Sun September 23- It was time to go on a hike again! In the early morning we drove to Waimea Canyon, a spectacular 'Grand Canyon style' canyon. The scenery was amazing! Unfortunately there was no 'good' day-hike along the canyon ridge, so after a short stroll at one of the viewpoints, we drove onwards to Koke'e State Park. The hike we did (Nu'alolo and Awa'awapuhi trail) was beautiful! The trail leads to cliffs that overlook the ocean and the vista is more than excellent. We had beautiful weather in the morning, but as we were having lunch thick clouds rolled in and visibilty dropped to zero. At least it made the hike back to the car a little cooler.. Back at the B&B we had a beer, saw the Patriots lose and made some dinner. The B&B had a great 'homey feeling' to it, nice sitting room, kitchen, bedroom, distant ocean-view, bug-screens (no windows).. Very nice hang-out!
Waimea Canyon
Mon September 24- We did not sleep so well. There was a lot of noise outside, wind, rain, and two dozen roosters that COCK-A-DOODLE-DOOOOOoooooo'ed (KUKELUKUUUUuuuuuu in Dutch) all night! Chickens and roosters are just everywhere in Kauai because there are no predators (birds of prey, foxes, ets) on the island. In the morning we found a 'white noise machine' next to the tv that made a big difference in the nights to come... In a guide-book from the B&B we found a historic walking tour in the town of Waimea that takes place every Monday. It turned out to be a great tour, hosted by a passionate retired Hawaiian woman. We learned a lot about Hawaii, the Polynesian migration, taro & poi (food), captain Cook who was the first white man to visit Hawaii (he actually got killed in Hawaii as well) and about her private life as a native Hawaiian child growing up just before World War II. In the afternoon we first relaxed at the B&B (warm weather makes lazy) and then decided to go see the sunset from Kekaha Beach in South West Kauai. A nice beach where it was fun to see the surfers and another beautiful sunset! 
Tue September 25- We checked-out of the B&B early and drove around Kauai to Napali Coast State Park in the North West. We hiked the very popular trail to Hanakapi'ai Falls, where we went for a swim in the pool beneath the waterfall. The first section on the coast was beautiful, great views! The trail to the waterfall was more in the forest and best described as muddy, slippery, humid, smelly (lots of rotting Guava fruit on the ground) and busy. It was great to cool-off in the water :) The 8 mile round-trip took us about 5.5 hours and by 4pm we were enjoying a 'shave ice' (typical Hawaiian, we prefer ice-cream). We drove back to the south of Kauai where we checked into the Sheraton Resort. A nice resort, defintely a step up from where we stayed in Maui. Beautiful pool area, great beach, the garden view is indeed a garden (and not a parking lot) and everything looks and feels a little nicer. Well worth spending our credit-card points on! After we freshened up from the hot hike, we had a complimentary mai-tai and then a delicious dinner at Plantations Gardens (restaurant at a resort next to us that had excellent reviews).
Hiking along the Napali coast
Wed September 26- We enjoyed a nice morning coffee in 'our' garden, went to the store for some breakfast and lunch, got fresh ahi poke from the Koloa fish-market (which we had for dinner), did some laundry and went to the pool. Very nice to relax at the pool! Such a beautiful location..
Maurits eating his hand...
Thu September 27- There was a 'high surf warning' for our beach, which meant there were some great waves! So much fun to swim in the warm wavie ocean! Not much else is noteworthy.. We spent the whole day at the pool/beach, saw a beautiful sunset, walked along the beach where we checked out some other resorts and we had an excellent tapas dinner at Josselin's - yummy!
LB in the Hanakapi'ai pool (underneath the falls)
Fri September 28- We had some plans getting up for a second Hawaiian sunrise, but that did not happen.. We basically spent the whole day at the pool and on the beach (the waves were still excellent!), saw another beautiful sunset and went out to dinner at Merriman's (another fabulous dinner!). As a general rule we try not to blog too much about food because we think its boring, but we have to make an exception in Kauai because the food is suprisingly amazing!
Another pretty good sunset
Sat September 29- Our last day in Hawaii :( We slept in, lazed around, and talked to Maurits' parents who are now retired (they spent the last 10 years living and working abroad- first Brunei then Qatar) and are now back in Emmen. We checked out of the room, but since our flight was not until later in the evening we spent the afternoon at the pool and beach (sadly the waves were a lot smaller now). The hotel offered a complimentary shower in one of their hospitality rooms for guests who have a late flight, great service! We had a final poke and ono dinner at the Koloa Fish Market and drove to the airport.
Bye bye Hawaii!
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