This was our last picture taken on our wedding night.
After our 13 hour flight delay we made it to Kauai as the sun was rising. We took a little snooze then it was off to the beach at our hotel.
Then we took a drive up to the north east part of the island, stopping along the way.
I know this looks weird. I shot it with a wide angle lens, but I wanted the lighthouse to be straight up without the lens curve.
Next day we played golf at Kauai Lagoons, the championship course. The coolest thing was the golf carts that had large GPS screens that told you how far you were from the hole, the bunkers, and even the golf cart of the group in front of you! I shot an 87! Kelley did pretty good too.
Back at the hotel as the sun was setting. The view from our room...
A self portrait at the restaurant we had reservations at.
Next morning we took a huge catamaran around the Na Pali coast. It's the only way to really see it. The sugar mill was running.
A school of Spinner Dolphins were swimming along side us. I have some video of them jumping out of the water and spinning in the air.
I believe they filmed parts of King Kong here. They say Kong is still here (see the outline of his face?)
Lots of movies were shot along this coastline. This is the sand dune filmed in the opening of one of the Star Wars movies. I believe it was C3PO that walked down it.
"The Spires" It's hard to judge the size of this mountain in pictures. If you can see the few little specks in the beach, those are people camping. The moutain is just huge.
We eventually snorkled, swimming with not only fish, but a turtle. Then back to land for a drive up the mountain.
This is the Grand Canyon of Kauai.
When we got to the very scenic end of the road, we were all clouded in.
Full credit for this photo goes to Kelley as we were driving back down.
That was about it for Kauai, besides the numerous times we just laid on the beach or by the pool.
Then it was off to Maui and the road to Hana. The road is about 44 miles long, from where it really starts. It took 3 hours to drive it! You don't get much of a chance to do more than 20-25mph. It's all curves and one lane bridges. We loved our jeep! We had one on both islands.
Some of the views along the way. I have a photo of the road later in this post.
We stopped at a bunch of waterfalls along the way.
Our room at the Hana Hotel was awesome.
We totally recommend staying here at least 2 nights. There's not much at all to do in Hana, but the food and disconnect are well worth it. There's no TV in the rooms, and only a few places for internet.
One thing you have to do is take the 2.5 mile hike up the volcano. You'll see a few waterfalls along the way.
The best part was hiking through the bamboo forest.
At the end of the trail is a huge waterfall. Both Kelley and I walked right up to it. The water was really cold!
After we hiked back down we went for a swim in the 7 sacred pools. We then went back to the hotel. As Kelley would say, "National Geographic" time.
The next morning we went to the black sand beach for a swim.
It was just like regular sand.
We stopped for a few pics along the way back down the road from Hana.
We ate at the popular Mama's Fish house. So good you can't even explain it.
We drove to our next hotel in Kaanapali. We went to the "best luau in maui" It was missing fire dancers! Every other luau had fire dancers. I was bummed. But it was still good.
After the Luau it was straight to sleep. We got up at 2:00am to catch a van to the top of the Haleakala Volcano to watch the sun rise. It was completely spiritual, and 10,000 feet up.
Our stylish yellow jackets to keep us warm. It was really cold up there.
Then we rode bikes down the mountain on a curvy downhill road. We got some good speed!
The view from our hotel. I didn't get to play the golf course there :(
We finally saw a good sunset over the water! Most of our trip was vogged in. That's fog due to volcanic ash in the air from the big island.
Next morning we took a helicopter tour of the island.
Oprah's place on Maui.
The top of the volcano we had gone up to the morning before.
Part of the crater where the flow came from.
We saw more waterfalls than we could count. This one was one of the big ones.
Here's the road to Hana.
The vog finally cleared enough for us to see the nearby islands.
Then it was back to San Diego! We went to our favorite breakfast place, followed by a long walk from La Jolla to Mission Beach.
So that's the express version of the trip. There are many stories to tell! I didn't take a whole lot of pictures... it was my honeymoon, and I just wanted to spend it with my honey.
thanks for sharing! looks like an awesome time. the bamboo forest and fire dancer pics are amazing. love that little lizard shot too.
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