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HAWAII (oahu & kauai) PICTURES and REVIEW

Original post by julz33

Thread views: 8,242

I am warning everyone this is going to be REALLY long!

We left for our honeymoon on Saturday night (our wedding was Friday 9/24/04). Our flight didn't leave until Sunday morning at 5:45 am, but it left from Newark and that would have been a long drive so early in the morning! We stayed at the Newark Sheraton on Saturday night. I am really glad we made this decision! We drove there and parked our car at Mr. B's long term parking. They charge $10 a day for parking so for us it was $120. it worked out to be cheaper than paying for a limo or taxi ride there and back. Mr. B's also provides a shuttle shervice to and from the airport.

***DAY 1***

At 3:00am on Sunday 9/26 Ray and I woke up. We were so excited to go to Hawaii. Here is a picture of us in the hotel room before we left for the airport.

We used Continental Airlines. Unfortunately we have to stop in Houston on the way there for an hour. I wish we did non-stop but we had to do it this way because the only non-stop flight that day left NY at 1:00pm and that was too late for us.
Sun rising:

The plane ride was so long and boring! I watched 'Raising Helen' and played solitaire. I tried to sleep but was too uncomfortable. Finally, at 12:30 Hawaii time (6:30pm NY time) I saw Oahu from the window:

We took a cab from the airport in Honolulu to our hotel which was in Waikiki. It cost $30! We later found out there was an airport shuttle to and from our hotel for $8 a person. So I recommend you work this out in advance.
We stayed at the Imperial of Waikiki . It is actually a timeshare that my BIL gave us as a weding gift. It was 100 yards from Waikiki beach and right next to the Sheraton. Our place had 1 bedroom and 2 bathrooms, a living room, kitchen, and balcony. When we got in our room we changed into our bathing suits and went exploring.
Us in our room like 5 min. after we got there:

Then we went up to the top floor of our hotel.

We walked down to Waikiki beach. My frist impression was 'This is HAWAII?' I twas NOT what I expected. I felt like I was in Miami FL with a ll the tall building lining the beach, and the beach very crowded with people.

While walking around Waikiki we saw some interesting trees.

Ray and the Tiki statues he loved

That night we at at the Waikiki Broiler which was across the street from hour hotel. We had Coconut Chicken and Shrimp Scampi over pasta. We ended up sharing both dishes. The place was pretty good and fairly priced. They had a live guitar player/singer and an outdoor area to eat. That night we were soooo tired because of al the travelling we did. We went to sleep pretty early.

allure Thread views: 8,242

Re: Honeymoon Review - In Progress

Very Nice Review

Monkeybride Thread views: 8,242

Re: Honeymoon Review - In Progress

Great pictures!!

My DH took over 1000 pictures of our HM. I don't even know where to begin.

eogara Thread views: 8,242

Re: Honeymoon Review - In Progress

Your pics are great!! I can't wait to hear and see the rest.

btrflygrl Thread views: 8,242

Re: Honeymoon Review - In Progress

WOW Julie!! You and Ray are HOT! I don't think I saw the same bikini twice! What great photos and great review...although I just looked at pics!

MISS YOU!

julz33 Thread views: 8,242

Re: Honeymoon Review - In Progress

***DAY 7***
We went to an activities information session in the hotel lobby at 8 am. We found out about all of the various tours. They gave away prizes at the end and we won 1 for free for the Kayak adventure. At first we could't decide between an ATV tour or the Kayak one, buy since we won we booked the Kayak adventure. Our plans for Sunday was to drive up the east coast of Kauai, stoppin gat all the must-see sites, then drive down the north shore to the NaPali coast to go hiking, then stop and snorkel at beaches on the way back.
The first stop we made was Snorkel Bob's. It was in Koloa on Poipu Beach Rd. We rented snorkel equipment there for $9 each a week. That included a basic mask, snorkel, and fins. This was a great idea so we always had our snorkel gear with us and could go to private beaches and not worry about having to rent the gear each time.
Then we began our journey heading North on 520.
Here we are driving through the tunnel of trees. It looked much cooler in real life than in the picture. The trees were all Eucalyptus Trees. Tree Tunnel information

The first place we drove towards was Wailua Falls. On the way to Wailua Falls we saw another waterfall. There were no signs and it is not on my map so I don't know which falls it was.

