We began the day with a helicopter tour of the entire island...by and far one of the most amazing things I've ever done in my life. (IF you ever visit Kauai...splurge and do it...and use Blue Hawaiian and request pilot Andy). Helicopters by themselves are just amazing...you feel like you are just hanging in the sky and like you are really flying instead of being in something that is flying like you feel in a plane. We did amazing things like fly down inside a volcano crater (inactive for thousands of years...don't worry!) and get so close to cliffs it felt like we could reach out and touch them! We also saw another whale breaching in the ocean and flew by the Napali coastline which is only reachable by hiking, helicopter or boat. Beautiful!
Keith's stepdad picked these amazing flowers for us to wear on the drive to the south shore for our helicopter tour!
Keith and I with our headsets on ready to go! The tour guide gave us a super informative tour and we could ask questions through a special microphone...and we got a DVD of our exact tour complete with footage of ourselves and the audio of the tour and all of our questions!
Our fantastic helicopter in action!!
View of Waimea Canyon from my seat!
Waipo'o Falls....the waterfall in the famous scene in Jurassic Park where the helicopter lands at the base of a waterfall.
After the helicopter tour we had an amazing brunch of pancakes and omlettes at a diner around the corner from the airport and then explored the south shore of the island. One of our stops was the Hyatt resort where we took the following photos of fun natural stuff!
Black swan and coy at the Hyatt pond.
Bird of paradise plant at the Hyatt garden.
After some more driving around and a bit of shopping we took the rental car off-road down this BuMpY dirt road and parked at the end where we hiked among some cliffs and then curled up on Shipwreck beach for about an hour before heading back to the North shore. The highlight of the beach excursion by far was another monk seal....this time it was a baby monk seal camped out on the beach. The forest rangers had put up signs and roped off the area where it was camped so we couldn't get too close...but we got a few snapshots.
You found us! :) Goofing around on the cliffs.
the surf crashing against the cliffs.
hiking along the volcanic rock...don't trip! That stuff is SHARP!
hole in the cliff where the surf comes in under the rock and makes crazy splashes inside! Don't fall in!
The beach where we laid out. All to ourselves! Love it!
Warning sign for the monk seal.
Keith's mom and stepdad made these self-portraits in the sand while we hiked off to see the baby seal. The one on the left is his mom...complete with hair-do! and on the right is Rick...who went so far as to give himself ribs! Hilarious!
After our adventures for the day were over we headed back to the condo where his parents grilled yummy steaks and made yellow yams. One of the best dinners ever! We ate at the dining room table and then swapped stories and laughed for about an hour. Keith and I took a stroll on Hanalei Bay Beach after dinner and got back to the condo just in time for the heavens to open and rain to POUR down! I fell asleep with my windows open listening to the rain pound the ground. A perfect end to an amazing day!
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1 comment:
I am enjoying reading about your trip. Looks so gorgeous. I went to Nashville today and thought of you. Watch out for those monk seals!
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