Kauai - East Shore

We were able to sleep in a bit today. We didn’t thanks to our third day of early morning calls and text messages. After being woken up at 2am one morning and 4am two mornings from people on the east coast texting me, I’ve decided I’m going to shut off my phone when I go to bed. I’ve become so accustom to having it next to my bed “in case of emergency” but no more…not on vacation. The phone is being turned off! That sounds so liberating just saying it.

The second excursion I booked for this trip was tubing down old sugar cane watering canals. We made the drive to Kapa’a where we boarded an open-air bus and made our way to the canals. We got onto our tubes and went through five pitch dark tunnels. We had helmets with lights on them so we could see as we floated. We spun around in circles and bounced off the rocky sides as we slowly meandered down the canals. It was a fun, relaxing experience that the who family enjoyed. We exited the canals and were driven to a picnic area where we were given lunch. As we drove back to the Kauai Backcountry Adventure building, our guides filled us in on all the best local eateries and fun things to do on the island. One suggestion was the Wailua Falls which Stephen had previously scoped out for us in our adventure book. It was only a couple minutes away so we headed there. We viewed the falls from the road since there was a fence surrounding the falls with signs that talked about how dangerous it was to climb down. We wouldn’t let Stephen climb down and he was MAD! I compromised by allowing him to climb down the steep terrain above the falls. Kyle and I climbed with him. From the top of the falls we could see the water source but we couldn’t actually see the falls. Now I really wanted to see them. 

I caved and told Stephen I would climb down the steep cliff to get to the bottom. We saw so many people down there and they did not appear to be superstar athletes. Kyle was too chicken to go. He said it was not safe and he did not want to die. That was a huge win coming from that child! Stephen and I made our way to the bottom by hanging onto roots and ropes that people had tied to various trees. It was spectacular at the bottom. We swam across the large pool at the bottom of the falls and swam toward the two waterfalls. I’ve seen a lot of movies with water falls in them and people are casually swimming around at the base of the falls. Yeah right! It felt like we were in a blizzard and the water was cutting our face when we got close. We climbed out of the pond and went behind the falls and checked it out. After admiring the beauty for awhile we started back up the cliff. It was not as bad as I thought it was. It was a bit muddy in parts but totally doable for this old lady. Stephen was beaming from ear to ear that he got to experience the Wailua Falls up close. We got back to the car and Kyle breathed a sigh of relieve. He thought Stephen and I were going to die today. 

Wailue Shave Ice was close to our location and another must visit stop according to our tubing guides so we headed there. They make all their purees for the top of the delectable dessert from scratch and we could tell! This place gave JoJo’s a run for their money. It was soooo delicious! 

We went back to the condo and were happy to learn that the pool, was open. They’ve been trying to get the chemicals right for the last few days. The boys went swimming and we could watch them (and hear their loud shrills) from our condo. After we relaxed for awhile Mike cooked us dinner. He whipped up some steaks and one half of the Ahi he brought home from the fishing trip. Dinner was yummy! 

I finally got this site caught up while everyone was watching TV and we went to bed. 

Best thing about today: Stephen – “swimming to and from the waterfalls”, Kyle – “tubing”, Mike – “tubing”, Amber – “tubing and being up close and personal with a huge waterfall”