Here is Wailua Falls..it is seen in the opening scene of Fantasy Island.
Wailua Falls information

We went back to 56 and headed North. This is a beach we drove by, I think it was Lydgate State Park. That is suppossed to be a good place for snorkeling and we wanted to stop there on the way home but we ran out of time.

The next stop we made was on 580. It was a look out over Wailua River.
Wailua River Information This River was closed to kayakers when we were there because of a shark sighting!!!

Next wasOpaekaa Falls

We continued north on 56. We saw Coconut Grove .

Another one of the river across the street from the falls.

We continue on towards the end of the highway. The drive was long but the scenery was amazing.

Here we are at Manini-holo Dry Cave . This was cool. The sound inside the cave was very weird. You could hear dripping water and everything echoed.

Across the street from the cave was Haena State Park There are bathrooms there...good place for a bathroom break.

julz33 Thread views: 8,242

Re: Honeymoon Review - In Progress

The driving was fun here. The roads were narrow and there were a lot of one-way bridges. Finally we reached the end, Kee Beach. Instead of going straight to the beach we decided to go hike on the trails of the NaPali coast. NaPali coast link.
We were very unprepared for this hike. We both had sandals and bathing suits on. Luckily we found walking sticks that somebody left by the entrance to the trails. I would recommend bringing sneakers and maybe wearing pants to prevent scratching from the branches.

View of Kee Beach from up high

You can see how steep it was in this picture. the other pictures don't show the depth that well.

We finally reahed 'windy point' which is a mile into the trail. It was soooo windy up here. Ray was afraid that we were going to get blown off the cliff. This is as far as we went... if we had better shoes we definately would have kept going.

This is one of my favorite pictures!

So we began to walk back down. it is a lot harder going down than up. And I forgot to mention before it is MUDDY! So going down was very slippery in areas. I almost slipped twice

A red spider!

This was my favorite place...aren't these roots awesome!

So after we finished the trail we were so muddy! We went to Kee beach...after 2 minutes of sitting in the sun we couldn't take the heat anymore, so we went snorkeling

David'sbride Thread views: 8,242

Re: Honeymoon Review - In Progress

Wow. Now I can't wait to go. My FFIL is taking the family for their 50th wedding anniversary.

Thanks for all of the tips

julz33 Thread views: 8,242

Re: Honeymoon Review - In Progress

Kee Beach was so beautiful. The snorkeling there was great!
If you look to the left of this picture, that is where we went hiking.

Some of our underwater pictures

On the road back towards home we saw Waikapala'e Wet Cave .

Anini Beach

A river that went OVER the road! It was only a few inches high on the road though.

The we tried to go to the Kilauea Lighthouse but they close it at 4:00 (It was like 5:00 when we got there) so we got to see it from afar.

Views from the car...

We stopped at coconuts in Kapaa for dinner. I WOULD NOT recommend this place. They were sold out of burgers and all of their meals were over $20, and they were very small. Not worth it!

julz33 Thread views: 8,242

Re: Honeymoon Review - In Progress

***DAY 8***
This day we drove around the west side of Kauai. The main even was Waimea Canyon.
Canyon Link. .
When we first started driving up Waimea Canyon Drive (550) I thought we were so high! But that was nothing!

I LOVED THE RED DIRT!

How funny is this...look at me in the mirror

Here we are at Waimea Canyon Lookout.

Puu a Kila Lookout

There were chickens everywhere but this one was special... she had babies!

julz33 Thread views: 8,242

Re: Honeymoon Review - In Progress

We also stopped at Kalalau Lookout but that was not that good. You can see the island of Nihue from there though.
Next stop after the canyon was Barking Sands beach. This beach was at the end of highway 50, then like 20 minutes down a old bumpy dirt road. There are TONS of private beaches down there. This is also the start of the other side of the Napali coast.

After this we went back to the hotel to get ready for out Luau!!!
We went to the Drums of Paradise Luau in the Hyatt hotel.

Black Swan

Yum dinner!

This Luau was a lot of fun. It was about $65 per person.

Jax430 Thread views: 8,242

Re: Honeymoon Review - In Progress

Beautiful pics so far Julz! We took over 300 and I thought that was a lot! You two look so happy! Your pics are making me feel like I'm back on my HM - we have a LOT of the same shots!

julz33 Thread views: 8,242

Re: Honeymoon Review - In Progress

***DAY 9***
The next day was our Kayak Adventure.
We started at Nawiliwili Bay and went up the river there, past the Menehune Fishpond.
I will have info on the company we used later, it is not with me at the moment.

