Sunday, February 12, 2012

HANAKAPIAI!!!!

HANAKAPIAI!!!!

This hike was Gnarly!!! We woke up early on saturday, 6am, made breakfast and packed some lunches and drove to the Napali Coast on the north. We got there early enough that not many other people we around and we found the trailhead and got to hiking! I carried our 30lb baby - our bag of sandwiches and towels - and nikki carried NOTHING! hahahaha... jk she offered to carry it, but I love her too much. haha cheesey!


Starting the hike / 1/2 mile mark / along the coast / me and the 30 lb baby

So the hike meanders up and down along the Napali Coast for two miles until it reaches a secluded beach. This beach is dangerous! Seriously, I saw a discovery channel bit about it before we moved out here about how dangerous the waves/current are there. In fact, right before you get to the beach, there is this SCAREY sign that says how many people have died at Hanakapiai beach. BEWARE!


The sign

We were a little bummed when we got there. There was NO SAND! Every picture I saw showed the most beautifully sandy beach, but apparantly the sand has been washed away recently because it was completely rocky! It was still super pretty though and we relaxed and watched 10ft swells crashing into the nearby rocks! Also, little stray kittens roamed around chasing birds. It was really nice!


The former beach / What is left now (notice the cave to the right of my head)

Then we kept on hiking. From there it is two more miles inland along a muddy river trail to the most beautiful 300ft waterfall I've ever seen. The trail was crazy and we had to criss-cross this river multiple times.



By the time we finally made it to the falls (4 miles of hiking in), we were exhausted! It was hard work! It was so pretty though and we had left early enough that we were the only ones there! The water was ICECOLD! I got in it very gingerly and then swam my freezing way over to the falls. It was amazing! The water is crashing down and as you approach by swimming it gets louder and louder. You think to yourself, "What am I doing?!...What if I die?!" Finally, you get under the falls and the water comes crashing down on your head. It stings a little, but feels great and you swim through to the other side behind the falls. You do the same thing as you swim out and after you clear the water you can turn over on to you back and stare up the 300+ foot cliff at the gallons of water pouring over! Its surreal.


Freeeeezing cold waterfall!

Nikki ALMOST did it! haha...the water was tooo cold for her. She did make it in waist deep and she promiesed me that next time she's going all the way. We'll do it in the summer time and it will be better.

After that, we dried off and set up a picnic spot and ate our delicious sandwiches Nikki had made and took a nap. While we were eating, droves of hikers started arriving which made us glad for the early start so we could miss the crowd.


Our lunch spot

Finally, we packed up and started heading back. Going back was soooo tiring and all the downhill hiking killed our knees. We stopped at the 'beach' again, which was full of people and Nikki found a nice rock recliner to rest on before we started the final leg back.


The most comfortable rock resting spot / The water / The view

Also, on the way back we saw a naked lost boy. That was fun. hahaha. Apparantly, some punk whiteboy teenager was out there with his buddies and I guess he got dared into taking is trunks off....well of course his buddies stole his shorts so next thing we see is this white butt come jumping out of the trees ahead of us chasing down his friends to get his shorts back! HAHAHA!


Swinging on the vines after the hike!

So we finally, made it back and were sooo tired. We watched the movie Drive that night and ate at Hamura Saimin...an awesome and tasty noodle house. Ahhh hawaii life is nice.

Tune in next time for more adventures in Kauai!

Monday, February 6, 2012

Ka ... Ka ... Ka ... KAUAI!!!!

Hey Everybody!

So we made it to Kauai! Actually, we've been here a month already and it has been awesome! We've been busy bees though lately so we haven't had time to post anything. We're gonna do a quick round of catch-up and then maybe we can get the blog rolling again on a weekly basis... whatchathink?!

So, I've gotta give you the past month and a half in speedy drive-by form. Sorry, but I don't have all day to update this thing.

First of all, moving here was awful! I mean the moving part. We did it cheap. Because Nikki has status with Delta, she could bring like 5 70lb bags with her for less than $100...so we did just that. We packed everything we own into 5 huge boxes, 4 huge suitcases, and couple of carry-on's. Moving that stuff sucked! And Nikki, being the trooper that she is, carried it all up to our new apt (on the 2nd floor with no elevator) by her self while I was working! GO NIKKI!

When we got here, we couldn't move into our apt right away, so we stayed at the Marriott hotel for a few days over new years! It was beautiful!


Clockwise from Top Left: Beach from our hotel, eating the delicious fish n chips by the hotel fire, checking out the beach, relaxing by the pool

Our first couple of days here we hiked this awesome hill right behind our house called, Nonou, or the sleeping giant. It was only 2 miles round trip but it seriously was hard and felt like forever! The view though was amazing! And it turns out that Nikki actually is quite a hiker!



Clockwise from Top Left: Nounou is the peak above Nikki's head, hazardous cliff halfway up, views from the top both directions (P.S. - don't be scared of the gangsta with the orange doo rag! - Nikki)

By the way, our apt is awesome - more pics on that to follow later!

Our next hike we went on (sorry, no pics of this one) was the coolest one ever! In our church we met an awesome young couple who have been here since August. They know all the good hikes! They took us up to these sweet canals kinda close to our house and we went TUBING down the canals! Trust me... this sounds easy and breezy, but it was INTESE! These canals are tiny and sooooo long and pitch black! We had some headlamps, but it was still WAAAYYY dark and freaky! We rode them forever! They took us to a deep pool with a rock water fall and a rock swing. Then they just kept going on and on and we kept on going. Funny Part - i accidentally bought the wrong size tubes for nikki and i... seriously like baby-sized and so nikki's kept flipping her over backwards...hahaha and i had to try to fit TWO together under my butt to even stay afloat. When I tried using just one, I didn't even float at all... i was like up to my neck in the water! hahahaha! If anyone comes to visit, this is for sure the hike you're going on!

Next, last weekend we were in Oahu. We decided to hike Koko head. Nikki had just got a new Iphone and so she was all excited to figure out the new features so she said"Hey I'll get us directions on my new phone." FAIL! her phone led us to Diamond Head instead and we didn't realize it till we had already paid for parking. So instead we hiked that one! But it was still amazing! We booked it up there too, making it up in like 40min flat!




Clockwise from Top Left: Kai working on his L-Sit on the way up, at the bottom of the first set of stairs (which we ran up), at the top seeing Koko Head, the view of Waikiki

Finally, I joined and started coaching at Kauai Crossfit! THis place is awesome - so paradisacal! I'll post some pics later, but be warned, if you come to visit me I'm taking you there to get your ACE handed to you in a gnarly workout!