Day 7 in Hawaii - Kauai

I woke up to the sound of roosters crowing. We were warned about roosters entering our room if we hadn’t locked them, but we didn’t take it very seriously.  But it was time we did! It was still raining on the outside as we could hear heavy showers. Once we stepped out of our room for check-out, it was a very pleasant sight that surprised us. All around was some very pleasant greeneryJ Good start to our day indeed!

We started driving towards the Hindu Monastery in Kapa’a and ran into beautiful nature like never before. We stopped to watch over Opaeka’s Waterfalls and then headed to the temple. It was a beautiful Shiva temple and some meditation inside was very peaceful. We drove to an Indian restaurant ‘Shivalik’ and literally hogged there. After some delicious coffee-to-go, we started driving towards the northern most tip of Kauai.

It was sight after sight, beauty after beauty, I just don’t know where to start and where to end and the heart was filled with joy. We came across some beautiful caves, a mountain shaped like Kingkong sleeping, lighthouse, a bird sanctuary and beaches of course. Not to mention, roosters everywhere J. Once we touched the northern-tip, after which there wasn’t any road, we headed back. We crossed Lihue and headed to Poipu where we were staying. It was the same mesmerizing beauty that kept us captivated all through this island. Our destination for the day was the Koa Kea Hotel, rated #1 in Kauai by tripadvisor and I must say that it does indeed live up to it’s expectations. The staff were so pleasant and friendly and the service has been nothing but excellent so farJ

As for Kauai, I think if God were a gardener, this is how her  garden would look likeJ Aloha .. until we meet again..

Day 6 in Hawaii - Maui to Kauai

We woke up to the now familiar voice of Hanu baby's ‘Da daa’ and spent the first half of the day at leisure. Once we checked out we headed to Kaanapali. Spent some time at Whaler’s Village and it was time for us to part with Hanu, Dimpu & Susheel.

They drove us back to the airport where we would head to Kauai. My heart felt a bit heavy as I bid good bye to Dimpu as our whole family time felt so short L Didn’t enjoy this day too much now.

Back in the flight, we saw a hurricane 70 miles away and encountered turbulence en-route. It was raining heavily when we landed in Lihue. God! I really didn’t enjoy this day. I had hoped for a sunny vacation and Kauai was supposed to be the most beautiful island, and here we were stuck in a thunder storm.

Suman had booked a convertible here as well and we picked Sebring. We were staying for one night at a hotel close to the airport (as we were landing late) and would then head to another one where we would stay for 4 nights. We had to drive through some deserted and shady areas to finally find our hotel. We had no idea what surrounded us. It was a tiny room that we had checked into and once we put on the TV, we saw a flash flood warning for next couple of days. Just when we thought the day couldn’t get any worse. 

This was easily the worst day of my trip so far.. 

Day 5 in Hawaii - Maui

We had an early start. All of us had to report at the harbor at 7.00 am for our snorkeling cruise scheduled at 7.30.  Our boat was called QuikSilver. We had breatfast on board and their plain chocolate cake was YUMMY!! Few minutes into our cruise we spotted a whale flip-flopping in water far away. The whale season just began in Hawaii and we were very lucky to spot oneJ

Our first stop was at Turtle Town which we assumed was flooded with turtles (otherwise why would they name it so). Anyways, we wanted to be the last ones to get off the boat as we didn’t want to cause any obstruction to other passengers with our new-to-snorkeling skills. Dimpu started out first and then I followed. She was off the boat but initially I couldn’t let go of the boat. We were in middle of the ocean with a flotation aid and a boogey board!! Was that going to be enough??? After one of the crew members assured me that I would never drown with my flotation aid, I mustered up the courage to let go.

