Our Holiday in Hawaii, Part 5 Kauai

 

In the last week of our multi-island trip to Hawaii, we stayed in Kapaa, Kauai. This island is cooler and rainier than Big Island. A deep canyon, Waimea canyon, runs along the mountain spine of Kauaii. The top photo has a view over the canyon. For a panoramic view, see https://youtu.be/CwJ5BHt5KE0

 

The island has spectacular views of ocean and mountains. We also saw several pairs of Hawaiian Nene in Kiluaea park. See the video at https://youtube.com/shorts/P9zKPvfdXy0

The roosters crow loudly at night in Kauaii. See a pretty rooster at https://youtube.com/shorts/HY8-nRObN4Y

 

We stayed in an apartment in an interesting building in Kapa'a with statues of Buddha, mosaic tiles, and a lot of cats as well as the ubiquitous Kauai chickens. Calico cat was the friendliest of the cats (see above).

 

This photo of a cat lying on the lap of a statue encapsulates the vibe of the place in Kapa'a. It must have been built originally as a meditation center.

 

Our Holiday in Hawaii, Part 4 Waimea, Big Island

 

For our final days on the Big Island of Hawaii, we stayed on a small farm in Waimea. The farm had two goats, several sheep, a large friendly cow and a goose. I petted the goat in the top photo.

 We visited Lapakahi State Historical Park and saw ruined walls of old dwellings and the reconstructed hut in the photo above.

 

The adjacent stretch of beach, shown below, is restricted to protect the native Monk seals. It was too hot to walk in the sun for long, so we drove to another park with a sandy beach and swam for a while.

Next stop on our trip, the island of Kauai in the north west of Hawaii.

Our Holiday in Hawaii, Part 3 Volcanoes National Park

 

During our stay on the Big Island of Hawaii, we visited several different sections of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. In the main park, we walked part way around the rim of Kilauea Caldera. The top picture shows a view overlooking the smoking crater.

The trail goes past a series of steam vents and Sulphur Banks. The steam vents are best seen in my video on YouTube - https://youtube.com/shorts/8K51WMfvSqg .

 The unusual yellow color of the Sulphur Banks is due to deposits of the element Sulphur from volcanic emissions. You can smell the sulfur when you walk past the bank.

 

We drove to Puuloa and hiked for about a mile across the old lava field to see the petroglyphs. It’s a desolate landscape, although some plants grow in the rocks. The picture below shows a petroglyph with a figure of a man. Many petroglyphs are circles, dots or simple depressions in the rock. 

 On our final day near the Volcanoes National Park, we walked up the first part of the trail to Mauna Loa. The terrain is rocks with scrubby plants. Some have edible berries, which Nene and other animals eat. 

We stopped by the fence to the rest of the trail. It’s a three to four day hike to the volcano and requires proper back-country gear. Maybe we’ll do it another time. Hawaii is certainly a place we’d love to see again.