Waimea Canyon _ Kauai Island

I flew in from Honolulu into Lihue, Kauai Island in the morning. I was lucky enough that a lovely girl was leaving for the airport the same time as me and had ordered an Uber and said she didn’t mind sharing it free of cost for me. (She was here for work :))

I ordered a rental car to get around- my first time driving on the other side of the road –and it went well. I headed to Poipu, in the south of the island. It allegedly had good snorkelling but upon getting in the water I realised that the visibility was not great. So it was more a cool down swim. I then headed to the nearby Spouting Horn, after checking that high tide was indeed coming in. It is a blowhole that can sometimes put on a show. On the way there I realised that there seemed to be some nice gardens- however I was not willing to pay to 30USD entrance fee for those.

I headed to Kalaheo, where I could check into my accommodation a little early. Having a look outside it seemed that the weather would hold for the afternoon and so I headed into the nearby Waimea Canyon- the Grand Canyon of the Pacific. The drive is a windy yet scenic trip up into the mountains with many formal and informal lookouts. The views were of a super canyon –with waterfalls and greenery to boot. The soil colour around here is a deep red- reminds me of Central Australia. The rain that the island has seen this season is the highest in a decade-so everything is lush beyond words.

A Couple of hours into my drive/stop and check out the view I got to the “cherry –on-top” lookout which looks onto the Kalalau Valley. At this stage of the afternoon though the low clouds had moved in and it started to drizzle so all that I saw when reaching the top was a cloud of white and nothing beyond it!! I didn’t bother going to the last lookout to find the same- thought I would check it out the next day as I was camping in Kokee State Park. By camping I mean sleeping in my car as I don’t have my gear with me.

Fast forward one day, it completely pissed down with rain during my Na Pali coast cruise as well as after- so it was an afternoon of sitting in the car by the campsite parking, until the rain stopped that all of us that were in the parking lot got out to chat and stretch legs. We had a newly married couple from US who were spending their honeymoon in a “Rape Van”, a Canadian and another couple who had just completed a 4 year trip around mainland US making/living a Tiny House movement documentary. They were here to attend a wedding and were well and truly stocked up with booze- so they shared with the rest of us.

With the clouds still hanging low that night it was pointless going to the look out. However, the next morning I was up for sunrise and thus set out for the lookouts –holding thumbs that they were clear. They were indeed and they both had great views of the Pacific and the dramatic coastline.

PS –sleep in the car was elusive and I was pretty tired the next day after no proper shut eye.

2 replies on “Waimea Canyon _ Kauai Island”