Aloha!
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We had a great time.
August 21
Our trip began on Saturday, August 21, 1999.
We left RDU at about 7:00am. We flew American
Airlines, first class, to Chicago on a Super-80.
We had a nice breakfast of french toast and
coffee. Our connection in Chicago was smooth,
and we departed on time to Honolulu. We flew
first class on a DC-10. Even though the flight
was almost eight hours, it went very quickly.
We were given warm mixed nuts shortly after
take-off. These were followed by a salad
and wonderful warm crusty sour dough rolls.
I had fish as an entree, Jeanie had chicken.
We both enjoyed our meals. After our meal,
we watched the movie - Entrapment - with
Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones. It
was quite entertaining. After the movie,
we were fed again. This time, pizza and caesar
salad - very tasty. This was followed by
warm from the oven chocolate chocolate chip
cookies. Before we knew it, we were landing
in Honolulu.
The Honolulu airport is interesting. To get
to the inter-island flights, you have to
take a multi-segment bus - the "wiki-wiki"
to another terminal. The inter-island terminal
is at best organized chaos. There are check
in counters for the gates, but each counter
serves at least four gates, so there are
very long lines. Seating on Hawaiian Air
is unassigned. You stand in line more like
for a bus than a plane. We ended up having
to wait for a while, but got good seats and
had a nice, if brief flight, which included
the first of a number of containers of Pass-o-guava
which tastes remarkably like fruit cocktail
juice.
Avis gave us good directions, so we found
the hotel with no problem. One of our first
visual treats was as we turned on to "tunnel of trees" road on the way to the hotel.
We stayed at the Hyatt Regency Kauai Resort and Spa - what an incredible hotel! Be sure to check
out the virtual tour. The room we stayed
in looked just like the guest room in the
tour.
After getting settled, we went to the bar
for a drink. One of the specialties were
"adult" smoothies which were made
with ice cream, and were very good. There
were two Hawaiian sisters performing, one
played guitar, the other keyboard, and both
sang. They performed a number of Hawaiian
songs which were lovely. There was a group
of children performing hula. At one point
they dragged me up to participate. Jeanie
seemed to enjoy this immensely. Unfortunately,
we neglected to bring the camera, so there
is no evidence.
August 22
We awakened about 3:00am and went for a walk
around the hotel and on the beach. We looked
at the stars and sat and listened to the
ocean. After an hour or so, we returned to
the room and went back to sleep. We got up
around 9:00am and went to the breakfast buffet
at the Iliani Terrace restaurant in the hotel.
The highlight of the morning was feeding
the koi in the pools with the leftover bread
from breakfast. It was amazing to see the
fish boil on top of each other when we through
the bread in the pond.
We decided to take a drive to the south and
west sides of the island. We took 50 past
Lawai, thru Hanapepe into Waimea, then up
Waimea Canyon Drive to 550. We stopped at
the Waimea Canyon Lookout, which had a great view of the canyon. We
then drove on to the Kalalau Lookout which had a spectacular view of the Kalalau valley.
We returned to the hotel, changed, rested,
and went to dinner at the Tide Pools restaurant
at the hotel. Dinner was very good. Then
it was back to the room for a good night's
sleep.
August 23
We got up and drove to Port Allen in Hanapepe
and arrived at Na Pali Eco Adventures at
6:45am. We boraded a forty foot power catamaran
for the trip to the Na Pali coast. Jeanie
and I sat up on the flying bridge with the
"captain" - Glenn. Glenn was an
Anglo, but born in Hawaii, and an ecoliberal.
In talking with him, it sounded like the
plight of the Hawaiian people was very similar
to the Native Americans - white man came
in, took all the good land, raped the land
(in this case by planting sugar cane), took
over the economy keeping all the money for
themselves, and creating an environment for
the native people which led to welfare, poverty,
hopelessness, and drug and alcohol abuse.
The boat was interesting in that it had a
diesel engine, but ran on a 60/40 mixture
of recycled vegatable oil and diesel fuel.
Glenn told us that the engine could run on
100% vegetable oil - Mr. Diesel had originally
designed it to do so - with no modification.
The reason that he had to run a mix was that
the supply of recycled vegetable oil was
not steady enough to allow him to run it
all the time. Apparently, vegetable oil has
lower combustability than diesel fuel, but
because it lubricates so much better, there
is only a 7% net power loss over 100% diesel
fuel. With the 60/40 mix he gets the best
of all worlds - full power, longer engine
life, and a more ecologically friendly fuel.
Our trip lasted about four hours, and included
beautiful views of the Na Pali coast, two encounters with pods of spinner
dolphins, and about forty-five mintues of
snorkling.
