Hawaii : Kauai
Our second island stay was on Kauai. It was a place of beauty, adventure and relaxation.
The Island.
Kauai is much, much different than Oahu ... in a good way. Kauai is the fourth largest and the oldest island of the Hawaiian islands. It is often called the “Garden Isle” due to its lush vegetation. The island is roughly 33 miles long and 25 miles across.
There's one major road that follows the coast from the west side of the island to the north side. The maximum speed limit sign we saw was 50 MPH. No one was in a hurry, however. No horns, road rage or speeding cars. It seemed as though everyone was on a leisure drive like us. Our rental car was a Jeep, and we drove with the windows down most of the time.
Kauai is circular in shape with green, mountainous regions in its center, and beaches covering almost half its shoreline. It has emerald valleys, jagged cliffs, tropical rain forests, cascading waterfalls and a canyon. It is quite a diverse landscape! Some parts of Kauai are only accessible by sea or air. There are five major resort destinations on Kauai: North Shore (Princeville), East Side (Coconut Coast), Lihue (Kalapaki), South Shore (Poipu) and the West Side (Waimea). We stayed in the Poipu area, which ended up being a great decision; we loved it.
Overall, the island had a very rural feel to it. One-lane bridges. Chickens upon chickens running around everywhere. Small, quaint towns. It was easy to feel at home in Kauai.
The Weather.
One word ... perfection! We could have not asked for better weather. It was mid-70's the entire time. No rain ... no sticky humidity (that we could feel anyway!) ... no high winds. I had brought along a jacket for the evenings but didn't need it. We never really felt "hot" either. Hard to explain just how B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L it was. Kauai has an average of 440 inches of rainfall each year, but we were fortunate to hardly feel a drop our whole visit.
Our Lodging.
Ryan had the suggestion we stay at a condo while on Kauai. It ended up being a great decision. We stayed at Kiahuna Plantation & The Beach Bungalows. The condo had a large bathroom, full kitchen, indoor and outdoor dining sets, sofa and chairs and spacious bedroom with a king-sized bed. There was more than enough room for us to relax. We never felt cramped or confined. Our building was right across from the resort's garden, which was very pretty.
I thought our particular condo had one of the best views on the whole resort ... a view of the lagoon and the ocean, tucked away from the public access to the beach. It was great being able to get up in the morning, make a pot of coffee and sit on our balcony to start the morning. The condo didn't have air conditioning, and we didn't need it. Perfect sleeping conditions actually. Ryan didn't even complain once!
The condos are owned by individuals and operated by the resort. There was even a guestbook in our condo, full of tips and experiences of past lodgers. We made sure to a leave a little note from us on our last night there.
The Food.
The food here was great. Although some places were better than others, we never had a bad experience or meal. The fresh fish was killer. Melt-in-your-mouth delicious. I ate seafood at almost every single meal. I found a special place in my heart for Ahi Tuna. I'm craving it now, as I type this, even. Mmmm.
One of our favorite experiences included a sunset dinner at the Beach House Restaurant. The location of the restaurant was right along the beach (hence the name!). We dined on a calamari steak appetizer, crab-crusted fish and Ahi Tuna and lobster. Up to this point in our trip, we hadn't even looked at a dessert menu, so I decided to request a look. Lo and behold, the first item on the menu was carrot cake, Ryan's favorite. He, of course, needed to try it! And, I'm glad he did; because even though I'm not a carrot-cake-lover, I found myself going back for bite after bite.
Another memorable dinner was at Josselin's Tapas. I've loved tapas dining since we experienced it in the Dominican. We chose Ahi Tuna "nachos" (wontons serving as our "chips"), roasted Jibori Chicken and a Ribeye steak with a peppercorn sauce. I wanted to try more items on the menu, but we were stuffed. Our waitress was super nice and informative, providing us with explanation of dishes and her personal recommendations. The best part was we ate early, during their happy hour, making everything half off!
Some other tasty eats included a Puka Dog - a polish hot dog with special Hawaiian relishes and mustard, Passion Fruit (Lilikoi) cheesecake, and blackened Mahi-Mahi eggs Benedict. We made sure to get our hands on shaved ice as well. And fresh fruit! We stopped at the Kauai Coffee plantation for fresh coffee, too.
When dining out, we made sure to order different things and share with one another. There were places I wish we could have tried (specifically in other parts of the island) but there's only so many meals in a day! We definitely didn't hold back and enjoyed all the deliciousness that Kauai offered.
And, we can't forget about the drinks. Kona Brewery beers were found everywhere we went, which was good for us, since we really like them. We also enjoyed other Hawaiian-brewed beers such as the Mana Wheat beer from Maui Brewing Company. It was a wheat ale brewed with pineapple juice. So. Good. I also got my fill on mai tai's, mojitos and wine.
There's more to come! Besides the great weather, perfect lodging and excellent food ... there was so much to see and do in Kauai. I'll talk in my next post, Kauai by air, land and sea about what we all did on the island. There definitely was no shortage of things to do and experience!