Hawaii Honeymoon!! (Part IV)

This will be our final post detailing the events of our honeymoon on the island of Kaua'i! We are now back home and resting up from the effects of the time change. Admittedly, we both slept until 10:45 am this morning. That's very late for the two of us! In this post we have included a few "overview" comments from the entire Kauai adventure.

Shave ice review
We ate shave ice at Wishing Well Shave Ice near Hanalei, Hee Fat General Store in Kapaa, Uncle's Shave Ice in Poipu, and Jo Jo's in Waimea. Our favorite was Hee Fat, with Jo Jo's coming in at a close second. Uncle's Shave ice was not fine enough and had too much sugary syrup on it, and we didn't like the ice quality of the flavors as much at wishing well. Hee Fat had great taste AND very fine ice, as did Jo Jo's. Jo Jo's had an interesting quality where the ice seemed to melt instantly when it hit your mouth, making it very refreshing. The mac nut ice cream at Hee Fat was nicer than at Jo Jo's. In closing, David says that Hee Fat is orders of magnitude better than even Jo Jo's. I'm a little less strong on that statement.

Hee Fat General Store Shave Ice

Things we recommend to someone visiting Kauai
If we had to recommend our top six favorite activities to a future Kauai vacationer, they would be:

• Hike to Hankapiai Beach and Hanakapiai Falls. This is an 8 mile round trip hike, but well worth it. The falls are beautiful and serene, the jungle vegetation is neat, and the entire hike is simply unique. At the end of the day, it also feels great to sit back and think "I hiked 8 miles today to a very cool place."
• Helicopter tour of Kauai. A great way to see the entire island, and if you have never been in a helicopter before its a pretty awesome experience. Don't expect great pictures though, unless you pick the touring agency that flies the helicopters without doors (the windows have some glare). 
• Shave ice from Hee Fat and Jo Jo's and ice cream from Lappert's (as long as you don't get cookie dough ice cream - our favorite was vanilla with hot fudge on top). 
• Check out a farmer's market. We went to one at "the shops at Kakui'ula" that was pretty good - lots of tasty fruits, vegetables, and prepared foods. 
• Tour some beaches. We went to Ke'e, Secret Beach, Poipu, Mahaulepu, and Salt Pond Beach. There definitely seemed to be some great others that we didn't make it to. Of the ones we saw, I think Ke'e and Mahaulepu would be our favorites. Though we didn't get to see the lava pools at Secret Beach, that might have changed our minds about that one. 
• Drive to the top of Waimea Canyon and to the lookouts in Koke'e. If you have time, try some hikes in the area as well. 

Trail to Hanakapiai Falls from Hanakapiai Beach

Things we'd do, or do again, if we go back to Kauai

If we went back, six things we'd do are (some are repeats of things we enjoyed from this trips, some are things we didn't have time to do): 

• Spend more time at Ke'e beach and other beaches on the north shore. We saved most of our beach plans for the south shore because we had more time at our condo down there and had heard the beaches there were quite nice. The beaches were nice, but based on our limited time at the north shore beaches and our guidebook we think that the north shore has more to offer in terms of beaches. Ke'e beach seemed particularly nice for sunbathing, swimming, and snorkeling. David in particular would like to have had the time to try snorkeling at Ke'e. There are other beaches on the north shore that are supposed to be great for snorkeling as well, like Tunnel's beach. 
• Hike some of the trails in Waimea Canyon and do the 4WD Miloli'i Ridge Trail. It was pretty rainy the day we set aside to go to Waimea Canyon, so we didn't do any hiking and didn't get to see many beautiful views. Additionally, there was an "adventure" listed in our guidebook that recommended doing the 4WD Miloli'i Ridge Trail. This is a dirt road that takes you down one of the "finger-like" cliffs characteristic in the views of the Na Pali coast. However, the book clearly marked a certain point on the trail that shouldn't be passed in the rain. David wanted to continue anyway (we did drive partly down the trail) but I was adamant that we listen to the advice of the book. Next time, we'd schedule in some time to do one of the longer day hikes and find a dry day to drive the entire ride trail. 
• More shave ice from Hee Fat and Jo Jo's and more ice from Lappert's Ice Cream. They have a cool story, delicious ice cream, and even more delicious hot fudge. Caroline was in love. We didn't like the cookie dough though. Read more about Lappert's here.
• Drive on the sand at Polihale Beach. David really wanted to do this, Caroline was nervous about it, and in the end we just ran out of time. 
• Consider hiking the Kalalau Trail. This would require a lot of planning but seems like it would be pretty unique experience. 
• Visit more farmer's markets :) David loves fruits, I love food. Farmer's markets are therefore pretty awesome for us. 

