Looking back: Kauai

Not much going on around here recently, so I thought I'd take a look back to a time before I had this blog, to a place that I'd much like to visit again: Kauai

It was our first and only (so far) trip to the Hawaiian islands, and it was amazing in so many ways. Since I don't remember every detail, I'll let the photos do the talking.

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Note that this was before I had a DSLR, and in 2005 point and shoot cameras were not nearly as good as they are today, so I apologize if any of the images are rough. I post-processed as best I could...

Okay, I changed my mind about keeping quiet. That tiny gecko was on the apartment wall when we arrived the first night. Welcome to another world!

The view of the Na Pali coast, where no roads go:

Probably the most beautiful spot I've ever seen!

A view of the area where we stayed (Poipu):

Next is the area around Kawailoa Bay -- I don't remember where exactly, except that we had to drive on a rough dirt plantation road to get there. Thanks little rental car!

It was so rugged and beautiful there! We saw a couple of other people here, but pretty much had it all to ourselves.

This is definitely Kawailoa Bay:

I only know that now because of satellite maps -- those dunes are quite distinctive. I remember looking down into the water and seeing so many tropical fish. Water so clear, breeze so tropical. Sigh.

One day we drove to the north side of the island, where the weather was much different:

To be fair it may have been the same on the south side, but since we were not there I'll just stick to my memory that the north coast is greyer and colder than the south.

We did take a boat tour one day and were joined by dolphins:

Also saw flying fish on that ride -- so great!

Great views of the Na Pali coast from the boat too...

...so we got to see it from both sides! (I can't remember if we hiked up there before or after the boat tour...)

On one of our hikes I couldn't resist photographing the soil:

Welcome to Mars, right?

I think this was a shot from Poipu beach, probably on the day we were leaving:

We spent a lot of time at the water's edge. I snorkeled a lot too:

To this day I can't adequately describe the excitement of being in water that's 3 feet deep at most, putting your mask into the water and seeing that you're surrounded by tropical fish of all colors and sizes, some of them literally inches from your mask, swimming just below the water's surface. What a surprise! What a great memory.

Since this trip was back in 2005 before the gardening bug bit too hard* we didn't visit any of the parks or nature reserves -- other than what we saw when hiking up to Na Pali.

(*that was 2006 when I got garden obsessed -- maybe this trip helped me realize that I wanted to be surrounded by natural wonders, even if they're of my own creation?)

I hope you liked this little taste of Kauai. I'm glad it's not colder outside, or I'd be seriously longing for a return trip...

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