i'm back!! did you miss me?! hahaha, kidding...
well, i hope the tan (that you can't see obviously) shows just what a blast i had on my trip!!! we literally took over 300 pics that i will be sorting thru and posting on ofoto, just as soon as my dsl is up and running. but here's a breakdown of what we did on our vacation:
day 1 (2/27/03): flight out of LAX was delayed over an hour, so we missed our connecting flight from Honolulu to Lihue, Kauai. we were able to catch a later flight thankfully, but did a lot of sitting around that day. arrived in Lihue, where we stayed at the Kauai Marriott, a very nice resort, definitely recommend it. decided to hang out at the pool and "miss" the "personal shower" for ap, w's stepsister, who was getting married on Kauai, and the reason for this trip to begin with. oh, it was w and me and his sister d this whole trip pretty much.
day 2 (2/28/03): bought "the ultimate guide to kauai" book and read about a not-so-well-known trail with fantastic views at the end, and attempted to hike it, but it was rainy and the barely visible path was very slick and steep and full of forks (with no direction from the book). instead, took the subi (our forester rental car) "off-roading" which consisted of finding the biggest mud puddles to drive through and staying off the roads as much as possible (without destroying the natural vegetation that is kauai). went to waimea canyon and took a million pictures. that night, went to dinner with ap and cl (bride and groom) and pretty much everyone else who was there for the wedding (about 30 total). good food!!
day 3 (3/1/03): attempted to go kayaking up Wailua River to see Fern Grotto, but didn't know we had to make reservations, and got there too late. drove around and decided to hit the beach. went to Anini Beach and snorkeled a bit. went to the wedding that afternoon, at Waimea Plantation Cottages, very small, simple ceremony, but didn't care much for the whole shindig and wasn't paying much attention (sorry, the ocean behind the "alter" was more entertaining). the dinner was great, lots of good food and tons of alcohol (none of which i consumed, as usual). best part of the evening was the sparklers!!! and a beautiful sunset on the beach.
day 4 (3/2/03): left Kauai and flew over to Maui. drove 45 minutes to the RC, Kapalua, which was amazing!! it's no wonder it's one of the top-rated hotels/resorts in the world. the property is soooo beautiful! and our room? probably the best view you could imagine. on the very end of the wing, with the most perfect ocean view. we could see a million whales migrating from our balcony! it was so incredible. went to the pool and just relaxed on our first night. w and i went to a nice dinner at Kai, the sushi bar inside the hotel, very yummy. :) went exploring around the hotel.
day 5 (3/3/03): the night before, the concierge helped us book a boat trip to Molokini Crater, just a few miles off the south shore of Maui. so we woke up bright and early to get to the the harbor by 7:15am, which was about 40 minutes away. we sailed about an hour to the crater and snorkeled for an hour and half. we saw soooo many fish, i thought i was either gonna kick something or it would attack ME! luckily, neither happened. i did get to see a neat starfish tho, and tons of really neat fish. definitely a must when you go to maui!! we went with a group called paragon, and i highly recommend them. they're on the pricier side, but it's a small group of about 35 people, and they actually sail, unlike the other motor-driven boats. they're also performance sailors, so they know what they're doing. :) we saw sooo many whales on the ride to the crater, and a dolphin even came up and swam right under the catamaran with us! it was amazing! the crew said that we were going out on the best day they've had this season! :) we got back to the hotel just after lunch, and were just exhausted, so we decided to just hang out by the pool and relax.
day 6 (3/4/03): following the advice of the concierge, we attempted to go kayaking but the concierge didn't tell us that we couldn't drive there, that we would have to take a shuttle from the hotel (we went back to ask, just to make sure we weren't blind). anyways, after wasting so much time driving in circles, we decided to just go to the beach and hang out for a while. later that day, just before lunch, we were back in our room and noticed we could see tons of whales just off the shore. after lunch, we decided to head out to the rocks to get a closer look. there were so many, we couldn't even count them! it was soooo cool!!! i was sooo excited to see so many whales, because someone had told me it was whale migration period on Maui right now, and i was really hoping to see them, and i did!!!
