On our first trip to Kauai, besides a catamaran trip and a visit to Larsen’s Beach on the east side of the island, we stayed fairly close to the Grand Hyatt. This time, we explored a bit further and found some great beaches.

On our first morning, after an early breakfast we drove north with a quick stop in Kapaa at Snorkel Bob’s to rent some gear for me. We drove all the way round to just about the furthest drivable point in Kauai, Ha’ena Beach Park. Just beyond that is Ha’ena State Park where the 11-mile Kalalau trail begins. We grabbed just about the last parking spot on the street around 9:20am.

This is really several beaches that are all connected, including Ha’ena Beach and Tunnels Beach. It’s quite striking with the mountains almost touching the beach.

We spent several hours there as my wife was hunting for shells and I was snorkeling. There was a reef protecting Tunnels Beach so the water was fairly calm and there were plenty of fish to see.

We were going to stop at several other beaches, but my wife’s ankle was bothering her so we decided to make our way back south to the Grand Hyatt. We made a stop at Jojo’s Shave Ice in Hanalei on our way back.

As I wrote about in the previous post, I took a fast boat tour the next morning and my wife stayed back at the resort. After lunch, we took a ride to some local beaches. We drove over to Mahaulepu Beach, which is accessible on the Mahaulepu Trail which begins at the Grand Hyatt. You can also drive there, turning right out of the resort and then right again on a dirt road that snakes a couple of miles (and gets worse and worse) before parking next to a horse farm. You can then walk down to the beach by crossing a shallow tidal pool along the way. This beach was more secluded and had a lot of shade as well.

After spending a couple of hours there, we drove over to Poipu Beach in the other direction past the Grand Hyatt. This beach is swimmable, unlike Shipwreck Beach at the resort. It does get very crowded with families though and wasn’t the most pleasant beach for hanging out. I did swim out to the sandbar which was fun. As always, wear water shoes if you’re going in the water as many Hawaiian beaches have rocks and coral that can cut your feet.

The following day, after we watched an incredible Liverpool comeback win at 5:30am, we had breakfast and headed back around to the north side again. This time we didn’t go all the way to Ha’ena, but first stopped at Kepuhi Beach, which is near Hanalei Colony Resort. You have to park on the street and find the narrow path to the beach. It was very secluded and great for snorkeling. Unfortunately, after about a haIf-hour, I was tightening my mask and snapped the connector so that was the end of snorkeling for me.

From there, we drove to Hanalei Bay and found parking on Wehe Road near an almost hidden pathway to the beach. We spent quite a bit of time there. It’s a beach famous for being in the movie South Pacific.

On the way back south to the resort, we again stopped at Jojo’s Shave Ice for a sweet and chilly treat.

On our last day, we were scheduled to fly out around 5pm, so we asked the hotel if we could check out at 2:30pm, given that we had to get gas, drive to the airport and return the car. As it turned out, we could have left an hour later, but you never know what will happen with traffic on a small island.

That last morning I decided to drive up to the top of Waimea Canyon and hike the Pihea Trail. I got about 90% through it before the mud and puddles got to be too much. The weather was beautiful, but it had clearly rained overnight. I did get some great pictures though.

Driving back down to sea level, I stopped at several canyon lookouts to grab some more panoramic pictures.

I stopped again for lunch at Koloa Fish Market and drove back to the Grand Hyatt, where we packed up and headed to the airport after a great trip.

Up Next: Kauai Restaurant Roundup

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