Our honeymoon in a nutshell
Awesome. We had a great time. Looking back through all of the pictures already makes us nostalgic and happy. I've caught David grinning at pictures and blog entries several times. We wanted a honeymoon where we could relax, enjoy warm weather, see beautiful views, and spend time with just the two of us. Success! And it was fun to be called Mr. and Mrs. Porter all the time :) 

Hawaii Honeymoon!! (Part III)

Highlights from our final days on Kaua'i! Pictures from the entire trip can now be found on SmugMug by clicking here. 

Day Eight (Sept 30)

We literally did nothing but relax all day. We only left the condo to watch the sunset and take the trash out! It was a very nice day though. We sat around, listened to the waves, watched some TV shows, organized pictures, updated the blog, and made dinner together. A nice day of nothing specific with our special someone.

Beautiful sunset from the lawn in front of our condo.

Day Nine (Oct 1) 

• David took a surf lesson at Poipu Beach. We had talked about taking a surfing lesson together, but in the end I decided I'd rather read on the beach and take pictures of David's efforts. I had taken a lesson once before in California. I enjoyed it, but was happier to stay on the beach. David did pretty well and was lucky enough to have one-on-one instruction even though he paid the group rate! While tired and sore afterwards, he had a great time and can't wait to try it again sometime. 
• Walked around the cliffs at Mahaulepu Beach. This beach (or set of beaches actually) had a beautiful shoreline with great views of the ocean. The sandstone cliffs were really neat.
• Uncle's Shave Ice. This shave ice place was really close to our condo and was recommended by our friends. It was good (huge serving sizes!) but not as good as Hee Fat. I tried something called "Shave Snow" which had milk, sugar, and flavoring in the ice. It seemed like a great idea, but my choice of root beer flavor was questionable. 
• Shopping for gifts and souvenirs to take home. We sought out as many shops with Kauai-made goodies as we could find. We didn't buy much, but are excited by our finds :) 
• Dinner @ Merriman's Gourmet Pizza and Burgers. We picked this place because it had good reviews, was in a nice shopping center with outdoor seating, and they had truffle fries. The truffle fries weren't as good as Harvard Garden's (where we ate often while Christine was at MGH), but they were tasty. Nice cocktails, salads, and burgers too. David was excited to see his surf teacher there with is daughter (6, already in surf competitions). 
• Ice cream from Lappert's. We bought a pint of vanilla and a cup of hot fudge from this ice cream shop earlier in the week to enjoy at home. It was delicious. I was in love with the hot fudge. So we went back. Still delicious, though David tried their cookie dough ice cream and it was pretty gross - some weird tasting cookie dough. 

David surfing at Poipu Beach

Panorama of Mahaulepu Beach

Day Ten (Oct 2)

• More shopping on the way to Waimea. We bought a tile that says "Hawaiian Style: Please Remove Your Shoes. Mahalo!" We'd been looking for one of these because they were all over the condo complex and we thought they were a neat way to ask guests to remove the shoes. We think the tradition is prevalent in Hawaii because of the red dirt. We also bought a ceramic tile clock with the traditional Hawaiian bread fruit pattern on it, some Alaea salt, and Auntie Lilikoi's passion fruit jelly. 
• Lunch at Island Taco and Waimea. We had heard great things about this place. It was a cute shop with outdoor seating. David was reasonably happy with his "classic taco" but I was very disappointed with my teri chicken taco - it was much too sweet. 
• Dessert at Kaua'i Granola and Sugar Cane Snax. This was right next door to Island Taco. Delicious macadamia nut shortbread cookies, generous sample offerings, and frozen chocolate dipped cheese cake. Yum. 
• Driving through Waimea Canyon and Koke'e State Parks. It was unfortunately raining most of the drive so our views were very misty and limited. We were able to get the general idea and see the beautiful red dirt mountains, waterfalls, and numerous valleys. We tried going down a paved ridge road, only to discover that it ended in a missile facility of some kind. Whoops (didn't say don't go down!). We turned around and went back up without getting to appreciate much of the scenery at the bottom of the ridge road. We drove part way down the 4WD Miloli'i Ridge Trail recommended by our guidebook, but it said not to pass a certain point in the rain so we didn't make it the whole way. I was on the third day of a head cold as well, so wasn't really feeling up to much adventuring. I had a Kleenex box strapped to my body. 
• Shave Ice from Jo Jo's in Waimea. We shared one this time, we were starting to learn how big these things are. It was very tasty, though the mac nut ice cream wasn't as good as at Hee Fat. David still thinks Hee Fat has the best shave ice, but I really liked how Jo Jo's shave ice melted as soon as it hit your tongue - it made it very flavorful and refreshing. 
• Farmer's market @ "the shops at Kakui'ula". We bought lots of fruits and veggies, a brie and starfruit croissant for the morning, and a taco type thing that was what I had hoped Island Taco would be like. Really nice farmer's market. 
• A swim and dinner at the condo. After a dip in the pool we made grilled chicken and pineapple, salad, and sourdough bread with butter. Delicious! 

