Honeymoon Stop 1--Kaua'i

Kaua'i was exactly what Z and I needed after our wedding and our crazy month of May. Adventurous hikes, beautiful water, fresh seafood and early bedtimes, thanks to the roosters who woke us by 7 a.m., filled our days. Unlike most of Maui, much of Kaua'i is less developed, less touristy and more off-the-beaten path. Despite the major hotels that have found their way to Kaua'i, it still has a bit of a hippy vibe. As some locals would say, it's the "real Hawaii."

Just another day on Kaua'i--a chicken and a rooster scope out my parking spot

On this visit, one of our favorite activities was taking a tour of the Na Pali Coast, the northern coast of the island. We saw beautiful waterfalls and mountains and learned a bit about the history of the coast. We stopped for a brief snorkel before we ate lunch on the boat. While we did see some fish and one small sea turtle, the water was too rough to see much. We saw many more turtles when we rented stand-up paddleboards and took a trip up the Hanalei River.

Arched rock on the Na Pali Coast

Ziv stopping for a snorkel

One of the many beautiful waterfalls on the Na Pali Coast

From the concierge at the hotel to all of the locals we talked with, they all recommended hik to Hanakapiai Falls. This hike is not for the faint-of-heart or out-of-shape. Roundtrip is about eight miles, through narrow, rocky passages that can become muddy when wet. It's mostly uphill on the way in, which makes for a helpful downhill on the way back.

My injury on the way to the falls

The reward, of course, is seeing the beautiful falls and, if you're up for it and warm-blooded, swimming in them. The entire round trip hike, including an hour or so for lunch and swimming, took us just over six hours.

Hanakapiai Falls

Ziv swimming in the falls

The day after our hike to the falls, we decided to give our legs a rest and visited the Princeville Botanical Gardens for a tour of some of the flora on Kaua'i. A tour of the privately-owned gardens also features a chocolate tasting, including some of the chocolate grown and made at the gardens. The only downside of the garden tour: mosquitoes! They were everywhere. And they loved us.

Cocoa beans at the gardens

One of the many beautiful flowers on our tour

Waimea Canyon was unlike anything else we saw on Kaua'i. The canyon itself, dubbed the Grand Canyon of the Pacific, is impressive. It's desolate and falls about 3,000 feet from its height. The hiking around the canyon is even more impressive. Our hike, on the north end of the canyon, brought us back to prehistoric times. We saw the ocean on the west, the canyon on the east, and a remote, cloud and forest covered trail in the middle.

At Waimea Canyon

Clouds shroud our view as we begin our hike

Some of the terrain on our hike

On the way to Waimea Canyon, we stopped at Kaua'i Coffee Company to sample some beans and take a brief tour. While we weren't blown away by the coffee, it was a fun stop on the way to the canyon and offered an interesting overview of what has become a major industry on Kaua'i.

One of the only downsides of Kaua'i is that it doesn't offer a lot of dining options. Being an island, the food is also expensive. Our favorite meal on Kaua'i was the Sunday brunch we stumbled upon at the Westin. The spead offered plenty of fresh veggies, fruits, meats and pastries and, what turned out to be, the best poke of our Hawaiian adventure. This poke was super-fresh and elegantly simple in its preparation--a bit of soy sauce, some sesame seeds and green onions.

We also found some great poke at Foodland Supermarket, a major chain on the islands. The friendly staff at Foodland let us sample different poke preparations before deciding on our favorites. This poke proved to be an easy, simple dinner several nights on Kaua'i and Maui.

We spent seven nights and about six days on the island and were able to see most of the major highlights in that time. If we had more time, we agreed that Waimea Canyon and the Na Pali Coast would be great places to do more hiking. We'll save that for our next visit.