Our Kauai vacation & 2 weekends in CA

[yrosen]

Dw and I had an amazing vacation in Kauai this end of June, and since i built, and planned our trip entirely off of all the Kauai TR’s on DDF, i feel like i owe it to the DDF community to give back, and to write my own TR.

And this is the perfect opportunity to say Thanks to you all, for taking your time and writing TR’s (now i know how much time it takes, and what effort goes into it), it has been a real game changer for me, and i have already executed a nice few vacations to perfection, just because of you guys, So “THANKS”...

Since this is my first time writing a TR, please forgive me if i’m not writing it short, and to the point (i will try my best though.)

Intro/Planning

DW and i are both in love with nature, and we were in desperate need of a nice and exotic vacation, with a little bit of fun to it, and since we have been to most of the common vacation spots in the continental US, it was a no brainer that Hawaii is the place for us. the only issue was that we didn't wanna fly 12 hours each way, and we didn't really wanna be in Hawaii for shabbos, so we decided to be in Hawaii from Sunday - Thursday, and both shabusim we’re gonna be in CA. 1st shabbos in San Diego, and 2nd one in LA. (the particular order was just because of better flight availability).

After reading a lot of TR’s about Hawaii, we have decided that we are only going to do 1 island. So we choose Kauai because as i said, we love nature more than anything, and from what i have learned from Dan himself, and from a nice few TR’s that Kauai is the most exotic paradise from all the other islands.

We really wanted to go to the Grand Hyatt, but since i didn't have any points with them, and the cheapest room was a whopping $700 per night, we had to let go… Since i had 50K SPG points, which i really wanted to use, my 2 options were either the Sheraton Kauai Resort, (South) where i had a small room without a full kitchen, 2 nights for 50K and 2 nights for $1160, Or The Westin Princeville Ocean Resort, (North) where i had a Deluxe Studio Villa, with a full kitchen, 2 nights for 50K and 2 nights for $716.11, so we decided to go with the Westin, since the room and the price were better for us, and based on the TR’s i have read, i really wanted to stay in the north, even though i read in the Kauai revealed book (Great book, a must have), that it's more rainier, but i also read that it's mostly in the winter, and i checked the weather statistics, and June had the least rainfall, so we decided to go with the north.
But now after the fact, i don't know if i would choose to stay in the north again, even though it was beautiful, and the greenery was so calm and relaxing, But we didn't have enough sun. and there was a lot of rain, (Not steady rain, but here & there, enough to disturb our pool/beach time more than once...), and whenever we drove out of the north the weather was always nice.
And another issue we had was that most of the places we visited were a long drive from the north, (which i knew beforehand, but still thought it's worth it...) Therefore i would recommend staying in either the east or the south side.

FYI after i made my reservations i checked out the Kauai revealed website, and i saw that due to recent floodings the entire road in the north, after Hanalei was blocked off for non residence, but i wasn't too bothered by it, since i wasn't planning on doing the Kalalau Trail, (because dw and i both don't like hikes), and i will get to see the Na Pali coast via air and sea, but i still would have checked out a few places over there, including driving on the one way bridges etc... But there was nothing that i could do about it so....

Flights:

1: Friday morning, EWR to SAN with Delta, booked with 13.5K UR points each (with sapphire reserve)
2: Sunday Morning, SAN to LIH with Alaska Air, booked Via AA 22K points each
3: Thursday Afternoon, LIH to LAX with United, booked with cash and UR combined a value of $300 each
4: Sunday Afternoon, LAX to EWR with AA, with 30K points each way, got back 3K, so a total of 27K

Car Rental:

San Diego: Hertz, Reserved the cheapest car, and got a Chevy Malibu for $98.
Kauai: Budget, reserved a Ford Edge for $201 via www.discounthawaiicarrental.com and got an upgrade to a brand new Nissan Armada, for $25 per day.
LA: Advantage, Chevy Malibu for $75. I booked with them because they were a lot cheaper, but in the end i basically got paid for standing in the line for an hour and 15 minutes… Avoid them, it doesn't pay.