Waimea Canyon

Sunset view from our lanai

Day Eleven (Oct 3)

• Breakfast on the patio. We enjoyed our fruit and pastry from the farmer's market while drinking tea and watching the ocean. 
• Hung around the condo reading and relaxing. Enough said. 
• Snorkeling, swimming, and reading at Salt Pond Beach. David really wanted to find another nice snorkeling spot so after some research we decided this beach sounded like a nice one to try. It was secluded, quiet, and had a good swimming spot. However, the water was really murky for some reason so he wasn't able to see much. So we defaulted to reading and swimming. As we were leaving the beach we realized we had a flat tire! Boo. David changed it pretty quickly (luckily Jeep's have a full size spare) and we went to a local auto service station to repair the tire - there was a nail in it. 
• Pre-dinner at the house. Wine and salad, to use up some things from the fridge. 
• Dinner at Brick Oven Pizza in Kalaheo. We sat at the bar and ordered a homemade sausage and onion pizza. This pizza place had gotten great reviews as the best pizza on Kauai. I ate one piece and couldn't taste a thing because my nose was so stuffy - I was very sad! My nose cleared some by the second piece and I was able to enjoy the delicious pizza. I proceeded to out-eat David, as expected. (She said the first piece didn't count because she couldn't taste it;  doesn't explain 5 vs. 3 slices though :) - D)
• Sundaes from Lappert's ice cream. Brownie, hot fudge, and vanilla ice cream for me. Mac nut ice cream, hot fudge, and caramel for David. 

Breakfast on the patio

Salt Pond Beach

Sundaes from Lappert's Ice Cream

Day Twelve (Oct 4)

We ate breakfast on the patio, packed up, and headed to the Lihue airport! While eating breakfast we were lucky enough to spot a sea turtle and catch some pictures of it. I had been watching the ocean all week, hoping to see SOMETHING, so this totally made my day. Our travel home was nice, with lots of food and movie watching. The timing of our flights was entirely off making it so that we didn't sleep much on the journey. We arrived home tired but happy to see the doggies - and our chauffeur Katie. Katie had dressed the dogs in their leis for the occasion! They were very happy to see us. 

Hubby and wifey enjoying cold stone at the Honolulu airport

Hawaii Honeymoon!! (Part II)

Updates from Days 5-7! We were lamenting this morning about how quickly time passes - we are on our last few days of our honeymoon! It's hard to believe that pretty soon we'll be looking back at all of our wedding and honeymoon activities as a thing of the past. When important and thought-provoking events like this happening, you wish that you could savor them longer than time ever allows. Luckily, as we've written our honeymoon blog posts, we've been able to look back and reflect on everything we've done, and smile. Thanks for reading! 

A note about the chickens: we did not expect there to be chickens all over the island! They roam around the way squirrels do back home. It's weird to be sitting and eating a meal and have a chicken walk passed you! And they are always cockadoodledooing all day long. A Kaua'i specialty it would seem! 

