Wild Chickens, Breaching Whales, Snorkeling, and Dolphins
I have heard people say that Hawaii isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. That it isn’t worth the money to go there. And I believed those naysayers, so I put Hawaii low on my list of places I wanted to visit [spoiler alert: they were totally wrong]. However, when my best friend asked me to be her plus one to her cousin’s wedding in Hawaii, I very enthusiastically, without hesitation, said YES!!!
As events unfolded, John eventually convinced her family to let him join (it didn’t take much, they love him, hah!!). And my best friend began seriously dating someone, so we all ended up going on the trip together. I got booted from the wedding guest list and John and I spent that day together instead. It all worked out for the best! It’s been a year ago now, and here’s a look back at our experience in Kauai, Hawaii.
DAY 1
Getting There
We booked our flights with the Alaska Airlines companion fare deal [we’re all for saving money, guys, and we’ll sleep in an airport to do it], so John and I had separate travel plans from my best friend and her family. I am always a window seat girl when possible. The city views from above, the majestic cloud formations, and the excitement of seeing landscapes of a whole new world as we come in to land, I never get tired of them. Ahh!! We’re in freakin’ HAWAII!!! And it is PARADISE!
We landed in Lihue (pronounced lee-HU-ay) and made our way to the rental car location. A long day of travel had us exhausted, but the weather was PERFECTION! We soaked up the sunshine and beautiful views all around us while waiting for our car. Oh, and the chickens! If you haven’t heard, there are wild chickens roaming around everywhere on this island!
First Whale
We first drove to a restaurant that was recommended to us called Lava Lava for some lunch and island cocktails. We were all smiles as we sat with sand under our feet and the ocean waves in full view. And then as I was looking around, I SWORE I saw a big splash out in the ocean! I got SO excited!! John didn’t believe me, but a minute or two later a whale breached way off in the distance and we both saw it!! It didn’t matter what else happened at that point, my trip had been made 😀
DAY 2
The Catamaran
My friend and her family had some travel troubles, and we were so sad to learn they weren’t going to make it into the island until mid-morning today. Which meant they weren’t going to be there in time to make it out on the Catamaran excursion we had booked. John and I continued on with it, but I felt so guilty they couldn’t make it. We HIGHLY recommend something like this if you ever make the trip out to Hawaii. We booked through Capt Andy’s Sailing Adventures, and the crew was amazing! The boats have a lot of seating areas, and two “trampoline” type things out front that you could sit on and feel the air and waves below and sometimes get bounced around. I tend to get motion sickness, but as long as I stayed out in the open air, and typically toward the front looking ahead, I was okay. But, the moment I’d go into the cabin to wait for the restroom or get a drink, I’d start feeling a little queasy. We had probably 1/3 of the boat getting sick on the trip, so take some meds with you if you’re not sure!
Snorkeling
We weren’t far into the trip and first thing we did was get off and go snorkeling! This was only the second time I’d been snorkeling, and it was so much fun! We saw a lot of beautiful fish, and a few turtles swimming nearby and then diving deep into the ocean. (This was not a swimming with the dolphins thing, the dolphins were racing our boat much later on in the day). We took some videos with our GoPro and my phone in a waterproof bag/case, but I haven’t done anything with those yet 🙂
Napali Coast
Then we all got back on the boat, cruised around the Napali coast, enjoyed the stunning scenery, the playful dolphins, and chased toward some baby whales breaching (but not too close). No big deal. [BIG DEAL IT WAS SO AMAZING, SO MUCH FUN, AND I GOT SO FRIED!] You get a lot of sun on the water for several hours, I typically tan well and don’t use a lot of sunscreen, but luckily I didn’t peel until we were on our way home from Hawaii, hah!
We’ll have to go back again soon just so my best friend can experience this too!!
Afterwards we went back to our beautiful Air BNB, rinsed off using the outdoor shower, revealing just how much sun we got, grabbed some local coffee and enjoyed the island rainbows.
See Kauai, Hawaii Vacation | Part 2 Here
Read our Hawaii Engagement Story Here
