- Dave

To see the video in QuickTime format, click here for a small version (faster download) and click here for a larger version (bigger picture). Likewise for Windows Media format: click here for a small version and click here for a larger version. Enjoy!

Also, Dave had his GPS thing on while we were flying, so if you’d like to see the route we took, check out the map and altitude chart below (people reading this via email will have to go to our web site to view it). The tour started in the southeast corner in a town named Lihue and goes in a clockwise loop:

- Meredith

During our stay, we saw the two major landscape attractions, the Na Pali Coast and Waimea Canyon.

The Na Pali Coast looks like this:

View of the Na Pali Coast from the air 

View of the Na Pali Coast from the water 

The coast is not accessible by car, so to view it, there are several options: a 5-hour round-trip boat ride across choppy water, an all-day kayak tour (one-way; get picked up by support vehicle on the other side), a 22-mile roundtrip hike over very difficult/steep/slippery terrain, and a helicopter tour.  We did a boat ride and a helicopter tour.

The Waimea Canyon looks like this:

View of the Waimea Canyon from the air

The canyon is accessible by car, which we did on a somewhat rainy day, so the incredible views were mostly hidden from us that day.  But the helicopter tour we took was on a nicer day, so we got to see the canyon from above.  There are also miles and miles of hiking trails in the park, which we didn’t venture onto because of the rain, and because my ankle still isn’t 100%.  One of many reasons to come back to Hawaii.

We also visited some of the island’s many waterfalls and scenic beach vistas.  Here are some pictures from our relaxing week in Kauai:

Dave and Meredith on our Na Pali Coast boat ride

One of Kauai’s many beautiful beaches

Kauai is full of waterfalls

Dave and Meredith after our helicopter tour; notice the stupid grins on our faces, as well as the Hughes 500 helicopter with no doors! 

- Meredith

P.S. We have some video of the helicopter tour.  We’ll post it as soon as we edit it down.

1. Arrive, tour the grounds.
2. Imu ceremony to unearth a pig you will be eating soon.
3. Bar opens, watered-down mai tais are served while a Hawaiian trio (ukulele, guitar, singer) performs.
4. Find a place to sit among 500 of your closest friends.  Meet the people sitting across from you.
5. Buffet opens, get food, sit down, try poi and not like it.
6. Head to theater for Polynesian extravaganza complete with erupting volcano.

The strengths of the luau we went to are the beautiful grounds (lots of flowers, trees, and birds) and the food, which was really very good (except the poi).  The show was decent, but the guys in the show lacked enthusiasm.  Also, half of them were scrawny teenagers.  The ladies did a better job.

Here are some pics from the evening:

A peacock chases a peahen on the grounds (given how much the peacock shook his feathers to try to attract the female, they should have put him on stage during the show)

Unearthing the pig in the Imu ceremony

A Hawaiian dance

A Tahitian dance

A Maori dance with poi balls (not the same kind of poi served at the buffet; perhaps these would have been tastier)

The show ended with a Samoan fire dance

-Meredith

It’s probably not what you’re thinking.  Here he is:

What?  A rooster?

Yep.  A lot of these guys (and gals) got loose in a big hurricane in 1992, and now there are feral roosters and hens roaming all over Kauai.  Talk about your free-range chicken.

The roosters crow all day and night.  Maybe the hurricane scrambled their internal clocks.

- Meredith

We stayed up above Kapa’a town on the east side of the island.

- Meredith