This is a massive post: hope you all enjoy! I know it's been several months, but these still deserve some recognition because it was, after all, our honeymoon!! After our Denver reception we flew to Lihue, Kauai. We stayed at the Grand Hyatt and this is the entry way to the resort!
Our place was incredible! This is just one view to the pools (they wind around like a river)...
I like this picture because it shows the 3 bodies of water we had available. The river/pool, the salt-water bay and then the ocean beyond that!
This is the ocean view to "Shipwreck Rock". There are people at the edge. We watched a few brave souls jump!
Our first beach we set off to was "Salt Beach". We had asked a few locals what the best beaches were in hopes to find some less populated places for us to enjoy. Um....they did a nice job. There were a few locals there when we arrived, but the we pretty much had this beautiful spot to ourselves! And....I got FRIED! Not intentionally, but nonetheless...totally burnt!
We then made our way to Spouting Horn. We weren't totally impressed, but there were some great merchant stands there where we got MOST our souvenirs.
We did however, love the sea turtles!! Can you see one of them?
Our first adventure we went on was a Zodiak Rafting tour up the Na Pali coast (with Captain Andy's in case any of you are inspired to go as well). You can see one of the rafts like ours in this picture...oh, and the dolphins!! We rode right on the edge of the boat holding on to ropes while they cruised us through the seas! It was great. We also got to get out and do some snorkeling. It was Bryan's first experience with snorkeling. Let's just say... he's converted!
We actually got to ride in the back for a good chunk of the way! Aren't we cute?!?!
One of the sights along the Na Pali coast. This is a very famous filming spot. Anyone seen "Pirates...3"? That's where they go to go get the fountain of life. It's in several other movies as well.
Part of the Rafting tour was that they took us through the caves along the way. It was so cool. We'd CRUISE through some of them. I don't have too many pictures due to the fact that I didn't want my camera to get destroyed. So I got a few pictures. But pictures don't do it justice anyway!
Next adventure: We went on a helicopter ride!! This one was pretty special because this trip took you all over the island and then landed at Jurassic Falls. Neither of us had ever been on a helicopter before and we got to sit in the front and see EVERYTHING!
Here's us at the bottom of Jurassic falls as seen in the amazing movie "Jurassic Park". Yes, we rented the movie after to find the spot where it is! Totally amazing!!
Here are some shots from the air: THis is looking down at the beach where we had landed for lunch with our Zodiak Raft tour.
A cool view of the Na Pali Coast
This is looking in to the Volcano! They say there are rare times when it's this sunny because this is one of the most wet places on earth. And we got to see it bright and sunny and we even got to fly in to the crater!
That's looking up out the crater from the inside of the volcano!
A favorite place of ours and another almost deserted destination: Secret Beach. It was AMAZING!!! The island to the right on the end has the lighthouse on it, but we weren't too impressed so I didn't include the pictures. BUT the beach was incredible. It's a little bit of a walk to get to but TOTALLY WORTH IT!!
Another day we got to go to a Luau hosted by our hotel. It was beautiful and we truly enjoyed the food. My favorite was the sweet potato-like poi. It was purple and I could have gone back several times!!
More snorkeling: This trip brought to you by the sea turtles! We swam with around 10!
They're pretty big!
One of our favorite places on the island was "Glass Beach". The entire beach is made up of small pieces of glass that has been polished from being out in the ocean and washing along the rocks. You can see in the picture the different kinds of glass from bottles and things that were thrown into the ocean. The brown's were dominant, but I managed to grab some great greens, whites and a few blue pieces.
Bryan LOVED searching through the sand for some great pieces. You can't tell from this picture that the whole beach is glass until you get up close.
ZIP LINE! One of our last adventures was a zip line tour. We got to go on about a dozen zip lines. It was fun swinging over the lush greenery. Our tour also included a "Zip n' dip" so we got to stop and swim in a little pool-like area half way through and they fed us some lunch. It was delightful!
This is just the length of ONE of our zips. Not even the longest!
Random picture of the black swans at our hotel. LOVED THEM!
Our final adventure was a "Sunset Sail". It ended up being a total disappointment. This was the catamaran that we got to ride on. What we didn't realize was that it was the same tour as our zodiak ride was....even most of the same jokes. AND, this one made us both sea sick. It was so miserable! Bryan and I sat on the end of the boat thinking up things that we'd rather be doing...like going down a sand-paper slide bare bummed. Anything!
But we did get a good final sunset picture. Unfortunately...not really worth it.
The last day we were there we left our lei in this little area. It was a cute little thing and Bryan captured the moment...so I included it.
I feel like with as many pictures as I just posted it still didn't capture the wonderfullness of our trip! But there you go!
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