When I put my face into water, I ended up swallowing some salt water. This kept happening for some 15 minutes when I realized that I had to block my snorkel with my mouth to let in any water. Once I figured that out, there was no looking back!! I drifted away on my own and the sights I beheld at the bottom of the ocean 20-35 feet below were simply amazing. Once my head was in water, I felt a peaceful silence and was part of a whole new world that I knew existed, but had never experienced. I saw a lazy turtle at the bottom of the ocean with its head out but it was in no mood to show off. That was the only one I could spot while I was snorkeling. I did see some amazing fish and corals and before I knew it was time to go to our next stop.

Now that I swam in the ocean once (albeit with flotation aid), I was all excited and raring for our next snorkel stop; the Molokini crater, which is supposed to be one of  the best snorkeling spots in Hawaii. This time I was the first one to get off our boat and the last to return J. Oh Ocean, I love thee!! Now this place had some wonderful variety of fish and living corals. It was once again so peaceful and beautiful down there, I could just spend hours looking. Damn, why didn’t I ever do this before? And more damn, why didn’t I ever learn how to swim? (well, I had gone for a 2 week swim class 7-8 years ago, but never actually learnt how to swim L, so that doesn’t count :P ). I promised myself that I would seriously learn swimming once I get back to San Jose. Back in Kihei, we watched sunset by the beach and had our thanksgiving dinner at a nice Mexican place and that was it for the day..

Day 4 in Hawaii - Maui

We woke up to the sweet sound of Hanu calling ‘Da daa’ downstairs. . Suman and I headed for the much talked about ‘Road trip to Hana’. It was very sunny and warm outside so we didn’t lower the top until we got to the shaded areas on the road. We stopped at ‘Garden of Eden’ and took some beautiful pictures of the beach/valley/hills and saw some ducks and peacocks as well. We had the most expensive coconut water ever (6!  *&^*^$#@) Why is coconut so expensive in a land where it is found in abundance I do not understand L And to think I used to complain that Rs.20 was a lot for a coconut. I shall never complain about this in India ever again.

Continuing our journey to Hana, we saw glimpses of some waterfalls and more greenery and some beach views and finally the village of Hana arrived!! But there was nothing specific about this place that I liked. Why were we here again? This is when Suman went all philosophical and said ‘It is all about the journey and not about the destination’. Amen to that! We made a U-turn and started retracing our drive back to Kihei. This is when I started feeling a bit queasy and the winding roads and single lane bridges didn’t help either. As a diversion, Suman and I started singing out loud, as the songs played on his iPhone. Songs like ‘Emosanal Atyachaar’ actually helped :P  But to me this was perhaps one of the most-hyped road trips. Enjoyed it, but expected much more.

Back in our resort, we went for a mai-tai pool party. I guess we were late as there were no more mai-tais left L We had a good time in the pool. Hanu had the best time, he was super excited in waterJ  Suman and I tried to swim but both of us were very bad at it (but learnt enough to float for the snorkeling trip planned for the next day). Another day.. another time may be.. We then ordered some pizza and sides from Pizza Hut and that was one very spicy pizza that I ever had in the US. We slept early as we geared up for a very long/exciting day ahead.

Day 3 in Hawaii - Oahu to Maui

Hi again. I am sorry about my delayed update but I got really busy the past few days and couldn’t get to it. This was the day of least action. We woke up really late. No insanity workout and no classes to attend but had to pack all of our things for our onward trip to Maui where we would meet Susheel and Dimpu and of course dear little Hanu baby J

Checkout was quick and hassle-free. We returned our rental car and waited for about 2 hours for our flight to Maui. At Kahului airport, Susheel came to pick us up and that marked the beginning of some quality family time and fun for us J We picked up some Thai food on our way to meet Dimpu and Hanu at the condo in Kihei , which we rented together. The food was great and we spent the rest of the afternoon chatting.

Suman had booked a convertible, which we decided to use for a day. We got a bright blue color Ford Mustang J We drove around in the car for a bit along the beaches in Kihei, Wailea etc. Hanu was so excited as the wind hit his face and we all enjoyed his excitement J This was it for the day as we were all very tired…