# Your Kauai bucket list?



## JulieAB (May 8, 2016)

We're spending a week at the Wyndham Kauai Beach Villas in Lihue in September.  We likely won't be back there for many years.  What would be on your list of must-do's/see's/eat?  We have a 6 and 11 year old and have rented a jeep.  We're not hikers, but can handle a little walking.  My kids really enjoyed the different beaches, snorkeling, and sea turtles when we were on Oahu.  We also love eating and enjoy trying the local favorites.


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## DeniseM (May 8, 2016)

For lots of good info use the search function and search for Kauai activities.

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## JulieAB (May 8, 2016)

DeniseM said:


> For lots of good info use the search function and search for Kauai activities.
> 
> Sent from my BNTV400 using Tapatalk



I have.   There's so much, and so many little tidbits here and there.  I wondered what were people's absolute favs so I could prioritize.


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## artringwald (May 8, 2016)

With a 6 and 11 year old, be sure to visit Lydgate State Park. It's a sheltered beach, and has a great playground. My grandkids loved it. Poipu Beach Park is also a great place for kids, as is Kalapaki Beach. If a cruise ship is in port, plan dinner at Duke's and watch the ship carefully maneuver out of Nawiliwili Bay. Waimea Canyon is a beautiful place to visit, but it's a long, boring drive for the little ones. If you go, break up the trip with a stop at Jo Jo's Shave Ice, often voted the best shave ice on the island.


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## "Roger" (May 8, 2016)

Different people are going to have such different answers depending on their interests. I'll stick to the low cost options. 

The drive up along Waimea Canyon is an absolute must. At the end, gorgeous overview looking down into one of the valleys of the NaPali Coast.

A visit to the Kilauea Lighthouse. In season, that will allow you to do some whale watching. Always a variety of large seabirds to be seen.

Visit at least one of the National Tropical Rainforest gardens. The Allerton Gardens require a tour, the Limahui Gardens can be a self guided walk.

Take in one of the extremely inexpensive slack key guitar concerts by the McMasters.  (For years they gave free concerts in Hanalei, now they charge $5.00 but donate the money to locals.)The concerts are short with lots of story telling.

There are hikes and beaches galore to explore. A hike near you is up Sleeping Giant.  Gorgeous views toward the direction that you will be staying.  You can quit any time on the way up; you don't have to go all the way. Wear good footwear, however. (I saw someone try it in flip flops. Cut his hike short with bleeding feet.)

Food? The local fish is everywhere good, but also very costly. The classic local thing to try is Saimen (a soup broth with lots of goodies in it). Low cost lunch. The classic place to try it is at Hamuras in Lihue. (Supposedly, rich business men used to fly in just to have lunch here.) The place can be confusing. You eat at a glorified lunch counter and it not clear what or how you are suppose to order. Less confusing would be to have saimen at the Kauai Cookie Company. Still not fancy, formica tables, but more straight forward. Advantages include more traditional lunch fare if your kids don't want saimen. Also, shaved ice available for dessert. (For the purist reading, I am not claiming this is the best saimen or the best shaved ice, but both are still good in an interesting shop to explore. The mini-cookies, however, are the best and come in lots of flavors not seen on the mainland. Samples available.)


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## DeniseM (May 8, 2016)

"For pay" activities are expensive ($100+ PP) and are geared for adults - at your kid's ages, they will enjoy the beach and the pool the most.

Probably no whales in September - that pretty much starts in November.

I second Lygate for the kids - good safe place for them to swim and snorkel, and it's 2 min. away from KBV.


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## JulieAB (May 8, 2016)

This trip is for us adults as much as the kids, so don't let the kids stop your personal favorites.   We're also from a big city and used to lots of driving, so that won't bother us either.  The 11 year old is happy with his nintendo and the 6 year old is happy to listen to music while gazing out the window! 

