Had a day off today. Woohoo for 4-day weekends!

Ok, here’s part 2 of my Kaua’i recap…

Thursday, 8/14
Did a whole lot of nothing. I think we were at the pool most of the day so no pictures… not even of food. We were supremely lazy.

But here’s a bonus pic of some roosters. They are EVERYWHERE in Kaua’i. And they crow at all hours of the day, not just in the morning. So annoying!

Friday, 8/15
This was the first day we had to wake up to the sound of an alarm clock. We made reservations to do a Na Pali coast tour and we had to be at the pier by 8:30am. So painful after days of sleeping in.

We were the last ones to board so we got stuck at the very front with no shade. This boat ride is the whole reason I got so sunburned. OH! And sitting in the front was incredibly bumpy. We felt every little dip and swell. At first it was fun (like being on an amusement park ride) but after a few hours, I started feeling nauseous. Rob kept making me drink water and carbonated lime soda, which helped. At least I didn’t get sick.

We saw dolphins!

Look how gorgeous the coast is!

Guh. Soooo pretty!

I also tried snorkeling for the first time (no pictures though — we don’t have an underwater camera). It took Rob awhile to coax me to get in the water (I am a terrible swimmer and was freaked out) but when I finally got in, I really enjoyed it. 😀 I wasn’t crazy about the water filling up in my ears, though.

I’m a wimp.

After the 5 hour boat trip, we had the most amazing shave ice at JoJo’s in Waimea. YUMMY. I wish it was closer to where we stayed (it’s on the southwest-ish side of the island and we stayed in the east) cause I could have eaten that every day. I had strawberry, Rob had liliko’i (passionfruit) and we both had haupia cream on top (haupia is like a coconut gelatin/pudding).

After a quick nap, we had dinner at Gaylord’s (this was our big, expensive dinner). No pictures, sorry — I was too lazy. I read about this restaurant on Fodor’s forums and it was recommended to us by family so we tried it. Honestly, I wasn’t that impressed. I had a seafood platter (scallops, fish, shrimp, and lobster) and while it was good, it really wasn’t worth the cost. Their lava flows were yummy though and the Banana Cream pie we had for dessert was solid.

Saturday, 8/16
Our last day in Kaua’i. Or so we thought.

Started out with a breakfast of malasadas. These are basically like donuts (no holes) covered with sugar. There’s a stand in front of K-Mart — they were fresh and soft and oh-so-yummy. Thumbs up. I can’t believe I forgot to take a picture of them — you can kinda see them in the very left of the pic.

Then we drove to Waimea Canyon. It’s beautiful up there but UGH, you have to take a really, really, really winding road to get up there. We only made it to the Waimea Canyon Lookout, which is 10 miles. There’s supposed to be a more breathtaking lookout another 10 miles from there but my head was starting to spin. I don’t think I could have handled the drive. Like I said earlier, I’m a wimp.

Lunch was at the Shrimp Station. I just adore shrimp. 😀 I had the coconut shrimp and Rob had the beer-battered shrimp. Sadly, it was ok, not great. Maybe a little overrated.

Finally after heading back to the hotel to pack, we were off to the airport… to wait for hours before United finally decided to cancel our flight and shuttle all of us to a nearby hotel. That was an exhausting and frustrating experience. I still get angry when I remember that both our flights to and from Kaua’i had problems. Anyway.

Sunday, 8/17
Ok, our last day in Kaua’i. For real this time.

One last picture in front of the water.

At the airport again… playfully angry at having to go through security and agriculture one more time than necessary.

And that’s it, folks! Rob and I enjoyed our time on the garden isle and hope to go back again soon. 🙂