Kauai 2003 - late summer

Na Pali Coast is perhaps the main must-do activity on the island, followed by Waimea Canyon and the Hanalei Valley. One mustn't forget the beaches either . . . they're beautiful. For those with a little more time and adventure in them, we had a great time with mystery drives (Hmmm, I wonder where this road goes . . )

Quick Tips:

Go to the farmer's market as soon as you get there to load up on local fruits/veggies. They're very inexpensive and fresh, fresh, fresh.

As far as tourist stuff, I'd suggest waiting to book any activities until you get to the island. If you're willing to sit through a timeshare presentation, you can usually get ~50% off any activities you may want to do. This includes boat tours, helicopter tours, fishing trips, and just about anything else. For us, it was worth the hour of our time, but it's not necessarily for everybody.

Best Way To Get Around:

Rent a car unless you plan on staying in and very near your lodging. I didn't see much of any public/bus transport in the Poipu area, although cabs are available by a phone call. If you're staying in one general location your entire trip, you can probably get by without a car and do excursions via schedule tours, etc. We won't go without renting a car though.

Best Things Nearby:
Not far from Poipu Beach, Shipwrech Beach, Poipu Shopping Village, Old Koloa town, and a pretty good selection of restaurants.

Best Things About the Resort:
Newer in construction with a nice location. The unit was very, very nice and comfortably large. We didn't encounter a single timeshare sales person.

Resort Experience:
Very clean with modern conveniences. Large master bathroom with separate (double sized) shower and tub, two sinks, and a separate toilet. The kitchen was adequately stocked and we prepared a couple of our own meals without the need of any other pots/pans/utensils. All the appliances were in good working order and new.

The staff was very pleasant and the grounds immaculately kept and very attractive. This was our first stay here and we'll be going back to this particular resort many times in the future, no doubt.

• Unit Type: 2 Bedroom
• Activities: Good
• Amenities: Very Good
• Unit Satisfaction: Excellent
• Family Friendliness: Excellent
• Service: Excellent

We love Keoki's! During our last trip this is where we ate the most. The food, although not necessarily the best on the island, is really pretty darned good. They always have a good selection of fresh fish on the menu that is done in a variety of different ways. Consult your server for what's best on any given night. We prefer to eat in the bar/lounge area. It's simply cozier and more friendly. The dining room seems more formal, even though it's not.

We didn't once make reservations, but on one night the place got inundated by a convention from the Hyatt. We ended up waiting a bit for a table but it wasn't long (20 minutes, maybe?).

On some nights, weekends I think (but I was on vacation, it was all one long weekend), they have live music, usually some sort of Hawaiian music. Very pleasant indeed. Being that it's an open-air restaurant, the sound wasn't deafening and carried nicely.

We love Keoki's and will continue to go back.

Lawai Beach is one of the local favorite spots for hanging out and watching the sun set. The restaurant is situated such that most (if not all) tables have a view to the west. We made reservations, which is very strongly suggested if you want that romantic sunset dinner. We arrived a few minutes before our reservation time and opted to use the valet parking. Parking in the particular little area is sometimes challenging. For the $3 or $4, it was worth it to just not have to deal with it.

We were seated right on time in a nice booth in the lower section of the restaurant and had a righteous view out the side of the place. As the sun was going down, people started getting up and leaving their seats to go out towards the beach/water and have their picture taken. There were actually a lot of people about since, as I mentioned earlier, this is where people like to go to watch the sun set.

Something to keep in mind, my grand-pappy used to say that a picture taken of the sunset/rise in Hawaii must contain a palm tree or else it could be a picture taken anywhere. That said, there are a couple of palm trees on the other side of the beach that get beautifully silhouetted by the setting sun.

Food: oi… fantastic… absolutely fantastic. It was all amazingly presented and had incredible flavors. The service was also wonderful. The servers were there whenever you needed anything and were always right on task without hovering or being at all overbearing. We had a couple of drinks with dinner and then finished with dessert. It was all very elegant.

Will we go back? Almost guaranteed. It ranks very highly as a romantic dinner. I wouldn’t necessarily take my kids with me because I think a lot of the experience would be lost on them and I wouldn’t want to blow the bucks since the Beach House is in the higher cost range.

