Hawaii Honeymoon!! (Part I)

It's been a long time since we last wrote a blog post. We were very busy with our wedding prep and events and so decided to take a short break from our blog so that we could better enjoy the very important time in our lives. We will be sure to fill you in on the details of the wedding itself, as well as the dormer project that continues to progress. For now, we are going to skip all of that and talk about our honeymoon in Hawaii, on the island of Kaua'i.

We left for Hawaii on Monday morning, bright and early after only two hours of sleep. With everything going on we hadn't had much time to pack in advance, so Sunday night after we returned from our wedding in Vermont was unpacking and packing time. We used miles to get first class tickets, which meant Caroline's feet didn't touch the floor again (the seats were too big). She was happy though. We landed in Honolulu early (after flying through Dallas), so we had some time to kill before our little plane took us to Kaua'i. We took some pictures from the top of the parking garage and enjoyed a drink and a snack at an outdoor bar.

Looks pretty big, no idea how tall

When we finally landed at the Lihue airport on Kaua'i, it was already dark out. Our Jeep was waiting for us though! I at first had really wanted a convertible, but after learning about some difficult roads on the island leading to cool places, we opted for something 4WD.

The wedding-mobile

Our plans included spending the first three nights at the fancy St. Regis hotel in Princeville - we figured we should indulge in a little pampering on our honeymoon. We weren't exactly prepared for how fancy the St. Regis was, however. When we drove up to the main entrance to drop our car with valet parking several guys swooped in to welcome us. We were greeted as "Mr. and Mrs. Porter" after the first guy discreetly asked me for our last name, took our bags, took the car, gave us leis, and helped us check in - all in under three minutes we think. They seemed to have memorized that we were on our honeymoon (from a previous phone call) because we never told them but they knew. At the reception desk (an area with three desks and two chairs at each for the guests to sit in) we were given chilled bottles of water and told that they had upgraded us to a junior suite which came with complimentary butler service.  By this point our heads were spinning so we more or less just nodded and smiled. The bellhop showed us to our room, someone from the butler staff introduced herself and explained the services they offered (including unpacking our suitcases, which we declined), and then we were left standing in our room in a stunned silence. 

Champagne, Cheez-its, and Honey Roasted Peanuts. Perfect. The Champagne was complimentary. 

Caroline Inspects the Light

Our view of pitch black - in the morning it became obvious that it was a gorgeous view of Hanalei Bay

Large bathroom with a switch to frost and unfrost the window in the shower

The view in the morning - lots of random rain showers so a bit cloudy. Double rainbow though! 

After the butler left we began poking around the room and got a little bit nervous after Caroline read in the guest services book that the resort had a dress code. Whoops, didn't plan well for that one. Apparently "resort sophisticated casual" was expected at all times, and "casual sophisticated" expected in all restaraunts. We weren't even sure what these terms meant, but a quick google search made us more comfortable with the clothes we had packed. Cotton dresses and flats for Caroline and polos, nicer shorts and boat shoes for me. Once morning rolled around and we ventured into the resort more we realized that we had no need to be nervous at all because many people were walking around in flip flops, gym-style shorts, and printed T-shirts. Now that we've covered our "arrival" and fancy lodging, I'll give the quick version of the highlights from our days at the St. Regis on the north side of Kaua'i.

Day Two (Tuesday, Sept 34)

• Breakfast - Explored the St. Regis resort and ate breakfast at their delicious breakfast buffet 
• Exploring the area - Visited the Kilauea Lighthouse and Wildlife Reserve. We had learned at the hotel that we had to turn lights off or close shutters in the evening so as not to confuse birds at night who use the moon to find their way, and some of these birds were at the wildlife reserve. We also walked around "Secret Beach" but ran out of time to look for the lava pools (salt water pools in the lava rocks) - its possible they weren't there (or wouldn't have been safe) because we are going into the winter months when the surf is different. 
• Couple's massage - Indulged in a couple's massage at Halele'a Spa at the St. Regis. Neither of us had ever had a professional massage before, so this was a real treat. Caroline took three showers she said because she wanted to try it all - the steam shower, the "experience shower" with a huge rain shower head, a waterfall, and many jets, and the "normal" shower with a smaller rain shower head and just a few wall jets. They had a great co-ed lounge area where you could relax before and after your massage and enjoy tea, flavored water, and cookies. 
• Dinner - We caught the end of the sunset at the St. Regis bar and shared appetizers with drinks while listening to live music.