day 7 (3/5/03): left Maui very early in the morning (waaaaay too short of time on Maui) to go back to Oahu. Got to Honolulu about 7:30am, so decided to do some activity before checking into our hotel. drove to Kailua Bay first to just go to the beach and hang out. but then noticed they have ocean kayaking!! got ourselves some kayaks and paddled out on the crystal blue ocean to this Flat Sand Beach area, a bird sanctuary, then to Lanikai beach, voted world's most beautiful beach at one time because of its clear waters and white sand beaches. w even saw a turtle, it swam right under his kayak!!! only w made it out to the Mokulua Islands, referred to by the locals as the "moks," because d and i chickened out when we saw how big the surf was and got uneasy about it. now, i failed to mention how sunburnt we got from our trip to Molokini Crater, afterall, we were out under the scorching sun for 5 hours. this kayaking adventure certainly did not help the situation, and needless to say, the three of us looked like a bunch of lobsters. we easily finished off a bottle of aloe!! yikes. when we were on Lanikai beach, w and i decided to snorkel a bit, since there is sooo much natural reef there. i was a bit creeped out by it, cuz the reef was pretty shallow and i was afraid of getting too close and getting my knees scraped up. just as i was about to head back to shore, w grabbed my attention and pointed at something. when i looked, it was a huge eel!!! i got so freaked out i booked it back to shore soooo fast! ew... didn't want to get too close to that thing. after kayaking all afternoon, we were bushed and decided to check into our hotel, the Waikiki Marriott. i don't recommend staying there. actually, i don't recommend staying in Waikiki. there are a million japanese tourists there, among others, but it's just swarming with tourists and just gets on my nerves. we could see the beach and Diamond Head from our balcony, which was nice. After tending to our sunburns, we headed out to Ala Moana shopping center (which is kind of a high-maintenance mall, with the world's largest international food court) where i finally found my burberry bag!! yea! then we went to the International Marketplace, which is just a bunch of jewelry/souvenir vendors/carts in this one area of Waikiki, where these persistent Korean women try really hard to make you a good deal. i didn't buy anything, but it's fun to haggle with them to see how low they'll go. :) they're really push tho.
day 8 (3/6/03): another early start to hike up Diamond Head. it was a short and easy hike, until you got to the last 99 steps!! right at about 80 i thought my legs were gonna give in, but luckily i made it to the top. great views of the island and Waikiki. we planned on taking a surf lesson, but time/money restraints prevented it from happening. instead, w and i went down to waikiki beach and body boarded, which i thought was fun, but w said the waves were too little. it made me really want to learn to surf tho. maybe on my next trip! that night, our last night in Hawaii, we went to w's and my favorite restaurant, Duke's. they have an amazing salad bar which comes with your entree. they have 8 fish that can be prepared 5 different ways. w and i went there our first trip to hawaii, and we just had to go back this trip! we left with very full bellies!!!
day 9 (3/7/03): packed up once again, but this time not to go to another island, but to make our way back home to cali. :( i definitely wasn't ready to leave. i could've spent another couple weeks in hawaii, especially on maui. but w and i are currently figuring out a way for us to move out to maui. :) will keep you posted.
so now i'm back, back to my regular daily life, and hawaii just seems like a dream. it was so weird to be back at work today, but everyone said they're glad i'm back and that they really missed me, which made it a little easier. :) but i'm still looking into a transfer out to Kapalua!! how great that would be!! anyways, i promise i'll have my pics up soon. okay, i'm tired of typing now.
well, i hope the tan (that you can't see obviously) shows just what a blast i had on my trip!!! we literally took over 300 pics that i will be sorting thru and posting on ofoto, just as soon as my dsl is up and running. but here's a breakdown of what we did on our vacation:
day 1 (2/27/03): flight out of LAX was delayed over an hour, so we missed our connecting flight from Honolulu to Lihue, Kauai. we were able to catch a later flight thankfully, but did a lot of sitting around that day. arrived in Lihue, where we stayed at the Kauai Marriott, a very nice resort, definitely recommend it. decided to hang out at the pool and "miss" the "personal shower" for ap, w's stepsister, who was getting married on Kauai, and the reason for this trip to begin with. oh, it was w and me and his sister d this whole trip pretty much.
day 2 (2/28/03): bought "the ultimate guide to kauai" book and read about a not-so-well-known trail with fantastic views at the end, and attempted to hike it, but it was rainy and the barely visible path was very slick and steep and full of forks (with no direction from the book). instead, took the subi (our forester rental car) "off-roading" which consisted of finding the biggest mud puddles to drive through and staying off the roads as much as possible (without destroying the natural vegetation that is kauai). went to waimea canyon and took a million pictures. that night, went to dinner with ap and cl (bride and groom) and pretty much everyone else who was there for the wedding (about 30 total). good food!!
day 3 (3/1/03): attempted to go kayaking up Wailua River to see Fern Grotto, but didn't know we had to make reservations, and got there too late. drove around and decided to hit the beach. went to Anini Beach and snorkeled a bit. went to the wedding that afternoon, at Waimea Plantation Cottages, very small, simple ceremony, but didn't care much for the whole shindig and wasn't paying much attention (sorry, the ocean behind the "alter" was more entertaining). the dinner was great, lots of good food and tons of alcohol (none of which i consumed, as usual). best part of the evening was the sparklers!!! and a beautiful sunset on the beach.
day 4 (3/2/03): left Kauai and flew over to Maui. drove 45 minutes to the RC, Kapalua, which was amazing!! it's no wonder it's one of the top-rated hotels/resorts in the world. the property is soooo beautiful! and our room? probably the best view you could imagine. on the very end of the wing, with the most perfect ocean view. we could see a million whales migrating from our balcony! it was so incredible. went to the pool and just relaxed on our first night. w and i went to a nice dinner at Kai, the sushi bar inside the hotel, very yummy. :) went exploring around the hotel.
