Day 8- May 8th, 2014:

We went deep sea fishing. The water was very choppy, so I got sea sick. Ginger chews helped, but it was basically me throwing up, fishing, throwing up, fishing… you get the idea. Even though I was sick it was still really cool and a lot of fun. We each caught a fish.

We had a feast that night for dinner with the fish we caught, crab legs and salad! So good!

That day we also went to the beach down the road from our house and hung out there while it rained a little. We also went pier fishing.

Day 9- May 9th, 2014:

We went to Tunnels Beach, which is the same beach where Bethany Hamilton, the famous surfer was when she was attacked and had her arm bitten off by a shark. I was a little nervous about this to say the least.
The woman who’s house we rented told me she snorkeled there a lot.
After I asked her if she’d seen any sharks there, she replied, “Oh yeah, all the time, but just baby ones.”
To which I replied, “So when you say ‘baby’ how big does that mean?”
She said, “Like 6 or 7 feet.”
My eyes were huge! “…Ummmm, that isn’t a baby to me!”

We went anyway.

It was very cool so we actually went twice on days 9 and 10.
There are these “tunnels” in the reef which are where the sharks sometimes hang out. I had a hard time enjoying the deeper parts for fear that I would see a shark at every tunnel below me.
All I could hear was my fast heavy breathing as I reluctantly swam around. Then I’d dart back to shallow water whenever I had “gone too far.” Brant on the other hand very much enjoyed himself. He even saw a school of fish being chased by large tuna.

While I spent most of my time in the shallow water I did make a friend. It was a huge amazingly adorable sea turtle! I was in love!
He hung out about 5 feet from me just chomping on seaweed for the longest time. There were a few times that the waves almost made us collide into each other.

We drove around to some shops, ate at Bubba Burgers which was so good. They have pineapple on the burgers! We also stopped at a cave called “The Blue Room” that is supposed to be all blue if you swim inside. We planned on swimming until we went there and the water was stagnant and gross.

Next, we went to my FAVORITE place on earth, called Queens Bath. It was so beautiful! I can’t even describe and the pictures don’t do it justice. It was a little tricky to find. It is in a plat of homes.

That is me floating down there…

We also jumped from a very high cliff into the part I’m floating in above.

It doesn’t look that deep but it was well over 10 ft deep. My knees were shaking and I didn’t jump on the first count down, because I was so scared. So Brant jumped alone haha.
Then Brant and the other people who were there told me it was super deep and when we counted down again I jumped! The water was warm and salty.

Below is another group of people who were jumping into an even crazier spot…

That night we ate ice cream from Tropical Dream. The owner is super abrasive, but the ice cream was incredible!

Day 10- May 10th, 2014:

That morning we had breakfast at Java Kai. I had macadamia nut waffles and they were very good.

We went to Black Sand Beach, which I think is Kauai’s only black sanded beach. It was cool but, nothing too exciting. From there we walked to shops and Jo-Jo’s Shaved Ice.

We drove through the tree tunnel.

Glass Sand Beach was also very cool! I took a few pieces home to put in a necklace.

Brant caught a tiny crab (below)

Kauai Coffee tour-

This place was fun, it is a self guided tour. You can also taste all their different coffee flavors. Coconut Caramel Crunch was our favorite.

That night we went pier fishing again and there was a disturbing amount of cats there. A man in a van drove to the pier while we were there and fed the cats like a farmer to his cattle. It was strange.

Day 11- May 11th, 2014:

We hiked the Napali coast. It was so slippery because of the rain. We tried to hike all the way to the waterfall, but there had been a flash flood when we arrived. Some people got stuck over there and had to be rescued out. We ended up driving to another falls.

 

That evening we ate Mexican food in Kapaa.

Day 12- May 12th, 2014:

We took a Napali coast boat tour. We thought it would be a relaxing boat tour, but it was pretty intense and we couldn’t go into the cave part of the tour because the water was so high.

We also snorkeled a little hoping to see dolphins, then as soon as we got back in the boat and started moving again the pod of spinner dolphins arrived. I really thought about jumping out onto one of them.
No, you think I’m joking, but this was a legitimate thought that I had to talk myself out of.
There were baby dolphins too!

A look out spot on our drive to hike the area we just viewed from the coast.

We stopped at a coffee shop at the bottom of the area we hiked called Little Fish Coffee and each got a drink called Midnight Marauder. It was amazing.

Day 13- May 13th, 2014: Last day in Kauai :(

Before we went to the airport we went to a restaurant called The Greenery Cafe. It is basically behind someone’s house, but it was probably the best food we had the entire trip. A must visit!

As we boarded our tiny plane to fly back to Oahu the airport workers waved us off and I teared up.
I had the most amazing trip of my life and I wasn’t ready to leave.
That night after we arrived back in Oahu we spent the evening downtown and ate tacos. It was a fun end to the trip.

Day 13- May 13th, 2014:

That morning we flew back home to Ohio, but a little piece of my heart will forever be in Hawaii. It may sound super cheesy, but I don’t care. This is the only trip that at the end of it I wasn’t ready to come home.

I will forever have a spot in my heart set aside for Hawaii. That spot that’s from the piece I left there. Hopefully, I’ll be back to unite them someday. I know when I go back it will be like greeting an old friend.

Until we meet again, dear friend.

I end on this image, because I feel it sums up this entire trip.