Hotels:

San Diego: Residence Inn San Diego Downtown/Gaslamp Quarter, 1 Bedroom Suite, 2 nights for 376.40 (8 minute walk to Chabad).
Kauai: The Westin Princeville Ocean Resort Villas, Deluxe Studio Island Vw Villa, 2 nights with 50K SPG points, and 2 nights for 716.11.
LA: Stayed by a friend.

Food:

For shabbos in San Diego, i bought all the food at my local deli, packed everything up nice and tight, and froze it. For Hawaii, i bought all my meals from Pomegranate, (it was delicious) and had it delivered to my house with flink messenger service. In addition to the fleshing meals, i bought a lot of frozen blintzes, eggplant parmesan, baked ziti etc. I also took along mozzarella cheese, butter, milk, bagels and wraps for breakfast. and franks, lamb kebabs for a grill. And a lot of cake/cookies and nash... I froze all the food for a few days, and i bought the highly recommended 48 polar bear suitcase on amazon. (it was worth it).

Friday - 6/22

We woke up at 4 AM and packed up a few things, including all the frozen food in to the polar bear suitcase, and off to the airport we went. We arrived about 1 ½ hours before the flight, and we sailed through the TSA with precheck, courtesy of the sapphire reserve card, but we didn't have time to check out the priority pass lounge… we took off at 8:05 and we landed in San diego at 11:00.


All luggages with the polar bear suitcases by Y Rosen, on Flickr

(I Know it's a lot a luggage's for 2 people, but that's how we roll )

We went with the shuttle to the car rental, and as a Hertz gold member i just walked in and took whichever car i liked from the gold section and off we went.
We arrived to the hotel (a 15 minute drive from the car rental), and of course our room was not ready yet, so we dropped off all our luggages at the valet, and we went to Ralphs to buy a few things for shabbos and for Hawaii.
Ralphs has a few isles of kosher food. A bakery, deli, sushi, meat, but i’m happy that i brought along my own food, because they didn't have a lot of options of fresh food, and i like to have premium food on my vacation... But if you don't feel like shlepping everything from home, they have a pretty decent food selection.

We went back to the hotel, and our room was ready, we had the 1 Bedroom Suite, it was quite big, and comfy, nice size kitchen, and full fridge/freezer but there was 2 problems, 1: the room between the kitchen/living room and the bedroom is a frosted glass sliding door, which means that if you leave the kitchen/living room lights open for shabbos, the bedroom doesn't get dark at night, (which i prefer). 2: the bathroom light, and the light by the table worked only with a sensor, so i had to cover it, so it wasn't working on shabbos… The hotel has a staircase without sensors, and there is a bar in the lobby with a door to the street without a sensor. Making it a overall good choice for a shabbos hotel, next to chabad.

We unpacked all our shabbos food, and put all frozen stuff in the freezer, Set the table, prepared the hot plate (a small travel hot plate, fits easily in the suitcase), went for a swim and made ourselves ready for early shabbos at 6:30 in Chabad. We ate the friday night meal, and went for a walk after, really loved the nightlife in downtown San Diego, which is pretty cool, parties and lights all over... and went to sleep



Residence Inn 1 Bedroom Suite by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Residence Inn 1 Bedroom Suite by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Residence Inn 1 Bedroom Suite by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Residence Inn 1 Bedroom Suite by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Residence Inn Pool by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Shabbos Food by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Shabbos - 6/23

Shabbos morning i went to daven at Chabad, they daven at 10, and they had a nice kiddush after. I came home and we ate the meal, and then we went for a nice long walk on the boardwalk. To our luck the weather was pretty cloudy, as they call it “June gloom”, so it wasn't too hot for us to be out for a few hours without water, (there is no eruv in the area). The boardwalk is very cool and nice, there are a lot of nice yacht and boats all over, and then we checked out the Gaslamp Quarter in downtown San Diego, it's very cool. I went to daven Mincha/Mariv, and we went to sleep right after Motzai, because we had an early flight to catch Sunday morning.

