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Sunset Beach and Banzai Pipeline
On Friday, we headed up to Sunset Beach for a beautiful sunset. Added to the awesome evening were the HUGE pipeline waves and tons of surfers and bodyboarders. It was awesome! It was my first chance seeing the pipeline and I was amazed at the power of the waves and the surfers that successfully conquered them. We stayed until it was almost dark out and people were still surfing and bodyboarding. It was so awesome that we went back on Sunday to catch the waves during the daylight hours. They were just as amazing, if not bigger and there were even more people out. It’s hard to imagine that they get even bigger as we head into the winter months!
Beautiful sunset!
My mom and I enjoying the sunset.
Love the sky.
Love the clouds through the trees.
Giant waves!
Surfing!
Shark’s Cove Beach Time
This past week, we headed up to the North Shore of Oahu for some snorkeling at Shark’s Cove. Unfortunately, the waves were HUGE so we didn’t get too much snorkeling in. However, we had some great beach time and really enjoyed watching the amazing waves hit the rocks.
Big waves! Hard to imagine we were out there a few months ago.
My mom requested a selfie.
John watching the waves.
John and Jan walking up from snorkeling.
Jan putting her toes in the water!
Sisters admiring the ocean.
My mom. Love this shot!
Sandy Beach Park
On Monday, I decided to take the long way to work and drive around the East side of the island. It is quite possibly the prettiest drive on Oahu and I was due for traveling that way and enjoying the phenomenal views. On my way there, I stopped at Sandy Beach Park. It’s a big bodyboarding beach so I stopped to check out the people taking in the waves. The surf break is pretty powerful and I would never get in, but it was great to watch people who know what they are doing against the strong current ride the waves!
Kauai: Trip 2 – Day 2
On Sunday, Josh and I got up super early to hike to Hanakapi’ai Falls. The hike is about eight miles round trip and we wanted to have enough time to come back and shower before we checked out. We were both really excited to be back on the Kalalau trail for the first time since our “first date”. We had MUCH better weather this time…no rain at all! The first two miles of the trail, we had already hiked when we hiked to Kalalau beach last year. The views of the Na Pali coast are stunning even a half mile in.
The start of the trail..the first half mile is all uphill on these boulders.
View of Ke’e beach (where we began the hike).
Beautiful morning.
The first glimpse of the Na Pali coast. Never gets old.
This was a much steeper drop off than it seems in the picture!
Hanakapi’ai Beach. This beach didn’t exist when we hiked last time.
We made it to Hanakapi’ai Beach in about an hour. It was amazing to see the beach as it was completely covered by the ocean in the winter when we hiked last year. It was practically empty when we got there.
We took a picture of this sign on the way back from our hike last time. It marks the number of people who have lost their lives at the beach.
Last time we crossed this river we had a rope tied around our waists holding us together. We also had water up to our chests and there was nothing but rushing river water and open ocean. Terrifying.
So calm.
Looking at the river on the day we hiked, you would think these signs weren’t necessary!
Hanakapi’ai Beach.
After we crossed the river, we veered to the left instead of the right to hike to Hanakapi’ai Falls. The hike itself wasn’t too bad…we crossed the river about three more times on our way to the falls and it took us about an hour and a half to get there. The waterfall itself was absolutely amazing. The most beautiful waterfall we have hiked to yet (and we’ve hiked to A LOT). It was HUGE! Definitely worth waking up early for! We spent about 15 minutes at the falls and then started on our way back. Most people hike there to swim and enjoy the pool, but we didn’t have time to stay that long. Maybe next time!
An old wall at the beginning of the trail.
The valley we were about to hike in.
Giant frogs everywhere!
HUGE bamboo. Tons of different groves of it.
More warning signs.
The first glimpse of the falls.
Amazing.
There was one other person there. He is standing closer to the falls. I took a picture with him in it to show how large the waterfall is.
