Kauai - Part 1

Chase and I just spent a week in Hawaii on the island of Kauai. It was fantastic for so many reasons. First, it's not the most popular island, but arguably the most beautiful. It rains quite often (the highest point gets 460 inches of rain a year), making it incredibly green with lush plant life all around. There isn't really a hopping night life, which was great because it cut down on the loud partiers who normally accompany a vacation. We got to explore this island with minimal crowds and quiet nights. It was just like we imagined it would be when we booked the trip. We wanted a raw look at one of the most beautiful places in the world.

We arrived in Kauai at 2pm Hawaii time on Saturday. It was cloudy with a little bit of light rain here and there and super windy, but we didn't let this deter us. We knew to expect this at times. We headed to the grocery store to stock up on a few items for the room. We drove around the local area to be acquainted with it, then headed back to the hotel. We ate dinner that night at a restaurant called "Bull's Shed." It was a little old school (lots of elderly there for the salad buffet), but to it's credit, it did have a fantastic view of the ocean. It was right over the water with windows all across the back side for a panoramic view of the ocean. We watched the stormy waves crash into the rocks below until the view was completely obscured by darkness.

The next day we woke up SUPER EARLY. I mean like 5:30am. Earlier than I wake up for work. Thank you, jet lag. We grabbed some champagne and orange juice and snuck it down to the beach to watch the sunrise.

Our hotel, the Kauai Marriott, is right in front of Kalapaki Beach which sets inside a bay, making the water much calmer. We watched cruise ships come in and out almost everyday.

After the sunset, we grabbed breakfast at Kukui's...the pool side restaurant at the Marriott. We went there at least 5 times. We took advantage of the beautiful beach and laid out for a bit after breakfast. Chase was torn that UNC was playing in the elite 8, and really wanted to see the game. Luckily he was able to stream most of it on his iPhone!

We loved being on beaches all week long. We figured we can lay out at in pool in Arizona literally year round. So why not take advantage of the beach while we have it??

Before this trip, we had done a lot of research. We knew we wanted to explore this beautiful island. We had to see as much as possible! In the afternoon we headed down to Poipu, which is on the south side of the island and nearly always sunny. Shipwreck Beach was our destination.

The road to Poipu

Shipwreck Beach

The treacherous black rocks

We arrived here and immediately tried to spot a section of beach without the black rocks. Not much success there. We decided to embrace their presence. The waves crashing into the shore were pretty rough. Even so, Chase and I love playing in some big waves, so we carefully stepped onto the hot, black rocks and made our way to the ocean. We realized how unstable those little rocks are, especially with the powerful waves crashing into them. Luckily, we made it to the ocean injury-free to enjoy some awesome waves.

Over to our left is a huge rock. More like a cliff. We saw people climbing in the woodsy area and then surfacing right at the cliff's edge. We wondered if anyone ever jumped...and we didn't have to wonder long. Soon enough a brave dude came and jumped off the cliff at the egging on of his buddies. He seemed to be fine - so Chase and I decided we would at least climb the cliff and go "look.

The Cliff

Looking down off the cliff

That's when Chase suggested that we jump. In fact, he suggested that HE would jump first! Wow! And I spent our whole relationship thinking this guy was afraid of heights! We put our belongings behind a tree, next thing I know, Chase walks up to the edge of the cliff and just goes for it - without even thinking! I was beyond impressed. Then realized it was my turn. I just went for it, no thinking involved. Let me tell you - it FEELS way farther than it looks. In reality, it was about a 35ft drop. It was fantastic hitting the crystal blue water.

Swimming back to shore was another story. We have to swim diagonally away from the cliff back to shore to avoid hitting some major rocks. It was exhausting and the water was still really deep (which creeps me out). Not to mention Chase was swimming way faster than me. Little did we know that the most treacherous part about this whole adventure would be climbing out of the water by way of the black rocks. We had done this once before, it this was a few hours later, and the waves had picked up. We stumbled on the black rocks, attempting to "get set" on all fours whenever a wave crashed in. This worked earlier, but because the waves were so much stronger, every time one came crashing in, we were completely knocked off balance and sent crashing into the rocks. I felt myself panic real quick that it was extremely possible that one or both of us could end up very injured. Especially since we were exhausted from the swim.

Thankfully, we made it out with only a few bumps and bruising (mainly Chase's left thigh took a bad beating). Some other dudes that jumped off the cliff after us came out bleeding. Wussies!

These guys jumped after us - but it took them forever..they were so nervous.