Kaua'i March 2008

Photos from our family trip to Kaua'i, Hawaii, on March 26-30, 2008. Kellie and I (Charles) met my parents (Grandpa Fuzzy and Granny Nan) by brother and sister-in-law (Dan and Jill) and their two kids (Alexa and Haley). Kellie and I stayed to the end of the day on Sunday, while the rest of the family finished out the week on Wednesday. I had a lot of help with fish identification from the photos on www.marinelifephotography.com.

An email review of the area

Wed - Arrival

We woke up to leave at 3:30am on Wed, Mar 26th. Our 3rd flight of the day landed in Kaua'i around 2:20pm Hawaiian time (8:20pm Eastern). It was a long and thankfully uneventful trip. Kellie took a few photos from her window seat, since this is the first time she's ever seen the western US, even if from above.

Rental House

We stayed at the Anini Kai house, 3525 Anini Road, Kilauea, Kauai, HI. The house is right across the street from a cut through to the beach. Around 100 feet to walk from porch to water. It's a 3BR/2BA house that was just right for three couples plus two small children.

Thu - Morning Sights

On Thursday morning I got up to try to take sunrise photos, but missed the sunrise by 15 minutes or so. Oh well. I did get some nice scenery shots from around the east end of 'Anini beach.

Thu - Morning Beach Trip

On our first morning trip to the beach, Dan grabbed his fishing gear and tried his luck fly-fishing in the reef. Granny, Grandpa, Jill and the kids went for a swim/playtime on the beach. Kellie and I joined them later to take pictures mostly, although we did play with the kids some too. You can see in some of these pics how the reef protected the beach from the waves. They were breaking quite a ways out from the shore.

Thu - Afternoon Drive

After the beach we had lunch at the house and took a trip west towards the town of Hanalei. We stopped in town for some shopping and to get a shave-ice for Alexa, and coffees for Dad and Jill. Then we continued west to the end of the road, where we visited some caves and some new-to-us beaches.

Thu - Evening

We returned to the house for the evening, and Dan and Jill took the girls back out to the beach for a little bit. We also took a trip over to the town of Kiluea for the 4:30pm farmer's market, where we got some fresh fruits and veggies for dinner. Dan stopped us on the way back to the house, dashed out, and stripped a leaf off a banana tree by the road to use to wrap up the fish that he was going to cook for dinner. We were all pretty tired after dinner so none of us stayed up very late.

Fri - Sunrise

I got up earlier on Friday and made it out to the point to catch the sunrise. The colors weren't as great as I wished they'd be, but I got a few nice pictures even so. All of these pictures are facing east toward the Kilauea lighthouse.

Fri - Morning Snorkeling

The whole family walked out to spend the morning on the beach again on Friday. This time Kellie and I came prepared to swim and try our luck with some snorkeling. Kellie swam for a bit before deciding she'd had enough of the mask on her face, so she went in to shore to play with the kids. I had already seen so many things on the reef that I grabbed Dad's underwater camera and took a bunch of photos. Even though the reef was only 1-2 feet deep in most places, there was an awful lot to see. I also saw, but could not photograph, a small crab that was disturbed by the first eel, and a pink sea cucumber that closed up when I got too close.

Friday - Waterfall Hike

After swimming, we packed a lunch and drove over to the trailhead for Ho'opi'i Falls. The trail started pretty easy, as a dirt road suitable for an ATV or maybe a tall 4WD truck. We found the river started down the trail to the first falls. The last 50 feet of the trail led down the hill to the river, so it was a bit tricky. The family started heading back while I setup my tripod to take some of these pictures. They climbed up the hill, I chose to follow the river back upstream to where the trail met it at the same level instead. On the way out, mom learned why they warn you not to wear light colors, as she slipped and slid down the hill in her white pants. The clay stained them through to her drawers, as she discovered later.

Friday - Evening

After the hike, Dan and Jill took the girls back to the house for a nap. Mom, Dad, Kellie and I went to Kapa'a to the Coconut Market for some shopping. Kellie found a hula outfit for Alexa, which she liked playing with. At dinnertime I ducked out and hiked about a mile down the beach to the western end to try to get some sunset pictures. It was dark by the time I walked back and Alexa and Granny were out searching for me with their flashlights. Dan and the girls went out for desert while I ate my dinner, and they found a big frog in the yard when they returned.

Saturday - North Side

On Saturday we planned to make the two hour drive around the island to see the canyon on the west end. Dan and Jill stayed back at the house with the girls, since we didn't figure they'd handle all the driving around very well. They went out to Pali Ke Kua (Hideaways) beach for some "surfing" and general fun. These are all pictures from Dan's camera.

Saturday - Waterfalls and Spouts

Mom, Dad, Kellie and I made a few stops along our drive around the island. We went up to 'Opaeka'a Falls on one side of the valley. Then we drove out, around and up the other side to Wailua Falls. After a quick stop to look at a tree, we contiued past Lihue and around the south side to the Spouting Horn. This is an area with a lava shelf that sits right at water level. The incoming waves go under the shelf and spurt out through a few of the holes in the shelf. In high surf, the spout is supposed to reach 30 feet or more.

Saturday - Waimea Canyon

The far end of drive took us up into the mountains to around 3000ft elevation, and into a beautiful canyon that runs along the west side of the island. It looks at lot like Bryce in Utah, except that so much of it is filled in with lush green plants. The views were incredible, and this is where I really gave the Sigma 80-400mm lens a good workout. The top end of the canyon road reaches a lookout over the valleys of the Na Pali coast. Unfortunately, while we were there the valley was completely full of clouds/fog, so we couldn't see any of it.

Sunday - Beach

Sunday found Kellie with some sunburn from driving/walking around the canyon the day before. She and I opted to stay home while the rest of the family went looking for more beaches in the Hanalei and Princeville areas. They found sea turtles and a natural tide pool called the Queen's bath. These are Dad's pictures from their morning.

Sunday - Around the North Shore

Meanwhile Kellie and I took other van around to take pictures. Kellie watched the car while I walked down the highway near the house to get photos of the two waterfalls that we had seen just off the road there. After that, we headed toward Hanalei until we were distracted by our fist sighting of Nene geese. We finished by driving back up around Kilauea looking over the beaches and out to the lighthouse seen in some of my earlier sunrises.

More Underwater Shots

These photos were taken by Dad or Dan on a few beach trips Sun, Mon, and Tuesday. They went to deeper reefs and found a lot more large fish than I saw at 'Anini beach.