We found a cat on the trail back. So sweet!
After we finished our hike, we headed back to the hotel to quickly shower and change. We were both starving, so we visited Kauai pasta. It was so delicious, but we were so hungry I completely forgot to take pictures of our amazing food! After stuffing ourselves, we headed north again to visit the Kilauea lighthouse. We visited this last year, but it was under renovation. I wanted to go back and see it now that all the renovations were completed. Surrounding the lighthouse is a bird sanctuary. It’s absolutely stunning with water on all three sides of the lighthouse and beautiful birds flying all around!
Kilauea Lighthouse.
Birds flying everywhere.
Nene!
So beautiful!
After that, we headed to the airport to catch an earlier flight than planned. We were exhausted and ready to come home!
Kauai: Trip 2 – Day 1
This past weekend, Josh and I took our fourth trip to Kauai (which I believe we have 100% determined to be our favorite island). This time, we ventured there to take a boat tour of the Na Pali coast and to hike to Hanakapi’ai Falls.
Our Saturday morning started out bright and early as we had an hour drive to the boat harbor where we would be departing on our tour. We left at 7:00 a.m. and headed towards the Na Pali coast. Our guide told us that there had been a really large swell the past few days that made it impossible to go in the caves and snorkel as well as, made the boat ride an extremely rough one. We lucked out! We were able to do all of the above and had an amazing experience.
One of the things I was incredibly excited about was the chance that we would get to see Hawaiian spinner dolphins. I have wanted to see dolphins out in the open water since I’ve lived here, but hadn’t gotten to experience that yet. I definitely fixed that on this trip! We saw TONS of them on multiple occasions. Our first encounter provided us with a small pod that had a few babies in it. One of them was the size of a football and was so incredibly cute. They were on all sides of our boat and periodically jumped out of the water to spin. It was amazing!
You can see the tiny baby between the two bigger dolphins. So cute!
Right on the side of our boat. Amazing!
Another baby dolphin and the mom.
RIGHT in front of our boat.
We were surrounded by them.
Leading our boat. They also liked to surf on the wake behind us.
Showing off a little further out!
More showing off!
After getting to experience the dolphins, we continued on to the indescribable beauty of the cliffs of the Na Pali coast. To see it from this angle was, to put it mildly, absolutely stunning. Every time I see this landscape, I always think I’m prepared because I have seen it multiple times before…and I will no longer experience the awe of what I am taking in. However, it never disappoints. Every single time it nearly takes my breath away.
The privately owned island of Niihau.
You can see in the rocks where the earth cracked and then new lava filled in. Pretty amazing.
First glimpse of the cliffs.
Waterfall along the coast.
Kalalau beach. Much prettier than when we hiked to it.
Kalalau valley.
The absurd red hill that we had to claw our way up b/c it was a mudslide when we hiked it!
The scary part of the hike…crawler’s ledge. Looks much less scary on the boat.
After we made it down the whole coast, we turned around to head back. On our trip back, we got to venture inside the sea caves and get a little closer to the coast.
Sitting inside the first sea cave.
We went in one entrance and came out of another…we came out practically under this waterfall.
Sea cave. We went in one entrance and out of the other one.
Kalalau valley.
This part of the coast is called the cathedrals.
The entrance to the sea cave framing the waterfall.
This cave was open on the top. Years of erosion from the water hitting the top of the cave made it fall in.
The rock in the middle was the top of the sea cave at one point.
After touring the sea caves and taking more pictures of the coast, we were able to stop and snorkel for a little bit. Oddly enough, only Josh and I snorkeled out of the six people on our tour. It was a little rough, but there were some pretty big fish. Josh also got to see a HUGE sea turtle. I unfortunately got out about five minutes before he did and missed it! He got great footage of it though!
Needle fish.
The biggest turtle!
After having some snacks and drying off, we headed back to the harbor. On our way back we came across about five times as many dolphins as we had encountered in the beginning of our tour. They were jumping out of the water everywhere, surfing our wake and just swimming all around us.