After about 2 miles we got out of the Kayaks and went into the rainforest. The guides showed us various nuts and fruits, which we ate right off the tree, such as Kukui nuts and Passion fruit. We stopped at a little rope swing that landed in a gross little pond. The water was brown from the waterfalls kicking up dirt. I don't know where these pictures are, probably still being developed. After the rope swing we went hiking through the rainforest. The bugs and mosquitoes were BAD. We had bug spray but it didn't keep them away.

We made our way to a pasture owned by the Rice family. We took a tractor ride through the pasture. This is where Jurassic Park herd scenes were filmed.

We made our way down to a water fall where we ate lunch. They supplied water, juices, cookies, turkey sandwich, potato salad and brownies.

After lunch it was Zip Line time!
First me...

here is Ray

After the Zip line we went on another tractor ride to another waterfall. This waterfall was in Indiana Jones. There was a big rope swing here. Again the water was brown.
If you look closely you can see Ray.

On the hike back look what I caught!

Then we took a boat ride home and saw another rainbow

I have a lot more pictures but they are on another disposable camera that is not yet ready. Overall this was an awesome day! But there were no bathrooms...all wilderness... if you had to go use a tree! AND the worst part of the day was we got eaten alive by mosquitos. I had 60 bites on my legs alone!!! If you do this definitely bring or wear pants.

May05Bride Thread views: 8,242

Re: Honeymoon Review - In Progress

wow!
Hawaii looks amazing!
Glad to pic it for my honeymoon spot! I wasn't sure thats where I wanna go, vs greece, but after seeing your review --
HAWAII, HERE WE COME!!!

julz33 Thread views: 8,242

Re: Honeymoon Review - In Progress

***DAY 10***
Helicopter tour! We used Will Squires. They were the ones recommended by our hotel. It was $179 each but definately worth it. DO NOT SKIP THE HELICOPTER TOUR IF YOU GO TO HAWAII!!!! I was in the front center, in between the pilot and Ray. There were 4 others ih the back.

This is the river where we went kayaking. You can see the fishpond on the right of the river.

The smoke is burning sugaecane.

Hanalei Bay

Near Mt. Waialeale

Rainbow

The airport

After the helicopter tour we went to Pizetta in Old Koloa Town. DO NOT EAT HERE. It took us 20 minutes to get our drinks, and 1 hour for our food. Ray had a chicken parm hero and I had marinara pizza...I'm sorry but that shouldn't take an hour. Also they are in the entertainment book for buy 1 get 1 free, and they don't honor that coupon.
Tunnel of tree again:

Then we hung out by the pool. There is Ray!

Later in the evening we went to Spouting Horn.

And then we watched the sunset...

That is our hotel from the beach

Then we ate at Poipu's Beach Broiler.

Rays hand looked like a claw in that picture. I was lughing so hard I spit out my water

Ray in front of the restaurant..

It was a great place to eat...reasonably prices, overlooking the beach. I had a prime rib sandwich...it was great!

june262004 Thread views: 8,242

Re: Honeymoon Review - In Progress

Love LOVE love the pics. Want to go Back. We have a lot of the same pics as you guys. Lol.

diamondgrlie Thread views: 8,242

Re: Honeymoon Review - In Progress

What gorgeous pics! Everything looks amazing!

julz33 Thread views: 8,242

Re: Honeymoon Review - In Progress

***Day 11***
Our last FULL day in Kauai!
We spent the day at the beach. First we went to the beach across the street from our hotel and went snorkeling there.
Flowers:

We drove all the way to the end of Poipu Road and then followed a dirt road to a really nice beach.

After this beach we went to Poipu Beach and went snorkeling.

We saw a seal on the beach. It was roped off so thats why the pictures are so far away.

After snorkeling we bought sandwiches from the deli at Brenneckes and ate them on our balcony.

Then I started crying because I didn't want to leave the next day
The sunset again

We went shopping in Poipu Shopping Village for souveneirs and ate in Keoki's Paradise. We ate in the bar area and had coconut shrimp and shared a chicken sandwich. This place reminded me of home.