We woke up bright and early (and pretty refreshed) Sunday morning to begin the day's activities. We set out in the rental car (a Saturn LS200) for the eastern coast of Kauai. Our goal was to go check out the Kilauea (pronounced kill-a-way-a) lighthouse. It was only about a 20 minute drive, but it was really beautiful, driving up the coast. There's only a couple of major roads on the island; the biggest being a road that (almost) circles the entire island along the coast.
The defunct lighthouse was pretty cool, but the surrounding wildlife refuge was even cooler. There were all kinds of almost-extinct birds that have made their homes in the area. The winds were strong enough that many of them were high up in the sky with their wings extended, just effortlessly riding the breeze. And pooping. Lots of big bird poop. Or, as the park ranger called it: Endangered Species' Fecies.
The view from up on the cliff was amazing. The water here is so incredibly blue..unlike the green or murky brown-ish water that we have on the east coast.
We continued up the eastern coast of Kauai to Hanalei (pronounced han-a-lay). We stopped and ate our lunch we packed and checked out the ocean a little. The water was a little cooler than I expected, so none of us went swimming. We were only out in the sun for a little while, but we all got pretty sunburnt because we forgot the sunscreen.
The big activity of the day was a 1-hour helicopter ride around the island. Our Air Kauai pilot, Curt, provided us with a breathtaking view of the entire island, including flying through the around the mountains and waterfalls seen in the movie "Jurassic Park". I had never been up in a helicopter before, so it was especially exciting. One thing that was so amazing to me was how different the different parts of the island are. The coast is (for the most part) pretty flat and sandy, but the center of the island is extremely mountainous and rocky. There's even a portion of the island that looks exactly like the grand canyon, except it's not quite as brown. Simply amazing.
Side note: I'll be attempting to update on here every day in the morning (for me). Right now, I know it's 4:15pm on the east coast. However, our Monday is just getting started out here in the south pacific. It's currently 10:15am.) So, look for new updates in your afternoon every day.
Posted by Jeff at June 16, 2003 04:21 PM
Comments
Wow, what an amazing photo! That's so cool Jeff!
Did you do the route in the helicopter that they did with the movie? The big, long drop straight down?
Have a great day 3!
Posted by: Brian at June 16, 2003 04:54 PM
It's an amazing thing to watch birds just sit there in the air, occasionally dipping from side to side just for the heck of it, riding the air currents like that.
Posted by: B at June 16, 2003 04:56 PM
What a great idea to keep a log of your trip on your blog....thanks for the pics! Still jealous!!
