It was time to move on. I’d loved Oahu and its contrasting coasts but now we needed to move on to a new island- Kauai, otherwise known as the Garden Island. This promised to be the most low key island with stunning scenery and probably the one I was most looking forward to seeing.
We were catching our Speedishuttle back to Honolulu Airport at 9-11am precisely. But by 9-46 precisely they had not turned up. This lead to a considerable amount of stress as Jane tried to get through on the phone to find out what was happening. But at 9-47 he eventually turned up and Jane let rip. He tried to blame his tardiness on traffic but when we got going it was clear that it wasn’t that busy. We made several further stops and more stressed out customers got on board all talking about the possibility of missing their flights. As a result Mr Speedishuttle lived upto his name by driving along Highway 1 like a crazy maniac and we all breathed in as he squeezed between trucks in other lanes. Eek.
Anyway , after this lovely thrill ride we arrived at Hawaiian Airlines checkin. Oh joy it was self serve and there were huge families trying to do this clogging up the system. First the system failed, couldn’t find me and then said my case was over-weight. As if! But after some quick repacking we were able to move onto stage 2 of the checkin game. This was security which involved joining a queue which started outside the airport building.
Well it was all quite stressful so how lovely it was to finally get through all of this and to find ourselves sitting by Gate B13 which was lovely and peaceful, with just a guy strumming a guitar and quietly singing and another playing with his Ukulele. It was a good sign of things to come.
The flight was equally relaxing and only 30 mins long. Once we landed we picked up our rental car. A plain old compact this time, we declined the offer of a Mustang Convertible. They wanted to charge!
We also didn’t opt for a shouty Sat Nav here as there is basically only one road around the whole island. As a result we were immediately lost as we left the airport! However, soon we were back on track and heading towards Koloa. The drive really was quite different to Oahu. Just one or two lane roads, max 55mph speed limit (mostly actually 40 or 25 in built up areas and 15 around schools). We drove through some really lush tropical greenery including the Koloa Eucalyptus Tree Tunnel.
After about 30 mins drive we arrived in Koloa. This is a really lovely place stuck in the 1950s/60s. There are huge Monkeypod trees covering the road and the buildings are again like something out of a cowboy movie. We stopped at the local grocery store which is called Sueoka’s which is about 100 years old and looked like it. Oh it was lovely. I especially liked the fact that they sell Boogie boards just above the fruit and veg display. So we stocked up on a few emergency supplies …Big Wave Beer, Pumpkin Crunch Cream pie – that sort of thing.
Then we made our way along to our AirBnB where the instructions were basically, when you see the ocean on your left, turn sharp left! So , eventually we did and drive along Hoona Road until we found our place. It’s a first floor room with a balcony. It’s got everything we need although it’s so hot we could really do with AirCon , not just a fan. From the balcony I can see right through the neighbours house to the Pacific Ocean waves crashing on the shore.
As soon as we got in we decided to go down to Baby Beach. This is literally 2 mins walk away and picture perfect. We stayed here, I snorkelled and enjoyed the variety of smaller fish right off the beach and then did a little sketch of the scene. Jane meanwhile relaxed enjoying her book.
We stayed to watch the Sunset and it was beautiful. People were still surfing and swimming. Then all of a sudden there was a cacophony of noise as large numbers of Parakeets started to flock and then roost. It was really surprising and we sat on the beach wrapped in towels laughing our heads off . I think we are going to like Kauai.
Where shall we go to next? 