I love that they just look like they are loving life!
So happy and so free!
Literally surrounded by them.
After seeing dolphins for the second time, we made it back to the harbor around noon. We were both pretty exhausted and starving. We made it back to our hotel and grabbed a bite to eat. After that, we took a ridiculously long nap (I had taken dramamine and was seasick and we were both exhausted from lack of sleep). We woke up, grabbed dinner at the restaurant we ate at after we hiked the Kalalau Trail last year and headed back to our hotel. We packed up our stuff and headed to bed in preparation for another early morning!
Dead Man’s Catwalk
Today, Josh, Becca, Ben and I hiked to Dead Man’s Catwalk in Hawaii Kai. It’s a quick hike that is paved for most of the way and is almost entirely uphill. It has a really unique, beautiful view at the top and luckily for us, it was a gorgeous day. Definitely a fun, efficient hike I would do again!
The start of the hike from the neighborhood.
The incredible view!
Enjoying the view of the windward coast.
Dead Man’s Catwalk!
Lanai: Day 2
On our second day there, we got up and had breakfast at our hotel before venturing out for some more off-roading. We had granola, fruit, coffee and orange juice.
Our breakfast at Hotel Lanai.
After breakfast, we met Ben and Becca and headed to our first adventure of the day in the jeep…the Munro Trail. We were hesitant about this trail because the rental car company said it was closed to jeeps. However, after much research we established that it could be driven and that people did it all the time. It turned out to be the easiest off-roading adventure we had our entire time on the island. It also was the prettiest!
Looking into an offshoot of the Munro Trail.
The incredible views begin…
Josh and I.
Ben and Becca.
Becca and I in the back of the very dusty jeep. We were covered in red dirt.
The Munro Trail.
Random gate that we went through to check out the view.
Pretty awesome view from the jeep.
The Munro trail marker at the end.
Trees along the highway…Ben’s favorite thing.
After the Munro Trail, we headed back to Lanai City to grab some stuff for a picnic and headed toward Shipwreck Beach (Kaiolohia) on the northeast corner of Lanai. We sat on some rocks and enjoyed the views of the 1940s oil tanker that still sits on the reef today after being beached there for the past 70 years. We also were joined by numerous sea turtles hanging out in the water near us. Quite a surreal lunch!
The sign before Shipwreck Beach. I love this picture.
So awesome!
Becca making us lunch!
Enjoying lunch!
Love this one!
After having a peaceful lunch with the turtles, we headed to South Lanai to do some snorkeling along the beach at Hulopoe Bay. Ben had never been snorkeling, so it was a first for him (even though he’s scuba dived). We got some great video footage of our snorkel adventure!
Hulopoe Beach Snorkeling Video
The view of Hulopoe Beach on our way to Pu’u Pehe Rock.
After a couple hours of snorkeling, we hiked a short trail to the left to Pu’u Pehe (Sweetheart Rock). I was expecting it to be a cool iconic rock, but we turned the corner and were blown away by the how striking it was. There is a reason it is one of the most photographed places on Lanai. We walked to the top of the cliffs (where someone was actually proposing right as we got near the top). We had a great view of the small beaches down below. We could also see some of the bright yellow fish we had seen snorkeling earlier from all the way up there (about 100 feet).
Panoramic of Pu’u Pehe.
Small beach.
A long drop!
Looking back at the beaches.
Sea cliffs near Pu’u Pehe.
After climbing back down from viewing Pu’u Pehe, we packed up the jeep and headed back to Lanai City. We returned the jeep, showered and got ready for dinner at Lanai City Grille (which conveniently for us was located in our hotel). I had read nothing but great reviews and wanted to make sure we made a stop here on our trip. The restaurant did not disappoint! We all split entrees and they were still huge portions! It was a great last evening on our vacation :).
