Trip Report -- 8/26 thru 9/2

Aloha Everyone! Hope this helps those of you that are in need of help just as I was starting out planning my trip to Kauai. Thanks to all those who helped make my trip to Kauai memorable.

First things first.... Buy the Blue Book! Kauai Revealed! Without this book, we would have been lost! I highly recommend this book!

I live on the Eastern part of the US so we had very long day by the time we arrived in Kauai on August 26th. We arrived at LIH at 5:36pm. We had already reserved a car through priceline for $15 a day. It was supposed to be a midsized but when we got there it should have been classified as a compact. Priceline took us through Alamo. After about 2 days of driving this car, it had started smelling really badly so we took it back. They gave us an upgrade to a SUV and did not have to fill up the gas for this one or the SUV on return plus they gave us a discount on the rental. I think we only ended up paying $47.83 total for the whole week and got 2 free tankfulls of gasoline out of it. Alamo treated us great!

We stayed at the Bali Hai Villas in the North. Our condo was wonderful. We were just steps away from the beautiful pool that had a cascading waterfall... Couldn%26#39;t ask for more... Condo was nice but cleaning service was not all that....

My advise is this... The north is very beautiful, however, there are more things to do from the east to south. Next time, I think we would stay somewhere from east to south and then just drive to the North for the day or two...

Things that are a must while in Kauai:

**Waimea Canyon - We drove up the canyon and this is spectacular! Everything is just so peaceful and beautiful... We even drove on up to the US Navy Missle Range Facility. The guards were very friendly and even took pictures...

**Inter-Island Helicopter Tour - This company was wonderful... The were upbeat and fun! The veiws are breath taking! Our pilot was wonderful and even had fun with us swooping in the air... Great ride....

** Luau - This is one thing that I really wanted to do while I was in Kauai... This forum and other readings all recommended the ';Smiths'; Luau... Well, we got there and started talking with one of the locals and they suggested us to do the luau that says ';Kauai%26#39;s #1 luau'; I forget the name... Anyway, against my better judgment, we went to that one. I have never been to a luau before so I don%26#39;t have much to compare it to. They did not do a IMU Ceremony where they uncover the pig, I was a little disapointed. The food was very good. The show was nice and the fire dance was excellent. I still would have liked to have went to the Smiths. Oh well, when you are with other people you can%26#39;t be the one who objects....

** Napali Boat Tour - we did this tour and it was ok... We went with the Blue dolphin tour company. Keep in mind that we stayed on the north shore and had to be on the south shore by 7:00am. That was an early rise for us... Wasn%26#39;t too bad though... The crew was wonderful and kept everyone entertained. The snorkeling was good but not great....

Beaches....

I recommend that you go to Walmart and buy a box of saltine crackers and some baggies to feed the fish with. This tip from the blue book was wonderful! The fish just flock around you fighting for the crackers!

** Tunnels Beach - Tunnels was our favorite for snorkeling... The fish there was unbelieveable. Although we did not see any turtles at this one on that particular day.

**Ke%26#39;e Beach - I did not like this beach for the snorkeling because of the shallow reef. It was hard to move around in some spots. We did however swim with several huge turtles here. That was very nice! Great place to watch the sunset.

** Lydgate State Park - Not a very nice park... The beach was littered with driftwood. A lot of driftwood. The enclosed part for snorkeling was cloudy but there were several fish there.

** Queens Bath - This was a very nice quiet place to relax. Not a lot of fish but there were quite a few for as little as it is. Watch out for the crabs though, they are everywhere.... The hike down was not that bad but the hike back up would be straining for someone with difficulties.

****Polihale State Park - I think that is the name of it anyway... This is as far west as you can go before you hit the Napali Coast line.... this Beach is the prettiest! By Far! Nearly deserted ! Best place for Sunset! Wide open beach with view to ';the forbidden Island'; . Great beach to just walk and enjoy the beauty after the sunset. The road to this beach is a very long and bumpy ride! The blue book says 5 miles... Worth it though!

Places to eat:

** Duanes Ono Char Burger - Wonderful Burgers... Excellent Onion rings...

** Zelos - Excellent fish... Wonderful veiws from the Lanai out front... We ate there for dinner...

** Scotties BBQ - Excellent food! We ate there for lunch.... Beautiful ocean view while eating....

** Bubbas Burgers - Ok, but the service sucked...

** In the coconut market place there is a Pizza place that was wonderful... I am not sure what the name of it was but I would definatly recommend it!

** Paradise Bar and Grill - This place was ok... Service was terrible though... I would not go out of my way to eat here....

** There was a place in Kapaa that we got shave Ice and it was better than anywhere else I got it and I do not know the name of it.. It was inside of a building that gave Kayak tours. It was across the street from the weekend fair they have. do not go to the lady next door who sells them out of her camper... Horrible...

I hate to say it but Walmart was the best place to find souveniers. I asked several locals where to go to buy souveniers and they all said Walmart. We went to the coconut market place that was nice and alot of the shops just around some of the towns. Kauai does not have what I consider good shopping. Nothing like the Caribbean.