Kilauea Lighthouse

Baby Newell's Shearwaters at the lighthouse reserve - the ones we turned the lights off for! 

Day Three (Wednesday, Sept 25)

• Boat tour of the Na Pali Coast - The Na Pali coast has been used often in movies and is inaccessible by vehicle. You can enjoy the coastline by boat, kayak, helicopter, or on foot. We chose to take a tour on the Na Pali Sea Breeze, at the recommendation of our awesome guidebook. We left bright and early and traversed the coastline on the catamaran with about 15 other people and two captains, one of which who used to be in the coast guard and almost died from leptospirosis. Yikes. We were able to go in a large cave and see gorgeous views on the trip. The water on the Na Pali coast is extra green in color because the reef isn't present for most of it. When the reef started again at the end of the Na Pali coast we were able to snorkel around the boat and have lunch. 
• Wishing Well Shave Ice - We drove up to Hanalei to find Wishing Well Shave Ice, which was recommended to us as the best shave ice on the north side by a friend. I really liked it, but Caroline seemed less excited. She was much more excited by our Day Four shave ice experience, which included ice cream. 
• St. Regis pool and sunset - After our tour we napped and then read our kindles by the St. Regis Pool. We swam some and didn't go back up until after the sun had set because the views were just phenomenal. It was a nice way to finish off the day. 
• Room Service and a Movie - We were still pretty exhausted so we opted to enjoy room service in the room (BBQ pork sandwiches, salad, and lilikoi (passion fruit) cheesecake) while watching Iron Man 3. 

Caroline on the boat, prepared from the impending squall 

View of the Na Pali coast

Wishing Well Shave Ice in Hanalei

Sunset at the St. Regis Pool

Room Service Dinner

Day Four (Thursday, Sept 26)

• Breakfast buffet - This was our last day at the St. Regis so we once again partook in their breakfast buffet, which has outside seating overlooking Hanalei Bay. Pretty great place to enjoy a meal! I really liked the papaya they offered and we both liked their sticky buns. Among other things of course :) 
• Ke'e Beach - We decided not to go swimming but we did drive up to Ke'e Beach, which is as far as you can go before the Kalalau trail starts, which takes you through the Na Pali coast. We checked out a few caves in the area and scoped out some of the day hike options that we hope to return for later this week. 
• Shave ice in Kapaa and saimin in Lihue - At the recommendation of our guidebook we stopped for shave ice at Hee Fat General Store. This shave ice was better than our first because we got it with ice cream, and the ice was a bit finer. We also got saimin noodles at Hamura's Saimin in Lihue as it is supposedly a local favorite. It was pretty good, but we didn't love the processed meat garnishes. 
• Whaler's Cove check in - We continued down the coast to our second accommodation - Whaler's Cove near Poipu Beach. This is a condo so that we can have a bit more homey environment and eat out a little bit less. We were assigned a first floor condo, which was super nice inside, but we went back and asked if they had a second or third floor condo instead to improve our view of the ocean. They had one! Caroline is in heaven. We are only about 40 feet from a rocky shore line, so we can gaze from our lanai (balcony) at beautiful aquamarine water while listening to the waves crash on the rocks. For our first night we stopped at Living Foods Market, which is a little bit like Whole Foods. We ordered a pizza and picked up some salad making ingredients and red wine, and then returned to our condo to enjoy a relaxed dinner. 

Ke'e Beach

David in the dry cave - he is nowhere close to touching the ceiling

View from our Lanai at Whaler's Cove 

View from our bedroom window

Living area 

View of the sunset from the rocks in front of our condo

That's it for Part 1! Stay tuned for more updates from our experiences on the southern side of Kaua'i :) So far, it's been a very relaxing honeymoon - just the way it should be! For more pictures, click here. **Note, our pictures in the albums don't have captions yet - we are working on that!