Josh and I’s appetizer: Crab Dip with Tortilla Chips.
Becca and Ben’s appetizer: Ahi Poke Tacos.
Pecan Crusted Fresh Mahi Mahi that Josh and I shared.
BBQ Baby Back Ribs that Becca and Ben shared.
Dessert! LCG Bread Pudding.
Lanai: Day 1
On Saturday, Josh and I headed to our final island (of the six that you can actually travel to) which was Lanai. I will say that we had expectations for a really cool trip, but that the island absolutely blew our expectations away. We had a phenomenal time for the three days we were there and would love to go back even though we saw pretty much everything we could possibly see.
We landed around 7:00 am and picked up our jeep and head to Blue Ginger Cafe for breakfast. We both had breakfast sandwiches and then started our adventure. Almost all of Lanai is seen by off-roading in a jeep….which was pretty incredible and also VERY bumpy in portions!
Lanai Airport
Breakfast sandwich from Blue Ginger Cafe.
Our first adventure was heading to the Garden of the Gods (Keahiakawelo). Garden of the Gods is a natural rock garden…when you are standing in it you feel like you are on Mars…definitely not in Hawaii! It was incredibly beautiful and unique! We also drove through the Kanepuu Preserve to get there. It is the largest remains of a dry land forest in Hawaii. It was quite scenic with the red dirt and pine trees.
On our way to the Garden of the Gods. The red dirt is caked on the trees. Super pretty!
Josh in the Garden of the Gods.
After stopping at the Garden of the Gods, we continued on to Polihua Beach on the north side of the island. The beach was about two miles long and there were only two other people there (which is a lot for this beach). It is located across the channel from Molokai so we had great views! It was incredibly windy, so not the best beach for laying out and getting a tan, but we did sit and enjoy the solitude for a couple of minutes.
The drive was incredible to Polihua Beach!
Driving up to the beach. Great picture!
No one around!
After a very bumpy off-road adventure to Polihua, we headed back toward Lanai City to the south of town to find the Luahiwa Petroglyphs. We had a bit of trouble finding them on the maze of red dirt roads, but once we found them it was pretty cool to see! It is one of the largest collections of petroglyphs in Hawaii and are from the 15th Century when Lanai was first settled by ancient Hawaiians.
This sign pointed to two roads…not helpful.
Finally we made it!
The lava rocks with petroglyphs on them!
After the petroglyphs, we headed further south to continue our education of the ancient Hawaiian culture to Kaunolu Village. Kaunolu Village is the remains of a historic fishing retreat for Kamehameha I. We saw the remains of a heiau, many remains of buildings and Kaneapua Rock.
Halulu Heiau
Panoramic of the shore and Kaneapu Rock.
Kaneapu Rock
After touring Kaunolu Village, we headed back toward Lanai City to grab a quick snack and check into our hotel. We had a smoothie and an açaí bowl at Coffee Works and checked in at Hotel Lanai. Our hotel was incredible. Built in 1923 with 10 rooms and a cottage, it was quite the historic gem and we loved staying there!
My smoothie from Coffee Works.
Josh’s açaí bowl from Coffee Works.
Hotel Lanai. Loved it!
Unique flower in front of our hotel.
Our room!
While I checked in at the hotel, Josh went to pick up Becca and Ben at the airport (we had a two door jeep so it was a tight squeeze with their luggage and three people). They checked in to their B&B and we all met up for dinner! We had calamari and a great pizza at Pele’s Other Garden then headed to Kaumalapau Harbor for the sunset. It was beautiful! We actually got to see the sun hit the water..no clouds blocking it! It was a great way to end our first day on Lanai!
Becca and Ben enjoying the sunset.
Josh, Becca and I enjoying the sea cliffs..that Josh was obsessed with.
Josh, Becca and I enjoying the view!
Amazing clouds right after the sunset.
Polihua Beach
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365 Days Of Hawaii 