To say the least, Kauai is a beautiful Island. This is place you will not want to leave. It is so peaceful and relaxing.... I can not wait to go back! I have tried to remember everything but we did so much and had such a great time that I can not remember everything... I have been back for a little over a week and I don%26#39;t think I am over the jet lag yet... hehehe.. Well, Mahalo to everyone for their advise and sharing their experiences.

Aloha!

Trip Report -- 8/26 thru 9/2

Maspin, thanks for the great trip report. Sounds like you found Kaua%26#39;i agreeable. ;-)

I understand that you probably did only what a book advised, bu I do want to ask that people not feed the fish when snorkeling. It%26#39;s bad for them, and it%26#39;s bad for snorkelers. The Snuba folks have encouraged fish-feeding at Lawai Beach, and the fish have gotten aggressive to the point of nipping people.

Trip Report -- 8/26 thru 9/2

Not to pick on you but hopefully to educate. Feeding the fish, or any wildlife is un-natural, and eventually leads to problems. Once the fish get used to being fed they become agressive, and can pester and even bite those that swim in their vacinity. This subject has been discussed on this and other forums many times. I know people want the fish to come close to them, but they don%26#39;t understand the long term effect. Please all future travellers remember not to feed the fish, or other wildlife, they often will eat things which are harmful to them as well as expect it to be a part of human interaction.

Interesting--I have been reading this forum for a long time, and have never read not to feed the fish. I am no biologist but I can%26#39;t imagine how 1 piece of bread is going to train an oceanful of fish to bite swimmers. I just have never heard of such a thing before. If it is a real issue hopefully some noted biology expert from a zoo or something will speak up and put the word out to the guidebook authors. We were on Kauai for a week around the same time as OP and feeding the fish was a great experience.

/pbz

There was a discussion about this a few months ago about feeding fish - it%26#39;s like feeding any animals anywhere . . . it%26#39;s affects their natural habitat, altering their behavior. I don%26#39;t feed fish, simply because I want to watch how they act normally. While on Ke%26#39;e Beach, a little girl got her finger bit while her and her Dad were feeding the fish.

Maspin - Mahalo for the trip report - I enjoyed it and glad you had a great time. :)

Does this explain why the cat at Duane%26#39;s doesn%26#39;t even bother to get up when up a flock of tasty baby chickens walks within 2 feet?

/pbz

pbz - that might be it!! :)

Years ago, here in Denali Park, they had these little signs about 2 inches off the ground near one of the visitor centers telling the ground squirrels not to eat the food people would be trying to give them. It was an attempt to tell the tourists, but you should have seen how the ground squirrels ran out when the buses stopped. It worked out quite nicely for a fox that hung out in the area - never had to go far for a squirrel dinner. :)

Because I regularily go to Cozumel to dive that is where I was made aware of the problem. Before the area we generally dive was declared a National Marine Park divemasters and divers fed the fish %26amp; eels regularily. As a result the waters were full of both, but after the government banned the practice because of the Marine Park status the fish stocks seemed to dwindle, making me ask what had happened to all the big Groupers that we regularily saw years ago. The answer was that they were still in the area but because of the no feeding policy simply kept away from divers.

As for a previous discussion I searched out the one I was thinking about, this is the link.

tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g29218-i304-k53929鈥?/a>

I have been diving with the turtles for years and they are the most gentle of animals. Unfortunately they have also become a large tourist attraction. There are several snorkle tour companies that conduct tours out in front of Kuhio Shores each day. When the cruise ships are in the small beach is often packed with tourists off the ships who pay about 90 dollars each for the privilege of swimming with the turtles. This has got to be disruptive and stressful for the turtles.

As for feeding the fish...DON%26#39;T!!!! Crackers, peas, and bread are not their natural foods. It upsets their natural environment, as well as their digestive systems, and yes, they will bite the fingers that feed them. I%26#39;ll never forget one idiot tourist spewing a can of liquid cheese into a frenzied school of fish and several of the watching swimmers getting bit.

Unfortunately many of the short timer tourists think this is some kind of Disneyland to be quickly exploited for their own entertainment and then left corrupted and sullied!

It%26#39;s not. It%26#39;s a precious natural ecosystem that needs to be preserved.

Am usually on the Maui forum but am considering Kauai. Never have seen folks feeding fish on Maui but did see it years ago( maybe 25) at Haunama Bay on Oahu. I understand that they have outlawed it there because its a park or something.

I am so glad that I wrote this wonderful trip report for it to get so thrown out of proportion. Yes I fed the fish one day with crackers, and only for about 5 minutes so that we could get some good pictures for my children. If it is so bad for them then yes they do need to ban it completely! Until then, people will continue to do so! I did not begin the fish feeding idea and will not be the last one to do so... To those who just don%26#39;t have anything else to do but complain, then do something to get it banned...

Thank you to all whom truely appreciated my report.