Kauai Day 1

Saturday morning we headed N along the E coast of Kaui'i, aiming for the Kilaueu Point Lighthouse, a quaint, white, cylindrical tower with a revolving light set on a point of land.  It was also part of a National Wildlife Refuge with rookeries for a number of sea birds including shear waters, red footed boobies, frigate birds, tropic birds and albatrosses.  It was a treat to look down on the birds as they soared by, riding the trade winds.  A number of the boobies were gathering nesting materials at  the start of nesting season.

A Nene, the Hawaiian National bird 

A red footed booby

We spent time on any number of famous beaches, watching the surf roll in with a crash.  I don't think we saw any 25' waves, but we did see trains of 8'-10' waves crest  and crash on shore.  Impressive, and I wouldn't want one breaking on me!  At several of the beaches we watched as kite surfers and others were enjoying the conditions.  Anini Beach, protected by a fringing reef had us wishing we'd brought our swim suits and snorkeling gear - inside the reef was calm, while breakers crashed in the reef.

Breaking surf

Kilauea Point Lighthouse from Secret Beach

Red Crested Cardinals 

We stopped at the 'post card view' off Hanalie that was made famous in the film South Pacific.  It overlooks another wild life refuge with taro fields along a river.  We're not sure it's open to the public, as the guidebook doesn't mention it, and a quick check on line revealed little information.  It did look interesting.

'Post card view' (click here and zoom for real life view)

By the end if the afternoon, we'd almost reached the end of the road (the highway doesn't circumnavigate the island) stopping at Maniniholo Bay and the dry cave before calling it a day.  It was too late to check out the Limahull National Tropical Botanical Gardens, so we may return if we have time.  A further study of the guide book indicates we have several options, so we may have to pick and choose.

Maniniholo Dry Cave entrance

Most of the island's interior roads end they approach the mountain, not linking to another road making for significant back tracking, and with a multitude of waterfalls and rain forests yet to explore, we'll have to pick and choose what to see.  Other possibilities would be hikes, a flight over the island and/or a boat ride.  The whales are still reported to be offshore, but spotting a whale spouting today in the white caps would have been impossible.