Day Five (Friday, Sept 27)

• Breakfast - We ate bread, peanut butter, and fruit while drinking tea on our Lanai before our early morning departure to Lihue. Pretty special to start the day to the sound of waves crashing on walks and a beautiful sunrise over the water!
• Helicopter Tour - We took a helicopter tour of the island on Blue Hawaiian. This was pretty cool for a number of reasons. The two biggest reasons were 1) neither of us had ever been in a helicopter before and 2) the views of the island were phenomenal from the sky. I took a Dramamine the night before and still felt a little motion sick on the tour, but not bad enough that I didn't enjoy it! It was an unreal way to explore the island overall - the views were unbeatable, and I thought the feeling of "hovering" in front of gorgeous sites was awesome. 
• Kauai Bakery & Cinnamon - Our book raved about the apple turnovers at this place, so we decided to check it out for ourselves. We also got a pepperoni and cheese roll. While both were tasty, we weren't totally sure we understood what all of the hype was about. We grabbed an iced tea from McDonalds to have with it and were surprised that it had a different flavor than it does back home! It reminded us of the tea we drank at Halele'a Spa, a little fruity. 
• Kmart & COSTCO - We went into Kmart to get some things for the condo. We then noticed that COSTCO was next door to Kmart, and couldn't resist going in. We also were on a quest for a backpack (neither of us actually had a good day pack at home, and it proved much harder to find on the island than we had anticipated). No backpack at COSTCO or Kmart that fit our needs, but we did enjoy all of the COSTCO samples! 
• Wailua Falls - We swung by these falls because they were right near Lehue and you could drive to them. 
• Backpack hunting - David spotted an "outdoor gear store" in a shopping mall. It turned out to be a very small store that was also a zipline company, but they did have the style pack we were looking for. We had intended to buy just one to share, but we liked them well enough that we each bought one. I bought this pack, and David bought this one. Overkill for what we needed on the island, but good to have long term. 
• Spouting Horn - An attraction on the south shore - there is a hole in the rocky coast and water sprays through it like a blowhole when the waves come in. 
• Smith's Tropical Paradise Luau - While munching on our apple turnovers and browsing through our guidebook, we decided we should experience a luau, even if they are a bit touristy. Smith's Luau got the best reviews, so we booked tickets for that very evening. The luau began with a tour of their gardens (less impressive than we had hoped for). They then had a "pig roasting ceremony" where they showed their method for roasting the pig over hot lava rocks in the ground - they dug a pit, lit coals, placed lava rocks on the coals, and then when the coals had burned down and the rocks were hot they put the pig in with a bunch of banana leaves and other leaves to help "steam" the pig, then covered it all with a tarp and shoveled sand on top. Kind of neat, and gross at the same time. The pig ceremony was followed by the "feast" with live Hawaiian music. The food was quite good, I especially liked the pork and the fried rice. We tried new foods such as poi, coconut jello, and a mai tai. We actually ran into a couple, Katie and Steve, who had been on our boat tour of the Na Pali coast. They are about our age so we decided to all eat dinner together and it made the luau much more fun! Not that we don't enjoy the company of just ourselves... but it was great to get to know Katie and Steve better. The feast was followed by a show complete with hula dancers and a fire dance. I have to tell you that until that show David thought hula dancing involved a hula hoop :) :) 

Helicopter Tour - the life preserver belts make us look like we both need to consider a diet after this honeymoon! 

View of Waimea Canyon - the glare through the window was pretty bad for most of our helicopter pictures

Na Pali coast from the helicopter 

COSTCO

Luau Dinner at Smith's Tropical Paradise

Luau Dance Show

Day Six (Saturday, Sept 28)

• Living Foods Market Breakfast - Our friends highly recommended some of the breakfast optoins at the grocery store / cafe that we had found previously. We decided to give it a try - I had pineapple brioche french toast and David had blueberry pancakes. 
• Blogging / reading / relaxing - I was really tired for some reason on Saturday so we spent most of the day hanging out at the condo. That's when we posted our first blog entry for the trip! 
• Puka Dog Lunch - We dragged ourselves out of the condo around 3pm and had lunch at Puka Dog - polish sausages in a surround bun (think cylindrical roll with a hole in the center) with lilikoi mustard, a tropical relish of your choosing, and some special sauce. They were delicious! 
• Poipu Beach - After lunch I lay on the beach reading my kindle while David snorkeled. We then walked all the way along the beach, gazing (i.e. snooping) at the fancy hotels along the beach. We decided that while some of them seemed really nice, we prefer our condo on the rocks! 
• Dinner at home - David grilled chicken and pineapple, which we ate with salad, tomatoes, and sourdough bread. Nice to have a home cooked meal for a change. 