We're gonna do a wings over kauai tour.  My parents raved about the fern grotto when they visited 25 years ago.  I was reading about the smith luau, but is that in a different part?  Or is that the kind of thing we should do in the same day -- fern grotto and that luau?  We'd like to do a luau since we never made it to one on oahu, but not sure if we should save that for the Big Island (going the week before) or do one on each island?  

All of the other suggestions sound great, thank you!  I'm compiling the itinerary!


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## DeniseM (May 8, 2016)

Due to changes in the irrigation in the area, the fern grotto doesn't get enough water so the ferns are not what they used to be, and the grotto itself is falling down, so for safety reasons, you can only see it from a distance now.  I'd pass on it.

I would not do 2 luaus - they are all pretty similar, expensive, and your kids probably won't be too excited about the food.

When I took my daughter in Feb. we did an ATV trip in a mud bug and I bet your boys would love that.  They have family mud bugs that seat 4.

I like Kauai ATV the best:  http://www.kauaiatv.com 

The waterfall/tunnel tour is the best one.


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## dioxide45 (May 8, 2016)

Puka Dog!!!


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## BocaBoy (May 8, 2016)

dioxide45 said:


> Puka Dog!!!



I second that.


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## artringwald (May 9, 2016)

dioxide45 said:


> Puka Dog!!!



Another vote for Puka Dog. If you go on Monday or Thursday at 4:30 pm, you'll get a free hula show at the Poipu Shopping Center.


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## tfalk (May 9, 2016)

I'd skip the fern grotto...

Kauai back country adventures tubing... my 70 year old parents did it and had a blast, as has everyone else we've taken.


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## JulieAB (Oct 19, 2016)

So someone PM'd me a while back and asked if I'd update this thread with our adventures.    We returned last week and Kauai was wonderful, especially after being on the Big Island the week before (I want a do-over of that island :annoyed.  

We visited Waimea Canyon (which mostly looked like the Grand Canyon to us Arizonans) and accidentally found ourselves stopping at Kauai Kookie company for a potty break on the way there!  We tried all the samples but the passion fruit and kona cookies were our favs!  On the way back, we stopped at Jo-Jo's Shave Ice (yum!).

The Wings Over Kauai airplane tour was amazing (everyone's highlight of the week).

We visited Poipu, Lydgate, Tunnels, Lawai, and Kiahuna beaches.  Tunnels had great snorkeling (though Two Step on Big Island is still the best), saw turtles there and at Poipu, seals at Kiahuna.

We enjoyed Olympic Cafe so much we ate there twice, and stopped for Hee Fat shave ice once (yum!).

The absolute best shave ice we have EVER had on 3 islands is from Loco Coco up the street from Poipu Beach though.  Real fruit juice, topped with real fruit, and honey from his own bee hives.  We went twice, it was SO good!

We also ate at Dukes downstairs, Lava Lava (overpriced unless you go for happy hour), island taco, the beach house and keoki's.

We ended the week with a surf lesson for our 11 year old from Learn to Surf and the instructor even let my 5 year old daughter get on too.  They were both up on the boards within a few waves!  

We didn't get to do everything I wanted for one reason or another, but it was still awesome.

It was 4 years since our last trip to hawaii, but we're already planning to go back in 2018 to visit maui and oahu (again). We've decided we need 2 weeks per island minimum.   My 5 year old cried on the way home and insisted we stay longer.


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## easyrider (Oct 19, 2016)

My personal bucket list for Kauai has one activity, diving near the forbidden city, Ni'ihau. Maybe 5 scuba trips and 15 dives would get this off my list. 

Bill


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## mjm1 (Oct 20, 2016)

JulieAB said:


> So someone PM'd me a while back and asked if I'd update this thread with our adventures.    We returned last week and Kauai was wonderful, especially after being on the Big Island the week before (I want a do-over of that island :annoyed.
> 
> We visited Waimea Canyon (which mostly looked like the Grand Canyon to us Arizonans) and accidentally found ourselves stopping at Kauai Kookie company for a potty break on the way there!  We tried all the samples but the passion fruit and kona cookies were our favs!  On the way back, we stopped at Jo-Jo's Shave Ice (yum!).
> 
> ...



