Kauai love | Poipu and other island fun

   For my last post I wanted to share some random stuff without boring you of too many details.  I am not ashamed to say that sometimes I blog for myself so I can remember what we did or where we went when I am trying to recall details.  Because mom brain.  It's a thing.

  The first half is some random things that were done in the north, but not in Hanalei.  The second half is in the south shore.

    One of our first stops after getting off the plane was at Kauai Juice Co. because they had kombucha on tap!  We filled up twice, so delicious!

   We stopped by Kilauea CrossFit one morning and got our legs worked!!

    Then, we went to the Ohana Family Restaurant for breakfast.  I had the "local girl" since I am a local, you know.  There was also a Lindsey special, so I was feeling like I was at home.  Let me amuse myself.

   Sunrise from the beach in front of our resort.

  Along with the sunrise, we heard LOTS of roosters!  Actually, we were always hearing roosters.  On this island, there are chickens EVERYWHERE.

   I was so proud of myself cracking this open on a rock.  The water is pretty neutral and does not at all taste like the bottled/canned/boxed coconut water.

   Stopped at a farmer's market and had the yummiest mangos EVER!  However, do not expect to find cheap produce anywhere! These were the cheapest (2 for $5) we found on the island and unfortunately it was on the first day and we didn't know the great deal we were getting.  Otherwise, we would have bought more because they were just so delicious!

Every.  Where.  So fun!

   Saw the Kilauea lighthouse from afar.  Supposedly this is one place you can see humpbacks in season.

  On the road back to town from the lighthouse there was a big open field and you could see the sun starting to set.  We decided to pull off the on the side of the road and parked in what we would later realize was the premium spot!  (I think that we may have taken some local's spot.)  Over the next 25 minutes until sunset, cars continued to come in and parked along both sides of the road.

 

  This is Poipu beach and the start of my south shore pics.  This is the beach I remember going to as a kid, but I don't remember it this busy at all!  It was also supposedly a great spot for snorkeling, but it was very shallow and there were barely any fish.  We stayed here for about 40 minutes before we had to go find something less crowded and touristy.

    We took the BUMPIEST road in my life to Mahauulepu beach and it was also not what we were looking for.  Beautiful, not crowded, but it was a pretty rocky beach and it was really windy when we were there.

   We ended back up at the beach right next to Poipu called Brennecke's.  There were amazing waves that we could body surf in and one of the highlights of our trip--TURTLES!!

 

  We were SO tired and did our best to stay under the shade of a palm tree (not the best source of shade-it moves quickly!) while we napped.  When I woke up and looked out at the water I started seeing turtles popping up all along the rocks.  I initially thought maybe there were 3-4, but as we kept looking they were everywhere!

   I swam out to find some.

   It's probably hard to notice all of them since they sort of look like rocks, but all of those dark things in the middle section of the pic are turtles.

   There were probably 15-20, who knows really.  They were riding waves in and even when we were trying our best to stay away, inevitably one would touch us and would scare us so bad!!

   Trying to swim away, but also would peek under the water to watch them.

   There are like 6 surrounding me just in this picture.  There were really large ones, small babies, and there was even one little one with a missing fin.  They were not scared of people and would look right at me underwater, I also got to watch them eat the seaweed.  Coolest experience!

  After the beach we went to a nearby shopping area for dinner.  There we discovered the most AMAZING artist, Jamie Allen, and fell in love with her art!  I hesitate to even link her site because seeing her art online has NOTHING on it in person.  Texture, shininess, matte, and the mixed media left us staring at her work for what could have been hours.  I also had to try the strawberry guava kombucha from Kauai Juice Co. and I was in bliss.  Which is exactly how I feel every time I look at these pictures and think back on our time in Kauai.

Mahalo, Kauai.  You were good to us.  My heaven on earth.

Until next time.  And there will be a next time.  ;)