Sunday - 6/24

We woke up at 4, and repacked all the frozen stuff in to the polar bear suitcase, we went to return the car, took the shuttle back to the airport. Check in was smooth, and TSA precheck also came in handy. We took off at 7:10 and landed in LIH at 10:15. LIH is a very small airport, and only the gates are indoors, everything else is outdoors. We had to wait for more than ½ hour for our luggage to arrive. Finally we collected all the luggages and we started walking to the suttle station. Right when i walked out of the baggage claim, a very friendly guy came over to me and offered to take my luggage to the shuttle. What a nice welcome to Hawaii…




Landing in Kauai by Y Rosen, on Flickr


LIH Airport by Y Rosen, on Flickr

We got to the car rental, and we were greeted with some friendly chickens…


Greeted by a chicken in car rental by Y Rosen, on Flickr

After having a friendly conversation with the representative, she decided to give us an upgrade to a brand new nissan armada, for an additional $25 per day, we packed our stuff into the car, and we went to walmart. (which was also packed with chickens...)


Walmart parking lot by Y Rosen, on Flickr

We bought some essentials, including a cheap charcoal grill, frying pan, eggs, vegetables, drinks for the week and more… And we drove up to the north.

The drive up north is beautiful!!! The more north you go, the more stunning it becomes, with greenery wherever you turn. We stopped at a few random beaches, until we got to princeville. At the entrance to princeville there is a beautiful circle with nice waterfalls and landscaping.






Coconut Stand by Y Rosen, on Flickr


On the way to Princeville by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Princeville Entrance by Y Rosen, on Flickr

We got to our hotel and checked in, the staff was really nice and welcoming, the valet took care of all our luggages, and we went straight to our room.

Our room was very nice and clean, with a full Fridge/freezer, coffee maker with starbucks coffee, microwave/convection oven, which we used to warm up the meals. A washer/dryer, large bathroom, nice shower, and a nice sized Jacuzzi with a window to the bedroom. We had a small balcony overlooking the hotel grounds and pools. At night the resort is lit up with flame torches, which makes a beautiful scenery.

Our Room:


Deluxe Studio Villa by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Deluxe Studio Villa by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Deluxe Studio Villa by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Deluxe Studio Villa by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Deluxe Studio Villa by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Deluxe Studio Villa by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Deluxe Studio Villa by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Day View From Villa by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Day View From Villa by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Night View From Villa by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Night View From Villa by Y Rosen, on Flickr

The resort has a main building/lobby where the check in and concierge is located, as well as a small shop with freshly brewed Starbucks coffee, And a restaurant/bar, And you have to exit the Lobby and walk outside to get to the rooms. The grounds are gorgeous, there are 2 huge and nice pools right in front of the lobby, and a beautiful garden overlooking the ocean. As you walk down the paths there are a few buildings with guest rooms, all facing the inner part of the resort, and at the end of the resort there are a few more buildings overlooking the ocean, but they are not for the Westin guests, these rooms are for time shares, and long term rentals. But there is also a nice size infinity pool and a hot tub right on a cliff to the ocean, which are stunning and relaxing…

Hotel Grounds:


The Westin Grounds by Y Rosen, on Flickr


The Westin Grounds by Y Rosen, on Flickr


The Westin Grounds by Y Rosen, on Flickr


The Westin Grounds by Y Rosen, on Flickr


The Westin Grounds by Y Rosen, on Flickr


The Westin Grounds by Y Rosen, on Flickr


The Westin Grounds by Y Rosen, on Flickr


The Westin Grounds by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Infinity Pool by Y Rosen, on Flickr

We unpacked and went out to the pools and just relaxed for the rest of the day, warmed up 2 delicious meals for dinner, and went to sleep.

To be continued...

[mochjas]

Awesome first Post!

[ludmila]

Wow, well written TR and great pictures.

[Dan]

Epic first post!

[Yammer]

Nice TR. Nice Pics.

we didn't really wanna be in Hawaii for shabbos, so we decided to be in Hawaii from Sunday - Thursday, and both shabusim we’re gonna be in CA. 1st shabbos in San Diego, and 2nd one in LA.

This is exactly what I was planning for ( the trip didn't happen though..)

[sam28]

Wow Amazing and well written nice pictures and to the point . keep it coming .

[mochjas]

Epic first post!

Cant wait for his 10,000th post

[mmgfarb]

Nice start!
Just curious, where did you get the travel hot plate from?

[yrosen]

Epic first post!

Thanks.

[yrosen]

Nice start!
Just curious, where did you get the travel hot plate from?

https://www.kohls.com/product/prd-2492554/toastmaster-10-x-20-griddle.jsp?prdPV=12

[mmgfarb]

https://www.kohls.com/product/prd-2492554/toastmaster-10-x-20-griddle.jsp?prdPV=12

Thanks! Do you know how heavy that was?

