Honeymoon Day 5- Part 2

After our tour of the Waimea Canyon we were completely in love with Kauai. You can see the pictures from the canyon here. I think those are my favorite pictures from the whole trip.

We decided to keep exploring the west side of the island. Our next stop was Polihale Beach, one of the most beautiful beaches that I've seen in my life. The Waimea Canyon and the Na Pali Coast do not allow any roads circle the island of Kauai. Once you've made the drive along the south shore to Waimea and seen the canyon, the only options are to go west on dirt roads to Polihale Beach, or turn around and go back the same way that you came. We drove at least 20 minutes on dirt roads to reach Polihale Beach. Polihale Beach is located at the southern end of Napali Coast. I wanted to jump in the water, but the shore break was very strong. I wanted to stay for the sunset, but my husband had a romantic dinner planned on the other side of the island.

Polihale Beach

Polihale Beach

Kauai is more rural than Oahu. We had dinner reservations at 7:00PM at a nice restaurant on the east coast of the island. We went to Hukilau Lanai located about 15 minutes away from Lihue. It was beautiful, laid back, and the food was great. The reservations for this restaurant can be made using open table.

Lava FLows and Mai Tais

We were loving our time in Kauai, and the best days were still ahead of us.

Honeymoon Day 5- Part 1

For months we wanted to see the Waimea Canyon, the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific." This was one of the reasons for picking Kauai as the second island to visit during our honeymoon. I read a lot about this site and saw many pictures prior to the trip. It was more beautiful than I imagined. The road towards the canyon was also beautiful. We stopped at every change that we got and at Kehaha beach park on our way to the canyon.

Kehaha Beach Park

A quick stop at Kehaha Beach Park

We stopped at all of the overlooks to see the Canyon. At each stop the colors of the Canyon and the surroundings changed dramatically as well as the weather.  

Our first sight of the Waimea Canyon

The last stop of the canyon was a the Kokee State Park where we had an impresive scenic point of the Napali Coast. This is as far as the road goes on the west side of the island.  Our adventorous side was ready for a hike on one of the many trails. We picked an easy trail according to our book and walked for about 1 mile. It was a moderate hike and we had a better look at the Napali Coast.

"Hiking"

On our way back, we decided to try another trail. We took advantage of our 4x4 jeep rental and drove to a closer start point. This trail was the cliff trail and it was about 0.2 miles and easy.

View from the end of the Cliff Trail

View from the end of the Cliff Trail