Attire should be reasonable. Don’t wear your swim trunks but you needn’t wear a tie either.

Full day tours up the Na Pali, such as the one we were on start at some hideous time of morning. . .no later than 7:15am for the fastest of the boats. If coming from anyplace on the north shore, you'd be best off taking something from up there so you don't have to get up at "o'dark thirty" to drive the hour to Eleele. We opted to take the zodiac style boat (18 people max) rather than the larger catamarans (over 30 people). This was an interesting choice as it turns out. After the crew impressed upon us that this was not for the frail, weak, or weary, we were on our way. The ropes outboard, inboard, and on the floor make up what could be called a seatbelt. Grab outboard with one hand, inboard with the other, and hook a foot under the one on the floor. Starting to feel the excitement already, eh?

We had a leisurely ride up the coast and went into a couple of sea caves that have been carved out over a few centuries. The high point was coming out the the open-air cave (used in Popeye the movie for the octopus fight) and seeing one of the catamarans sitting out a touch, unable to get any closer due to their size. We whooped and hollered at them. They were jealous. After going most of the way up the coast, we started to head back with a stop made at a beach for lunch and some snorkeling. Water was a crystal clear blue. Amazing to say the least.

Now comes the part that makes this vehicle *ahem* "interesting"--the ride back. Once we went around the corner from the west side to the south side the seas changed drastically. The remainder of the ride back was rather *ahem* "exhilarating". It was bouncy, choppy, and being in a zodiac, you got to feel every wave, swell, and bump. We stopped a couple of times for people to relax their hands from gripping the ropes. For what it's worth, they did provide gloves.

The crew was awesome. Kalani and Jason were remarkably cool. They took very good care of us the whole way.

If you're an adventure seeker, the zodiac could very well be your cup of tea. I will probably opt for a catamaran next time. I've can say I've already had my experience on the zodiac. Regardless of your travel method, the Na Pali coast is a must see area. It's absolutely remarkable.

So we wanted to go fishing, so fishing we went. After going through our timeshare spiel, we opted to use our loot for just that. Through the assistance of one of the friendly 'activity hut' folks, we got hooked up with Sport Fishing Kauai. They operate out of Port Allen's small boat harbor. So, now, I'm on vacation, ya see, and things that require alarm clocks are questionable, much less things that get me up well before the sun rises. The charter we were on required us to be in Port Allen by 5:15am. Well, we wanted to go fishing, so fishing we went.

We got there a few minutes early and the crew was already at the boat prepping it for our trip. We were sharing this charter with four other people. They showed up a few minutes later. A few hellos later we were on the boat and on our way. Since we were there first, we were first to work the gear when it was fish-on time. Note to others: get there first!

Once we cleared the harbor, out went the lines--three larger outrigger lines and four lighter lines. It wasn't too long until we took the first hit on the lighter tackle. I guess this is sort of par for the course. At the time of the year we went, apparently there aren't as many of the big fish running, so we didn't expect to catch any. If you're looking for the "but we caught one!", no we didn't. If you do want to catch the big one, try going between May and July, not October. We did, however, catch a few smaller skipjack and, uh, something that looks like a skipjack. . .A'u. . .Aku. . .Apu. . .something like that. And, even though they weren't gargantuan, they gave the good fight and it was a kick in the pants!!

Anyway, we trolled our way up the coast a bit following the birds. All six of us brought in a couple of fish each and we all had a great time. Once we got back to port, the crew cleaned the fish we wanted for us and we headed back to the Embassy armed with some fresh fish for the barbecue and some sashimi. Mmmm mmmm good!

Bottom line: we had a great time and definitely want to do it again, just at a different time of the year when we can gamble on getting the big daddy on the line. I'd suggest that if you are considering going fishing, find out when the boats will be coming back into port and go meet them. Any fishing boat that is worth a darn will fly a small flag indicating what they caught that day.

Check 'em out and pick the boat that has the most flags or the flags for the fish you want to catch. Also, if you want a beer or snacks, take it with you. They provide drinks but no food or alcohol.