Two month of fun and sun: E komo mai (welcome) on the Garden Island of Hawai'i

From Honolulu (O'ahu) we flew with Hawaiian Airlines westward to Kaua'i. Like the other Hawaiian islands, Kaua'i is the top of an enormous volcano rising from the ocean floor. With lava flows dated to about 5 million years ago, Kaua'i is the oldest of the large Hawaiian islands.

The trip to the International Airport of Lihu'e took us only about 25 minutes. The Islands of Hawai'i are really close to each other. From Lihu'e we drove with our car (after the obligated queuing (30 minutes) and a short discussion with the staff at the front desk of Hertz) into the south part of Kaua'i to Poipu Beach where the Ko'a Kea Resort was waiting for us. ;-)

Our "truck" on this island - a Cadillac Escalade.

The hotel staff heartly welcomed us on our new place where we stayed the next four nights. Below you will find our first impressions as we entered the room. We were overall surprised what we got and about the very good service they offered. (Macadamia Nuts as a welcome gift, complementary Water and a Nespresso Machine we could use - short we felt like home)

Our room view to the left

Our room view to the right

In our room there could be found a lot of beautiful accessories like this special lamp.

Every night as we left the room for dinner, they made our bed ready for sleep and put a Fiji Water with some crushed ice next to our bed. We know, that's just a little attention but made our stay in a way much more personally.

The view from our balcony at night. The Hawaiians are used to put on the fires all around the area as soon as it gets dark at night. That makes the whole atmosphere very special and romantic woooow!!

Last view from the hotelpool in direction to the ocean - just beautiful.

One day we checked out the Kiahuna Golf Course which was situated about 5 minutes from our Resort. There we met Karen and Joelle from California. With this couple we played the 18 holes and had a lot of fun. Due to the fact that they began playing golf as well this year, we had almost the same level and didn't get pushed on every whole.

There was once again an electronically scoreboard installed on our golf cart.

A nice impression of the golf course, which was very well prepared with some tricky water hazards.

All around this area were a lot of very beautiful (expensive) Hawaiian Houses located.

Below you will get some more impressions of this really georgous island. Kaua'i is compared to O'ahu a very relaxing place and much greener.

The beach on the bay right next to our hotel

On another day we explored the Waimea Canyon and the Koke'e State Park which are both situated on the western part of the Garden Island. The Waimea Canyon is also known as the Grand Canyon of the Pacific. Below you can convince yourself of this statement....

The Canyon is approximately ten miles (16 kilometers) long and up to 3'000 feet (900 meters) deep. He was formed by a deep incision of the Waimea River arising from the extreme rainfall on the island's central peak, Mount Wai'ale'ale, among the wettest places on earth.

On our way we saw this special waterfall... Also here you can see the deep red colour of the canyon.

From the Koke'e State Park (northway of the Waimea Canyon) you have a beautiful overview onto the Kalalau Valley. (both picutres above)

The Na Pali Coast in the north-west side of the Island is one of the "must see" places when you visit Kaua'i. Na Pali means high cliffs. These cliffs rises along the shoreline as much as 4'000 feet (1'200 meters) above the Pacific Ocean. This side of the coast is inaccessible to vehicles. You can hike on a trail of 11 miles (18 kilometers) but that's only one way and for sure you have to go back on the same day with the same pair of feets ;-). We got already some pratice in hiking in Canada. Although we are in quite good shape we decided to explore this part of the coast on an easier way... We choose Captain Andy and booked a sailing trip with his company.

The last day on the Island we got up at about 5.45 a.m. to catch the cruising yacht at Eleele (Port Allen). Below you will find some impressions as well as Oli's statement on Yelp:

Just a fun experience with a stellar staff who didn't rest until everyone was satisfied (especially with drink and food) ;-)

We booked a trip on the Southern Star and had a 5-hour nonstop-fun tour! We also learned a lot about the culture and the native people.

The staff was just stellar and never stopped working during the whole 5 hours.

What a great experience, we also saw some sea-turtles while snorkling.

One of the drinks that don't have to be missed on such a trip.... By the way, this is the beer which is brewed in Kona (Big Island). Oli's favourite beverage on the Island. ;-)))