On Day 7, our first full day in Kaua’i, we woke up at dark o’clock to drive over to Eleele, where we boarded a catamaran for a seven-hour tour that would take us up the Na Pali Coast and to see Niihau Island. Neither of us is a morning person, but we fought our sleepiness and embarked on the boat, banking on the promise that we would see some of the most stunning views of the island of Kaua’i.
The catamaran parked itself near Niihau Island, where passengers got the opportunity to go snorkeling for an hour before lunch. Here are some nice underwater shots that Dan took while snorkeling!
Here’s some video footage that Dan took with my camera while snorkeling…
After snorkeling and lunch, it was time to head back to Kaua’i. The crew purposely gave us a very bumpy and exhilarating ride back! You can see more photos from the Na Pali Coast and Niihau Island in this photo album. If you are ever in Kaua’i and are considering a catamaran trip to see the Na Pali Coast, we really recommend Holo Holo Charters! They had top notch service and were really knowledgeable and skilled, and very personable, too! 🙂
When we got back to land, it was still the early afternoon, so we had plenty more things to do and places to see…
Jo Jo’s Shave Ice was strongly recommended as the best shaved ice in Kaua’i, so we stopped by while we were in Waimea.
Jo Jo’s Shave Ice was really good and was very refreshing, especially on a hot day! I personally still liked Waiola from Oahu better, but Jo Jo’s was definitely the best shaved ice we had in Kaua’i. (And we got shaved ice pretty much every day while we were on Kaua’i… haha* It was so hot there!)
After making our way through winding dirt roads for over half an hour, we finally reached our destination in Waimea: The Waimea Canyon!
For dinner, we stopped at the Shrimp Station in Waimea. If you know how much I love shrimp, you can imagine how psyched I was to go here….
We then drove back to our hotel in Kapaa to kick back and relax for the rest of the evening.
Dan cut open this mystery fruit that he picked up at the roadside vendor. To this day, we’re still uncertain of what it’s called, but we were curious so we decided to try it out. To be honest, it was not very good…
After waking up super early in the morning, we were totally pooped by the end of the day! We got to see so many amazing sights though, both along the Na Pali Coast and at Waimea Canyon — these are definite must-sees if you are ever in Kaua’i. 🙂
July 17, 2010 @ 2:22 am
I love your pictures =)
Kauai looks like a very pretty place!! =D
July 17, 2010 @ 12:55 pm
Thanks Erikaã¡ã‚ƒã‚“! 🙂
Kaua’i was very pretty! You should definitely go sometime. I want to go back someday… ♥
July 17, 2010 @ 5:59 am
Hi Misono-chan^^
Your pictures look amazing!!! Glad you enjoyed Hawaii^^ I hope I can visit other islands too someday.
By the way, what kind of camera do you use? Is it a water proof camera? Pictures came out so pretty!!
July 17, 2010 @ 1:00 pm
Hi Komy! Thanks for commenting! 😀
Hawaii was so much fun ~ Thank you for sharing your recommendations with us for Oahu! They came in really handy and we were marking all over your itinerary to figure out what we wanted to do there. Did you see all the same places we went (from the previous days’ posts)? You were right, Lanikai Beach was gorgeous and Manoa Fallsã«ã¯ã™ã”ãç™’ã•ã‚ŒãŸï¼
I have a regular point-and-shoot camera, the Canon SD1100, but my friend Estella very generously let us use her waterproof case because she has the same camera! You can find different ones here for Canon! They’re really reliable in keeping water out and still taking great photos and having all of the controls over your settings. It’s a little bulky but a great design! ã™ã”ã便利ãªã®ã§ãŠå‹§ã‚ã™ã‚‹ã‚ˆï¼I think a lot of camera companies make them, and if you travel a lot, I think it’s a good investment. 🙂
July 17, 2010 @ 8:36 am
OMG! That baby dolphin in your pic made me so excited! Dolphins are SOOOO awesome (I sound like the double rainbow guy…) Did you see the baby dolphin we saw?? http://bit.ly/ce2OBl
July 17, 2010 @ 1:02 pm
I was SO excited to see the dolphins! I think this is my first time seeing them in person period, actually! It looks like you got to see the dolphins pretty up close, too! They were so cute… ♥
Did you see all the awesome photographs we were able to take with your underwater case? Thank you so much for letting us use it! Everyone on the catamaran was actually asking us about it; they were really impressed!
July 19, 2010 @ 7:42 am
Yay! I’m glad y’all were able to take lots of good pics with the underwater case! Yeah, I get a lot of people asking me when I bring it out too. It looks like it’s a play toy…. hahah
We went with a Southern catamaran trip too… I have ZERO idea what the name of it is at this point right now, hahah, but yes! Still gorgeous! They sped through the waves on the way back to the port–super exhilarating!
July 17, 2010 @ 9:23 am
love the updates! and i forgot to tell you Daniel and i did the same thing, we took a boat around the island and it stopped to let us snorkel around – but the bad thing about Kauai is yes – its the oldest reef of the islands so there’s not that much to look at except the few fish that are there. 🙂
July 17, 2010 @ 1:05 pm
The catamaran trip was really cool! Did you go on the same catamaran or a different one? I heard that seeing the Na Pali Coast going from the Northern side of the island is even better, but we ended up going from the Southern end instead – it was still beautiful!
You’re right that there weren’t as many cool fish there to see while snorkeling… but we did get to see some great sea life the next day at Tunnels! (In pretty shallow water, too!)
Can’t wait to see you tomorrow at brunch, love ♥
July 19, 2010 @ 10:14 pm
It sounds like the catamaran services have a lot of the same/similar packages… some of my other friends got to do the same things (like snorkeling) but on different charters. 🙂
Check out some of the photos from Tunnels – we got some neat underwater shots of sea turtles! 🙂 Thank you so much again for letting us use your awesome case! 😀
July 17, 2010 @ 10:40 pm
Ahh!! I recognize these places! 😀 I went on a catamaran tour of the Na Pali coastand went to Waimea Canyon! They had a dinky little fruit stand set up at Waimea and had the BEST pineapple just in a plastic bag. OMG, it was so good!
I’m very intrigued by Nihau. I have a shell necklace from there that was a treasure to me. 🙂
July 19, 2010 @ 10:21 pm
haha* It sounds like we did a lot of the same things! Did you see that we went to Hamura’s Saimin Stand (on the previous day) based on your recommendation? It was so good! 😀
We had some pineapple while in Kaua’i too and it was AMAZING. We’re suffering from cravings for it now that we’re back in California… 🙁
I was really fascinated by the stories they told us about Niihau Island too. Kind of crazy how they live such an isolated, bare bones lifestyle and are so strictly Calvinist Christian….