Julie, thanks for the update. Glad to hear you had a great time. I picked up a few new places to check out from the thread.

We are headed to Kauai in December and hope to see some whales, which we have never seen. We agree with your comment regarding more than one week. We decided a few years ago that even one extra night makes the trip seem so much longer, so try to take at least 10 days if not two weeks.

It's always nice to start thinking and planning the next trip.

Best regards.

Mike


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## tfalk (Oct 24, 2016)

easyrider said:


> My personal bucket list for Kauai has one activity, diving near the forbidden city, Ni'ihau.



We did 1 dive off Ni'ihau in 2013, honestly, it was not that impressive.  I thought cathedrals off Lanai was better.

I think almost everyone on the boat was sick, probably one of the roughest rides we've ever experienced in Hawaii.   That was the middle of July.  The group coming off the boat as we were getting on didn't look too good either.  Really rough once you get out into the channel....


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## easyrider (Oct 30, 2016)

tfalk said:


> We did 1 dive off Ni'ihau in 2013, honestly, it was not that impressive.  I thought cathedrals off Lanai was better.
> 
> I think almost everyone on the boat was sick, probably one of the roughest rides we've ever experienced in Hawaii.   That was the middle of July.  The group coming off the boat as we were getting on didn't look too good either.  Really rough once you get out into the channel....



I heard this can be a rough ride. Maybe one trip will get it off my list. 

Bill


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## DeniseM (Oct 30, 2016)

tfalk said:


> We did 1 dive off Ni'ihau in 2013, honestly, it was not that impressive.  I thought cathedrals off Lanai was better.
> 
> I think almost everyone on the boat was sick, probably one of the roughest rides we've ever experienced in Hawaii.   That was the middle of July.  The group coming off the boat as we were getting on didn't look too good either.  Really rough once you get out into the channel....



I agree.  After our trip, we saw one of the deck hands later at the Olympic Cafe, and he said that people are violently ill on that trip every time they take the boat out.

On our trip, there were people who were prostrate on the deck, and just vomiting uncontrollably.  Every once in awhile they would hose them off.  When we reached the island, they just laid their, exhausted, and their friends had to practically carry them off the boat at the end of the day.  I did not get sick, but if I'd known how many people did, I wouldn't have gone.

It is a long trip too.


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## slip (Oct 30, 2016)

Denise

Was that in the summer time too. We always wanted to do that trip but held off because we have been there in the fall and winter. We were going to try it in the summer time but we just haven't gone there during the summer yet.

I had a rough time in the Nepali trip last February. I didn't get sick but had a rough time for a while. Many others got sick. Glad we didn't take the longer trip then.


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## DeniseM (Oct 30, 2016)

slip said:


> Denise
> 
> Was that in the summer time too. We always wanted to do that trip but held off because we have been there in the fall and winter. We were going to try it in the summer time but we just haven't gone there during the summer yet.
> 
> I had a rough time in the Nepali trip last February. I didn't get sick but had a rough time for a while. Many others got sick. Glad we didn't take the longer trip then.



Hi Jeff - Yes, in July.  It's a long trip across open water.


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## slip (Oct 30, 2016)

Thanks Denise. I knew it was long but I had hoped it was better in the summer with calmer waters. They say the boat was designed for that trip in mind but it's still a boat on a large ocean. I may have to scratch that one off our list. That's a long time to feel awful, especially on vacation.


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## DeniseM (Oct 30, 2016)

Jeff - I am prone to motion sickness, so I was very careful:

-No alcohol the day before
-1 tablet Bonine at bedtime the night before 
-Light non-greasy breakfast
-1 tablet Bonine 1 hour before I boarded the boat.
-1 tablet Bonine 6 hours into the trip


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## slip (Oct 30, 2016)

Luckily, I have a long time to think about it. We don't plan on going in the summer any time soon. That's when we planned on going, especially after the Napali trip last February. 