[yrosen]

Thanks! Do you know how heavy that was?

I don't remember exactly but it was very lightweight.

[mmgfarb]

I don't remember exactly but it was very lightweight.

[yrosen]

Monday - 6/25

We woke up earlyish, ate a full fledged breakfast, (as we did every morning), prepared some to go food and drinks including items for a grill, and left the hotel on the way up to the Waimea Canyon area.

The drive to the Waimea Canyon lookout point was about 1 hour 50 min drive from our hotel (without stops.) But once i started driving up the Waimea Canyon Dr, i couldn't resist stopping every few minutes to take in the crazy views. At first you see the entire town and the ocean, and further up you see the red mountains and canyons, it's just beautiful.
We got to the Waimea Canyon lookout, and the weather was just so perfect!!! It was breezy but not too windy, and the views were incredible as there were no clouds obstructing the views.


On the way up to Waimea Canyon by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Waimea Canyon Lookout by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Waimea Canyon Lookout by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Waimea Canyon Lookout by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Waimea Canyon Lookout by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Waimea Canyon Lookout by Y Rosen, on Flickr

After taking in the views for a while, we went back to the parking lot, and bought some delicious cut up fruits from the fruit stand. they charge a whopping 5 bucks for a small container, but it was worth it... i‘m not a big fruits fan, but i have never had such a good pineapple in my life!!!

We sat back in the car and started driving further up Waimea Canyon Dr. after 2-3 minutes of driving i spotted a small lookout straight off the road, so i parked my car on the side of the road and went out for a few minutes.
The views were basically the same as the Waimea Canyon lookout, but it had nicer views of the Waipo'o Falls (i think), and i was standing right by the cliff, which was more thrilling than the official lookout point.


Waimea Canyon lookout from the road by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Waimea Canyon lookout from the road by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Waimea Canyon lookout from the road by Y Rosen, on Flickr

We continued up the road to the Pu’u O Kila Lookout. And as we were driving upwards it all of a sudden became cloudy, and it started POURING RAIN!!! but only for 2 minutes.

When we arrived to the Pu’u O Kila Lookout, it was very cloudy, and the view looked like this:


Pu’u O Kila Lookout 3:06 by Y Rosen, on Flickr

I was a little disappointed because i thought that we should have come up here first. Even though i’ve read that the clouds come and go, but the way it looked, it didn't make sense to me that it will clear out before a while... But as we started discussing what to do next, i saw everybody running to the lookout and taking pictures, i was wondering what was going on, so we went back to the lookout, and behold was a beautiful scenery of the lush green mountains and the ocean, a few thousand feet below... I couldn't believe my eyes!!! These few pictures are literally 1 minute apart from each other…


Pu’u O Kila Lookout 3:07 by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Pu’u O Kila Lookout 3:08 by Y Rosen, on Flickr

We were planning on doing the Pihea Trail, but since the weather was not the nicest, plus we saw people coming back looking like they were crawling in a sewer.... so we decided that it's not for us...


Beginning of Pihea Trail by Y Rosen, on Flickr

We sat back in the car and started driving back down, looking for a nice spot to set up for a grill. Somewhere between Pu’u O Kila Lookout and Waimea Canyon lookout, we found a nice spot called Koke'e State Park.
It was a nice park with nice grounds, facilities, and lot of picnic tables. I assembled and heated up the grill and we had an amazing cozy grill (with the chickens of course), and stunning views.


BBQ @ Koke'e State Park by Y Rosen, on Flickr


BBQ @ Koke'e State Park by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Chickens by Y Rosen, on Flickr

After eating we drove further down Waimea Canyon Dr, the sun was just starting to set, and we were treated with some amazing views, a combination of sunset reflecting on the red mountains, it was just breathtaking, see for yourself. (at least try...)