After we returned, Jeanie and I went to an
IGA grocery store that was near the harbor
where we boarded the catamaran. It was very
inte4resting. There was a much greater variety
of foods that we have here. There were many
more oriental foods, with many items we had
never seen anywhere else. Lots of varieties
of canned fish, rice noodles, and more brands
of soy sauce than you could shake a stick
at. Many Hawaiian products too - macadamia
nuts, honey, coffee, canned fruit drinks
- just to name a few. About half way throught
the store, "Uncle Louie" introduced
himself to us. He was doing his marketing,
and just struck up a conversation. He told
us that he had driven a tour bus for many
years, and was now retired. He suggested
an interesting place to eat near the hotel,
and told us our Hawaiian names - Kini and
Kawika (Keenee and Kahveekah). We bought
some gifts to take home, and headed back
to the hotel.
On the way, we stopped at the Kauai Coffee Company (picture) where we bought more gifts, sampled
their various varieties and roasts, and toured
their "coffee museum" and visitor
center which were interesting and educational.
After we returned to the hotel, we decided
we would take a nap (it was around 6:00pm).
Our "nap" lasted until 3:00am!
I guess we were tired!
August 24
We got up around 5:00am. Jeanie took a walk
to the beach to watich the sunrise. I stayed
in the room for a while, then went out as
well. We decided that we would spend the
day at the hotel. We had a great day, enjoying
to hotel grounds, pools, and beach.
About 3:30pm, we headed back to the room
to dress for dinner. While we were dressing,
we listened to a local community radio station
- KKCR - which had some great acoustic guitar music.
For dinner, we headed to the Coconut Beach
Resort Hotel for a luau. We chose this one
because we were told that it was the most
authentic Hawaiian - as opposed to Polynesian
or International. The food and the show were
both okay, but it was a pleasant evening
nonetheless.
August 25
Today we drove up the east side of the island,
stopping for lunch in Kapaa. We then headed
north up 56 to the Kilauea Lighthouse and National Wildlife Refuge
The lighthouse, home to the world's largest
clamshell lens, is perched on a peninsula
some 200 feet above the sea. A roadside overlook
near the entrance of the Kilauea Point National
Wildlife Refuge offers great photo opportunities
of the promontory.
Though a fully automated electronic beacon
has replaced the Fresnel lens, the 1913 lighthouse
still stands intact, like a sentinel facing
the sea. Aviation history credits the lighthouse
in saving the first trans-Pacific flight
from turning into disaster. It alerted Army
pilots, who had overshot Oahu, to correct
their path.
Today, the structure marks the home of one
of the most visited wildlife refuges in the
U.S. Although the lighthouse is not open
to the public, the grounds are, and a self-guided
path to the point offers interpretive information.
Volunteers at a visitor center point out
frigate birds, red-footed boobys, white and
red tail tropic birds, shearwaters, Laysan
albatrosses and more. The birds were so graceful
as they appeared to soar effortlessly above
the cliffs.
We then headed west to Princeville, thru
Janalei, to the end of the road at Kee berach.
This part of the island was much more lush,
with some beautiful verdant waterfalls. There
were also a number of nice beaches. Hanalei
was full of restaurants and shops, and seemed
nice. Hanalei was where Peter, Paul, and
Mary supposedly were inspired to write "Puff
the Magic Dragon."
On the way to the airport, we took a detour
to drive up to Wailua falls.
The flight to the Big Island was uneventful.
One of the highlights of the day was the
Kona Airport; it is delightful, a real throwback
to days gone by. No jetbridge here - drop
the stairs front and rear on the DC-9, and
it's on to the tarmac. No inside air conditioned
terminal either - very charming. After picking
up our rental car from our friends at Avis,
it was a short drive to the Hilton Waikoloa Village (make sure to check out the tour by following
the important links link, or clicking here). The hotel was absolutely magnificant.
By the time we got into our room, it was
after 9:00pm and we were beat, so it was
off to bed.
August 26
The room is very nice. It has a lovely view
that includes the ocean on the left, the
golf course in the center, and mountains
on the right. The contrast of the blue sea,
green greass, and jagged black-brown lava
mades for an interesting vista.
The hotel is amazing. You walk into a beautiful
lobby in the main building. Looking through
the lobby, you see the ocean. Rooms are located
in three different buildings which you can
walk to, ride a bullet-train like tram to,
or a boat to! The hotel sits on 62 acres,
cost $360 million dollars, and took nine
years to build.
The vast majority of guests are Japanese.
Everything - signs, print materials in rooms,
menus, etc. - is in both English and Japanese.
I'd say at most 25% of the guests are not Japanese.
As an aside, it is interesting how random
the universe can be. Our room was a deeply
discounted special deal, which I'm sure meant
that we were assigned a "not most desireable"
room, yet it is a great room, great view,
convenient, etc. In fact, I'd say it is the
nicest room of the whole trip. Oh well, such
is fate ...
We had a nice buffet breakfast and decided
to stay on property today. We walked around
most of the property - on the golf course,
around the building our room is in, past
the pools & lagoons, along the beach
(such as it is) and then back down the "museum
walk" which has beautiful oriental art.
We then came up and changed into our bathing
suits, took the tram to the waterfall pool,
took a dip, then sat and read. Very nice!
After a quick change of clothes, it was off
to dinner at Kirin - the Chinese restaurant
on property. We had a lovely table on the
balcony overlooking the ocean. Dinner was delicious. Jeanie had crab-corn
soup, I had seafood eggdrop soup. For entrees,
Jeanie had Cantonese roast duck with plum
sauce and I had Schezuan eggplant with seafood.