We have friends going with us for half our trip this year and we have enough planned already with out this added on.


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## cgeidl (Nov 5, 2016)

*helicopter or airplane????*

You might consider the advantages of a helicopter flight versus an airplane trip to see Kauai. We have done both and thought the helicopter was the best choice.


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## Kona Lovers (Dec 28, 2016)

I will pass on the term "bucket list", as a guy I know who used that term is no longer with us.  I have a "slippah list", things to do wearing my slippahs. .  Anyway, Kauai has so much to do.  One of our favs is the Napali Coast sunset dinner cruise.


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## easyrider (Jan 2, 2017)

DeniseM said:


> I agree.  After our trip, we saw one of the deck hands later at the Olympic Cafe, and he said that people are violently ill on that trip every time they take the boat out.
> 
> On our trip, there were people who were prostrate on the deck, and just vomiting uncontrollably.  Every once in awhile they would hose them off.  When we reached the island, they just laid their, exhausted, and their friends had to practically carry them off the boat at the end of the day.  I did not get sick, but if I'd known how many people did, I wouldn't have gone.
> 
> It is a long trip too.




Diving around Kauai this winter revealed hardly any sea life at all. There were no schools of fish as they have all been caught. Plenty of lonely turtles. 

I no longer have any interest in Kauai. The traffic was terrible, there were too many tourists, the chickens crow at 3am, there are even more homeless on the beaches and there is absolutely nothing going on that resembles night life after 9 pm with the exception of the Nawillywilly tavern.

No Kauai bucket list for me.

Bill


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## DeniseM (Jan 2, 2017)

I agree - no one should go to Kauai.  Go to another island.   Kauai is a drag!


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## JulieAB (Jan 2, 2017)

easyrider said:


> Diving around Kauai this winter revealed hardly any sea life at all. There were no schools of fish as they have all been caught. Plenty of lonely turtles.
> 
> I no longer have any interest in Kauai. The traffic was terrible, there were too many tourists, the chickens crow at 3am, there are even more homeless on the beaches and there is absolutely nothing going on that resembles night life after 9 pm with the exception of the Nawillywilly tavern.
> 
> ...


We saw a lot while snorkeling at tunnels in Oct  and some very large schools (meaning large size of fish!) at baby beach that completely startled us because they were so close.

I'm curious what you think of hanauma bay on Oahu by comparison? My husband had fond memories as a child but it was very poor 4 years ago.  We found kona snorkeling far superior, as well as kauai. We don't plan to visit hunauma again when we go back in 2018.

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## easyrider (Jan 3, 2017)

Julie, maybe it is seasonal but at the Sheraton Caverns dive site, at 60+ ft, this December there were only a few small schools of rock fish hiding in the lava tubes. Pretty much anything that can be caught by fishers are being caught. 

On the deeper dives, 80ft average, there were only a few schools of tangs and on 8 dives I saw only two parrot fish. The sea bottom is very interesting but there really wasn't much sea life left to look at the south side scuba areas .  




DeniseM said:


> I agree - no one should go to Kauai.  Go to another island.   Kauai is a drag!



We went in the beginning of December which is usually not so touristy but even so, all rental cars were pretty much booked out, all tours were pretty much booked out, all attraction parking lots were over filled, good restaurants were packed but for me the problem was driving to Poipu from Kapaa which is only about 20 miles but took over an hour to drive on most days. The only thing I liked about Kauai was the weather. 

Other issues were all the homeless camped out in their vehicles and the very dirty beaches , especially Hanalei and Kalihiwai beaches. I think because of the hiking trail many homeless and hikers are camping out on the north end. 

The beaches I like are on the dry side and include Pakala , Hanapepe area and Poipu area. 


Bill


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