Yesterday, we went to the Honolulu Museum of Art for our field trip for work. We only went to a part of the museum, but I should definitely go back. It’s only about three blocks from where I live and they had some really neat pieces! A few of my favorites below.
On Sunday, Josh and I got up and checked out of our hotel and headed for the Maha’ulepu Beach Trail. On our drive there, we drove through the “tunnel of trees”. Our helicopter pilot had pointed it out from the air the day before saying how many tourists stopped in the middle of the road to take a picture. We opted to take a picture, but keep moving a the same time. It was definitely beautiful though!
Maluhia Road (Tunnel of Trees)
We hiked along the South coast of Kauai for about a mile. It was a beautiful mix of sand, rocks and trees. It was a great way to start our day!
After the hike, we drove the short distance over to see what Poipu Beach was all about. It’s supposed to be a very popular beach on Kauai…turns out it is…it was extremely crowded, but looked like it was a fun place to go snorkeling.
We then drove over to Spouting Horn blowhole. The ocean was pretty calm, so it wasn’t that active. However, it was still a beautiful area…plus we spent time daydreaming about the incredible houses that lined the coast on the way there.
After that, we headed back toward Lihue to catch our flight back. SO HAPPY that we finally got to take a helicopter tour!
Josh and I landed on Kauai Friday evening for our third trip to the island for a quick weekend away from Oahu. We were only an hour late (which is pretty awesome on an inter-island Island Air flight), but since everything on Kauai shuts down at 9:00 p.m., we had few choices for dinner. We grabbed food at Duke’s in Lihue and then checked into our hotel (Kauai Beach Resort).
The entire purpose of this trip was to take a helicopter tour of the island. In February of 2012, Josh and I hiked the Kalalau Trail along the Na Pali coast of Kauai. It was an ridiculous trip (for many reasons) and during those 22 miles there and back, we kept hearing all of the helicopters above us. We decided that we were coming back to Kauai and viewing our amazing hike from up above. We went back to Kauai in September of 2012 to do just that, but got rained out for our tour (shocking). However, I am happy to report that this trip was a COMPLETE success! We had the most amazing helicopter tour with Jack Harter Helicopters. We flew in a helicopter with doors off for a whole hour around the island. We had great weather and the views were incredible! It was by far the highlight of our trip :).
After our helicopter tour, we headed to Wailua River to go kayaking. We kayaked two miles upriver to Secret Falls (120 ft water fall). We hiked (much further than we thought) in extremely muddy conditions to the waterfall. I had flip flops on (horrible idea) and we were covered in mud by the time we left.
After kayaking, we went to view ‘Opaeka’a Falls. It was late in the day, so we didn’t get that great of a shot. But it was huge!
After quickly stopping there, we went back to the hotel and got ready for dinner at Hukilau Lanai. We sat out on the patio and enjoyed some amazing food after a terrific day!
Today for work we went to the Hawaii Nature Center to explore the trails there. We spent over two hours fishing in the stream, observing the plants in the area and searching for “decomposers” (bugs such as millipedes, beetles, roaches and worms that decompose the leaves and make soil). It was really cool to learn all about the different types of wildlife in the stream. We caught tons of freshwater shrimp…they are incredibly small..and see-through!
Today, I ventured to the Waikiki Aquarium for work. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but they had great displays of the different marine life around Hawaii. My favorite were the two monk seals. One of them was abandoned at two days old by his mother. When he was rescued, they discovered he has cataracts and about 20% of his vision left. Once he was healthy, they set him free to live in the wild but he rapidly started losing weight because he couldn’t see to find his food. They brought him back in and he has lived at the aquarium ever since. He hopped up on the rocks while we were there. The volunteer that was educating us about him said any time he hears someone by his back gate he goes to investigate who it is. She said he loves the human interaction and just likes to spend time with people. The other monk seal that was there is significantly older and was abandoned at three weeks old by his mother. He is less active since he is older and gets really excited to be fed. Loved hearing their stories!
365 Days Of Hawaii 