Puka Dog @ Poipu Beach

Snorkeling @ Poipu Beach

Day Seven (Sunday, Sept 29)

• Breakfast at home - Greek yogurt and local granola. Healthy and filling but not the most exciting. 
• Hanakapiai Beach and Falls - The real highlight for Sunday was our hike to Hanakapiai Beach and Hanakapiai Falls. The beach is 2 miles into the Kalalau trail, along the Na Pali coast. This part of the trail is well maintained and while it did go up and down to get over each mountain peak, it wasn't too difficult. The views were absolutely stunning. We had seen the Na Pali coast by boat and by helicopter, but it was quite different to get the view down the coast from the trail. Once at the beach we decided to continue another 2 miles into the valley to see the falls. I had been nervous about doing this leg of our adventure because the trail is unmaintained and can be quite muddy and slippery. There are also several streams to cross that can be dangerous if the water level is high. Luckily for us it was not raining and the streams were low enough to cross easily by hopping from rock to rock. The beginning of the trail was definitely muddy, my shoe footprint seemed to double there was so much mud on them. The mud was sticky enough that if you stood still for too long you started to get stuck! After we passed the muddy section the rest of the trail actually wasn't too bad. David was SO excited that we did this hike :) The bamboo groves that we walked through were particularly cool - I liked the sound of the swaying bamboo. The falls themselves were beautiful - we sat at the bottom on rocks in front of the pool that formed at the bottom looking 300 feet up to the top of the valley and the top of the falls. It was very cool at the falls, which was welcomed after our hot and humid hike. A bunch of people were swimming in the pool and under the falls, but after watching two large rocks/boulders fall from the cliff into the water I decided swimming wasn't for me. The water was actually really cold too. Despite my protests, David of course still went in. He insisted that I take a picture of him sitting under the waterfall. I was just glad he made it back to where I was sitting without being pummeled by a rock (after the first two we didn't see anymore fall the whole time we sat there). I was pretty happy to enjoy the scenery while munching on PB&J and goldfish crackers. Oh, and did I mention that I insisted we bring about twice as much water as we ended up needing? My shoulders are thanking me for that today. 
• Ke'e Beach - From the trail we had a great view of Ke'e beach and could clearly see why this beach is so popular and considered to be such a nice beach. The reef is actually pretty far from shore but kind of surrounds the beach, creating a very sheltered sand pool area. Unlike Poipu Beach where you are at the reef almost immediately after going in the water, Ke'e beach allows you to swim in pretty deep water with a great sandy bottom. I'm a big fan of the sandy bottom so after seeing this view of the beach I decided we should cool down with a swim once we got back to the trail head. It was well worth it! We didn't have our suits so more or less swam in our hiking cloths, but it was a great way to end the 8 mile round trip hike. On the way out of Ke'e beach David was excited by a guy selling coconut on the side of the road. I watched as the guy used a machete to lop the top half of the coconut off, and then David happily sipped on the juice during our drive home. He looked a bit ridiculous. 
• Ono-Char Burger - At the recommendation of my Aunt Cindy, we stopped for lunch/dinner at Ono-Char Burger. The seating was all outdoors on concrete picnic tables, complete with cats and chickens (live ones). We both had the "Local Boy" which was a burger with teriyaki sauce, pineapple, and cheddar. Good recommendation! 
• Hee Fat Shave Ice - David wanted to go back for more shave ice at Hee Fat. Tasty, but we were too full to finish it all. These shave ices are HUGE! 
• Groceries, hot tub, "dinner", and TV - We didn't really like the main grocery store down by our condo so we stopped at Safeway in Kapaa. We then relaxed our aching bodies in the hot tub, had some popcorn and caught up on the TV shows we brought from home. 

On the trail to the beach. Wow. 

Hanakapiei Beach. The waves were huge! No swimming here, the current is too strong, partially because its beyond the reef. There was even a sign tallying how many people have died swimming at this beach... 

David in front of the bamboo grove on the trail to Hanakapiei Falls

Caroline in front of the bamboo on the trail to the falls

Hanakapiei Falls

David getting ready to brave the cold water. And the falling rocks. Questioning his "smarts" right 

Muddy from the hike in, sitting on the rocks eating lunch at the falls

@ Hanakapiei Falls, about to start the hike back

David enjoying his coconut on the way home from Ke'e Beach. He looks so goofy, but he was so happy! 

The rest of our pictures can be seen by clicking here. And a few more from my phone here. We are working on consolidating all pictures and adding captions in Flickr. We will post the final album when we finish! 

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!