor. The view was really just the roof of the second floor. We were disappointed and they upgraded us to a room on a higher floor. We didn't get the grand king sized bed, but it was a much better view!

The Road to Hana - I made Wayne drive! There's three hundred some odd one laned bridges to cross. Well back up, we went to Boss Frog's and were given a free cd to listen to that told you the sights, history, etc as you drove along. This was definitely a great idea! The road winds you along the coast of East Maui. The views are seriously amazing. We started fairly early and are happy we did as it takes about 4 hours each way if you're stopping and sight seeing. You pass waterfalls, state parks, trails, etc. It's endless. We really enjoyed sitting back, listening to the cd and taking in all of the gorgeous scenery. I think our favorite was the stop at the national park with the black sand beach.

Sunrise / Bike down Mt. Haleakala - So cold, yet so worth it! They claimed the temps were around 40, but we both believed it was around freezing. We had a 2am shuttle pick up that brought us and a group up to the top of the mountain. We were at about 6,500 ft. You got out, stood around for about 1.5-2 hours and watched the sun rise. You're literally above the clouds! So cool! We then got taken up to 10k feet to the summit. We walked around a bit there, and then headed back to around 6,000 ft to bike down. A little scary, but the environment was very controlled. We had to go in a single file line with girls in the front and guys in the back. It wasn't terrible as we stopped every now and then for pictures, to let cars pass, etc. This was a great experience and we are so happy we did it!

Other than that we did a sunset catamaran, drove down to some cool remote beaches, and checked out the little whaling village, Lahaina. One night we were lucky enough to get seats to the Old Lahaina Luau. It's generally booked up about a month in advance, we were so excited to be able to get seats! The show was really cool and it was a great experience! A must do for a Hawaiian Luau.

I could so go for a Mai Tai and this view right about now

Ka'anapali Beach - our hotel beach.

Flying into Honolulu.

View from our balcony.

 

 

yummmm.

Mai Tai's!

Tree growing in the center of Lahaina.

Fresh tuna bruschetta! 

Rainbow eucalyptus trees. The bark almost looked fake!

Example of a one lane bridge, and we were stuck in a traffic jam? 

Dinner amongst tiki torches! 

Inside the crater at the top of Mt. Haleakala.

Above the clouds. Breathtaking!

Big Beach.

Off to Kauai!!