Cris and I spent ten marvelous, relaxing days in Poipu Beach, Kauai with friends Bob and Yvonne in a condo with amazing views! We saw whales jumping and spouting, dolphins frolicking, paddle boarders, and lots of boats from our lanai.
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| View looking west over Brenneke and Poipu beaches from our lanai |
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| We looked over the top of another group of condos |
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| Over the top of the unit in front of us |
We also saw gorgeous sunsets every evening.
One morning we traveled up to the North Shore past Hanali to visit the the Maniniholo Dry Cave located across from Ha'ena Beach Park. There is folk lore about the formation of this cave. It is named after Maniniholo, the legendary head fisherman of
the menehune, Kauai's mythical little people. The menehune fishermen
used to catch many fish at Ha'ena. They left some of their catch right
here under the cliff and the rest they carried to the menehune in the
island's interior. However, when they returned, they noticed that an
akua (evil spirit) took the fish they had left there. So to catch the
akua, they started digging the cave that you see today.The other explanation is that the ocean used to be higher and the cave was formed from
thousands of years of wave action eroding the cliff at its base. If you have a flashlight you can walk a ways back into the darkness. Yvonne and I tried, but we didn't get too far! Scaawy!
We wound our way around to several waterfalls on the way back to the south side of the island.
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| Opakea'a Falls |
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| Wailua Falls |
On our morning walks, we saw Monk Seals and Green Sea Turtles that had come onto the beach for a rest and to warm up and dry off. Since both species are endangered, volunteers were there to rope off the area so they would be undisturbed while they slept.
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| Isn't that a great face? |
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| The turtles looked exhausted! |
On our morning walks we got coffee at Brenneke's and walked along the beach and on the paths of the various waterfront resort hotels.
Our favorite was the Grand Hyatt.
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| Yvonne and I taking a rest |
One morning we drove to the rock outcropping beside Shipwreck Beach to watch the sunrise. To our surprise we found a shipwrecked boat. The man had been out fishing at night and had fallen asleep. His nephew and niece were helping him salvage things from the boat to keep it from completely swamping. We offered help, but they only wanted to use our phone. A real ship wreck on Shipwreck Beach! Luckily the uncle only suffered a gash on his cheek and when we went back two days later, the boat was gone. Someone told us they had seen it on the beach the day before being hooked up to a flatbed tow truck.
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| Ship-wrecked boat on Shipwreck Beach! |
But the sunrise was worth the early morning wake up and the hike!
Another afternoon we drove into Lihue to see the Kauai Marriott Hotel and have a drink at the famous Duke's Bar and Grill.The grounds were stunning.
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| Our friends Bob and Yvonne |
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| We liked their weather prediction station! |
Of course we also had to sample the micro-brews at Kauai Brewery Company on the way home.
Cris gave us a bad time about being hooked to our phones. He caught us "catching up."
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| Church Service Hawaiian style |
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| Lots of roosters and chickens everywhere! |
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While we were there we had lots of sun, some wind, and one mondo rain storm. But as one of the locals said, "That's how we get everything so green." I'll leave you with some other shots of our stay!
Aloha!