day 5 (3/3/03): the night before, the concierge helped us book a boat trip to Molokini Crater, just a few miles off the south shore of Maui. so we woke up bright and early to get to the the harbor by 7:15am, which was about 40 minutes away. we sailed about an hour to the crater and snorkeled for an hour and half. we saw soooo many fish, i thought i was either gonna kick something or it would attack ME! luckily, neither happened. i did get to see a neat starfish tho, and tons of really neat fish. definitely a must when you go to maui!! we went with a group called paragon, and i highly recommend them. they're on the pricier side, but it's a small group of about 35 people, and they actually sail, unlike the other motor-driven boats. they're also performance sailors, so they know what they're doing. :) we saw sooo many whales on the ride to the crater, and a dolphin even came up and swam right under the catamaran with us! it was amazing! the crew said that we were going out on the best day they've had this season! :) we got back to the hotel just after lunch, and were just exhausted, so we decided to just hang out by the pool and relax.
day 6 (3/4/03): following the advice of the concierge, we attempted to go kayaking but the concierge didn't tell us that we couldn't drive there, that we would have to take a shuttle from the hotel (we went back to ask, just to make sure we weren't blind). anyways, after wasting so much time driving in circles, we decided to just go to the beach and hang out for a while. later that day, just before lunch, we were back in our room and noticed we could see tons of whales just off the shore. after lunch, we decided to head out to the rocks to get a closer look. there were so many, we couldn't even count them! it was soooo cool!!! i was sooo excited to see so many whales, because someone had told me it was whale migration period on Maui right now, and i was really hoping to see them, and i did!!!
day 7 (3/5/03): left Maui very early in the morning (waaaaay too short of time on Maui) to go back to Oahu. Got to Honolulu about 7:30am, so decided to do some activity before checking into our hotel. drove to Kailua Bay first to just go to the beach and hang out. but then noticed they have ocean kayaking!! got ourselves some kayaks and paddled out on the crystal blue ocean to this Flat Sand Beach area, a bird sanctuary, then to Lanikai beach, voted world's most beautiful beach at one time because of its clear waters and white sand beaches. w even saw a turtle, it swam right under his kayak!!! only w made it out to the Mokulua Islands, referred to by the locals as the "moks," because d and i chickened out when we saw how big the surf was and got uneasy about it. now, i failed to mention how sunburnt we got from our trip to Molokini Crater, afterall, we were out under the scorching sun for 5 hours. this kayaking adventure certainly did not help the situation, and needless to say, the three of us looked like a bunch of lobsters. we easily finished off a bottle of aloe!! yikes. when we were on Lanikai beach, w and i decided to snorkel a bit, since there is sooo much natural reef there. i was a bit creeped out by it, cuz the reef was pretty shallow and i was afraid of getting too close and getting my knees scraped up. just as i was about to head back to shore, w grabbed my attention and pointed at something. when i looked, it was a huge eel!!! i got so freaked out i booked it back to shore soooo fast! ew... didn't want to get too close to that thing. after kayaking all afternoon, we were bushed and decided to check into our hotel, the Waikiki Marriott. i don't recommend staying there. actually, i don't recommend staying in Waikiki. there are a million japanese tourists there, among others, but it's just swarming with tourists and just gets on my nerves. we could see the beach and Diamond Head from our balcony, which was nice. After tending to our sunburns, we headed out to Ala Moana shopping center (which is kind of a high-maintenance mall, with the world's largest international food court) where i finally found my burberry bag!! yea! then we went to the International Marketplace, which is just a bunch of jewelry/souvenir vendors/carts in this one area of Waikiki, where these persistent Korean women try really hard to make you a good deal. i didn't buy anything, but it's fun to haggle with them to see how low they'll go. :) they're really push tho.
day 8 (3/6/03): another early start to hike up Diamond Head. it was a short and easy hike, until you got to the last 99 steps!! right at about 80 i thought my legs were gonna give in, but luckily i made it to the top. great views of the island and Waikiki. we planned on taking a surf lesson, but time/money restraints prevented it from happening. instead, w and i went down to waikiki beach and body boarded, which i thought was fun, but w said the waves were too little. it made me really want to learn to surf tho. maybe on my next trip! that night, our last night in Hawaii, we went to w's and my favorite restaurant, Duke's. they have an amazing salad bar which comes with your entree. they have 8 fish that can be prepared 5 different ways. w and i went there our first trip to hawaii, and we just had to go back this trip! we left with very full bellies!!!
day 9 (3/7/03): packed up once again, but this time not to go to another island, but to make our way back home to cali. :( i definitely wasn't ready to leave. i could've spent another couple weeks in hawaii, especially on maui. but w and i are currently figuring out a way for us to move out to maui. :) will keep you posted.
so now i'm back, back to my regular daily life, and hawaii just seems like a dream. it was so weird to be back at work today, but everyone said they're glad i'm back and that they really missed me, which made it a little easier. :) but i'm still looking into a transfer out to Kapalua!! how great that would be!! anyways, i promise i'll have my pics up soon. okay, i'm tired of typing now.
posted by joyce at
9:07 PM
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