After dinner we took another walk/ride and
had dessert and coffee at the coffee hut.
Overall, service was exceptional - plentiful
staff, helpful, knowledgeable, and friendly.
August 27
We're finally adjusting to Hawaiian time
- just in time to go home - oh well. We rolled
out of bed around 8:30 and went downstairs
for a cup of coffee and a pastry. We packed
up and were on the road by 10:00. We headed
north on 19 passing massive lava fields.
We continued on 19 east through Waimea and
into Paauilo, climbing fairly rapidly to
about 2000 feet. Both Waimea and Paauilo
seemed to be nice towns - not to tourist
oriented. In fact, Paauilo really seemed
geared to supporting the ranching operations
in the area. As we got to the eastern side
of the island, we passed some lovely water
falls. The coast had rugged cliffs, and was
picturesqe. We continued on to Hilo, which
was a good sized town and seemed quite nice.
It was interesting to see the change from
the west side of the island which is very
dry, up the mountain and to the west side
where it is quite wet and very lush, and
then back to desert-like in the Volcano area.
Just outside of Volcano, on 11, we visited
Atkazuka Orchids. They had lots of different
varieties which were all beautiful.
We arrived at Volcano national Park, and
found out that it would take an hour longer
to get to the airport than we had anticipated,
so we did the "speed golf" visit
to the park. We drove Crater Rim Drive, stopping
at the major scenic outlooks. Some of the
highlights were the Halema'uma'u Crater, the Trail of Devastation, and the Thurston Lava Tube - which was way cool, both for the tube
itself - which is a tunnel under the lava,
as well as for the lush tropical growth around it.
We made a bee-line for the airport and made
it with just thirty minutes to spare. The
scenery from Naalehu on was not too interesting,
but the road did get quite interesting to
drive due to the twists and turns in a few
places.
On the way to the airport, we saw a sign
for a black sand beach near Punaluu, so we
took a quick detour to get some sand to take
home. We filled a zip-lock bag, and as we
were walking back to the car, a large local
gentleman informed us that it was illegal
to take the sand. We knew that it was not
illegal, but the guy was much too large to
argue with, so we dumped the sand and left.
The flight to Kauai was uneventful - standing
Hawaiian Airlines "cattle" boarding,
and a cup of Pass-O-Guava.
We drove to the Sheraton Kauai Resort (make sure to check out the Surround Videos
on the accomodations page for a view of our
garden room). The person who greeted us as
we drove up was fantastic. I wish I remembered
his name. We arrived about 9:30pm. Our check-in
materials were waiting at his desk - we didn't
even have to go inside to register. He took
our bags, brought us to our room, gave us
a brief orientation, and was very pleasant.
I asked him when checkout time was - he said
noon. I asked if it could be extended, and
he suggested that I talk with the front desk
in the morning. I thanked him and gave him
a tip. In about ten minutes, he called back
to tell us that he had arranged for a late
checkout, and had parked our car for us.
August 28
The room is nice. Not too fancy, but pleasant.
It's funny how each hotel has variations
in how they charge, what they charge for,
etc. The Hyatt was the most expensive, but
didn't "nickel and dime" you -
coffee, safe, etc. were included in the room
rate. The Hilton went to the other extreme
- charging for safe, coffee, etc. a la carte,
but offered a $15/day package that included
amenaties. The Sheraton has a mandatory $10/day
"resort fee" that covers amenaties.
The Sheraton also provide free coffee and
muffins in the morning, local paper, standard
hotel health facility, etc.
The guests here seem to be more couples than
families, and the couples are more in the
late 30's - 50's range rather than the young
families at the other resorts. The people
here also seem more middle class than at
the other hotels, which seemed to cater to
wealthier guests.
The general facilities are nice. A notch
below the Hyatt or Hilton - more in line
with my perception of the economic status
of the guests. Some things are nicer than
the other hotels - the ocean view rooms are
closer to the ocean, and have a better view.
The beach is by far the nicest of the three
hotel's. The common areas are nice - not
flashy - but nice. There are ponds with fish,
pools with modest water falls, nice vistas,
etc.
We got up around 7:00 and availed ourselves
of the coffee and muffins. We sat outside
at the bar and had a lovely view of the ocean
while Jeanie fed the sparrows and doves.
We spent the rest of the day at the pool
near the ocean reading and relaxing.
At around 2:00pm, we packed up and headed
off to the airport.
At 4:00pm, we boarded Hawaiian Airlines for
the last time, and savored our last Pass-O-Guava.
Then it was another ride on the Wiki-Wiki
shuttle from the inter-island terminal to
the International terminal, and onto the
American DC-10 for the flight to Dallas-Fort
Worth. The flight back was nice, more or
less a mirror of the flight from Chicago.
Food and service were fine.
August 29
Our flight from DFW was also uneventful,
and we arrived back at RDU around noon, our
trip to paradise over.
Epilog
Lessons learned: