We decided to return our car to the Sheraton Waikiki where we picked it up rather than drive to the airport. This turned out to be a good decision as it saved us $100 by not paying a ‘one way’ fee.
Hawaiians are very friendly people and the guy who met us on the footpath outside the airport was no different. He took care of printing our boarding passes & took all our bags. We now have 2 bags each - up from 1 each a week ago!
We took off on time at 11am and were in the baggage claim area of Lihue airport on Kauai 40 mins later. A lovely man drive us in his bus to the car rental area and gave us lots of information and a map on the way.
Kauai is the oldest of the Hawaiian Islands and the 4th largest. Only 20% of the island can be seen by car and much of it is uninhabitable. The bus driver told us there is only 1 road on the island. That isn’t exactly true but I can see what he means.
It was about a 30min drive from the airport to Poipu, on the South Shore, where we are staying. It is a beautiful area and known as the sunny side of the island. Our room wasn’t ready when we arrived so went for a drive. On the way in, we had seen a sign for the Spouting Horn so we went there. It turned out to be a blowhole. I read in our guide book that it is more active in summer when the waves are bigger but there was still some water coming through it. We had a great view right out across the ocean and saw some whale spouts. I looked through my binoculars but didn’t see any more than spouts. Some people standing near us said there was a sea turtle in the rock pool but I couldn’t see it.
There are still lots of wild chickens and roosters roaming around and Kauai also has feral cats.
We also visited Koloa which is a historic mill town. There are ruins of the mill here and sugar cane is still growing here. A lot of the old buildings have been preserved and now house shops and eateries.
When we got back, our room was ready. This resort is enormous. Our room is in a building across the road from the main resort buildings and beach and there is a new building currently under construction right next door to our building. We had to do some washing and found the coin laundry in a building behind the pool. We lay on sun lounges while we waited for it to wash. The sun was coming and going behind clouds and the wind was blowing. We found 2 free rocking chairs on the lawn further around from the pool and sat there to watch the sunset. There were clouds around but it was still nice to watch. It hadn’t completely set when we decided to go and warm up by the fire pits dotted around the lawns. Once we moved away from the waterfront the wind wasn’t as chilly.
We saw a long line of people waiting to get into tonight’s luau. It is held on the lawn next to the pool. We are going on Monday night which will be fun.