Hawaii – Small Wanders

Snorkeling Hawaii Apr-May 2022

During our stay in Maui and Kauai 23 Apr – 03 May 2022, when not hiking or in the pool, we enjoyed the beach and ocean to stay cool. The ocean in Hawaii is always inviting, clearer & warmer then southern California.
Just north of our Kaanapali Hotel is a popular snorkeling & cliff-jumping spot, Black Rock Beach. Turtles are common and visibility is better in this partially protected cove. In April, the Trade Winds can blow pretty hard especially in the afternoon, stirring up the waves and water so clarity goes down.
We also took the Teralani snorkeling charter to get to some of the best snorkeling areas, the secluded Honolua and Namalu Bays. These areas are beach-accessible but snorkeling off a catamaran is way easier & it’s an awesome, scenic sail to get there. Not to mention food and open-bar.

29 Apr – 03 May 2022: Kauai

by JamesApril 29, 2022April 16, 2024Day Trips / Hawaii / Hikes / Kauai / Sightseeing / State Parks / Travel / Trips

After a week in Maui, we ‘hopped over’ to Kauai. It’s the last major Hawaiian Island we’ve wanted to visit and considered to be the least crowded of the four main islands. We stayed in Lihue so we could access both the southwest and northern parts of the island. We had a rental car and put about 288mi on it in 3 days. Unfortunately, day 4 was spent at the hotel due to food-related illness so our last day was quiet.
Kauai is beautiful and easy to drive although the Waimea Canyon drive is slow with many switchbacks. Tour buses visit the main Waimea Lookout but do not appear to head further up the canyon. The highlight of our trip was Waimea State Park and the ‘moderate’ (more like hard!) Canyon Trail hike. Like Maui, the weather continued to be windy with scattered showers but warm, not hot. Great weather to explore the island and get photos with interesting skies. Like Maui, the weather and landscape – rainforest vs dry – depends on which side of the island you are on.
Most of the beaches tended to be rough for snorkeling but many have protective coves or jetties. Many of Kauai’s waterfalls are near the road but access to the base of the waterfalls requires kayaks &/or hiking.

23-29 Apr 2022: Maui

by JamesApril 23, 2022April 16, 2024Hawaii / Maui / Sightseeing / Travel / Trips

Another trip without Howie but with good reason – Hawaii. This is our first trip by plane since returning from Italy in Jan 2020. With an invitation from family to join them for a week in Maui, postponed since 2020. We were happy to finally travel someplace without towing a travel trailer, especially with gas prices at ~$6/gal.
We spent a week in Ka’anapali Maui with family then spent 5 days on Kauai, our first trip to that island. We’ve now visited four of the main islands – Oahu, Maui, Big Hawaii (Big Island) & Kauai. We considered a day-trip to Lanai from Lahaina but the Trade Winds were pretty strong during the week we were there. Traveling back across the channel in the afternoon would have been rough. So we opted for a 5hr snorkeling day-trip on a Teralani sailboat along the Maui west coast.