Way down Waimea Canyon Dr. by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Way down Waimea Canyon Dr. by Y Rosen, on Flickr

Sunset on Waimea Canyon Dr. by Y Rosen, on Flickr

Sunset on Waimea Canyon Dr. by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Sunset on Waimea Canyon Dr. by Y Rosen, on Flickr

 
Sunset on Waimea Canyon Dr. by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Sunset on Waimea Canyon Dr. by Y Rosen, on Flickr

When we got to the bottom of Waimea Canyon Dr, we quickly drove towards the ocean to take in the last licks of sunset. The water was so calm and the view was stunning!!


Pakala Village Beach Sunset by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Pakala Village Beach Sunset by Y Rosen, on Flickr

The drive back to the hotel was about 1:20 from the beach, but it took us almost 2 hours due to the rain…
We got back to the hotel exhausted, and went straight to bed.



Tuesday - 6/26

We had a 4:20 PM reservation with Safari Helicopters. I had originally made a monday morning reservation for their 90 minute tour, which includes a landing in the Kauai Wildlife Refuge. Which was actually the only reason i booked with safari, because they are the only one with such a tour. But they called me up on sunday morning that they need to reschedule my tour, since there is some maintenance happening at the Wildlife Refuge landing pad on monday… But the 90 minute tour was fully booked for the week, and the only available tour was the 60 minute one on Tuesday @ 4:20, and for the inconvenience, they gave me $30 off the original price so i ended up paying $170 per person.

So we woke up late, ate breakfast, and chilled around on the hotel grounds.
At 2:30 we left to Safari’s office, which was right next to LIH airport, a 50 minute drive from the hotel.
We arrived to the meeting point, checked in and then they had us all step onto a scale and the computer decides where you’re going to sit. (we got the back row, 2 right seats). Our tour guide was hilarious, a really funny guy, (don't remember his name), he gave the funniest safety demonstration i’ve ever seen, the only thing i didn't like about safari is that you have to take a 5 minutes shuttle ride from the office to the heliport, i think the other companies are located right by the heliport.
We boarded the helicopter, and off we went… our pilot was amazing and very friendly, explained everything an answered all our questions. It was so interesting to see the weather change within minutes, at 1 point it was pouring rain for 2 minutes as well... The flight time was actually about an hour and 10 minutes. and from here i'll hand it over to the pictures and videos to do all the talking… (and even they will not not be able to describe the magnificence of the views!!!)


Ready for take off by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Untitled by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Rainbows all over the place! by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Rainbows all over the place! by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Inside the mountains by Y Rosen, on Flickr


River & Waterfalls by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Falls by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Clouds and greenery by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Waimea Canyon by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Waimea Canyon by Y Rosen, on Flickr

Approaching Na Pali Coast by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Na Pali Coast by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Na Pali coast by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Na Pali coast by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Hovering inside steep mountains by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Hovering inside steep mountains by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Na Pali coast by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Na Pali coast by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Na Pali coast by Y Rosen, on Flickr

Na Pali coast by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Na Pali coast by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Na Pali coast by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Na Pali coast by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Na Pali coast by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Na Pali coast by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Na Pali coast by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Endless Blue Water by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Na Pali coast/North by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Small Town in the north by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Waterfalls in the mountains by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Rain!! by Y Rosen, on Flickr

The last few minutes on the helicopter i became very nauseous. i usually don't have motion sickness, but i guess i was too busy taking pictures the entire time, and looking at my screen is probably what made me nauseous, Lesson learned... So after we landed and got back to the office, i had to sit there for almost an hour to get back to myself…

On the way back to the north, we stopped at Lydgate Beach Park, a beautiful beach, with rocks and logs all over, which makes a stunning scenery.


Lydgate Beach Park by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Lydgate Beach Park by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Lydgate Beach Park by Y Rosen, on Flickr

We drove further up north, made a quick stop at our hotel to change to swimwear, and we went to the St. Regis Princeville Resort to watch sunset. (i forgot to mention that since the Westin doesn't have beach access, they give you a pass to use the beach at the St regis, which includes Valet parking, Beach and pool access, beach chairs, and 10% off the pool bar, and 15% off spa services. But you need to bring towels from the westin.)

The St. Regis is so beautiful and it is located on a cliff to the ocean, the lobby/walk in is on the 9t floor, and you need to take the elevator the the 1st floor for beach/pool. When we got there it was a bit cloudy, but the sceneries were just breathtaking. and later the clouds disappeared and we witnessed the most incredible sunset on the ocean, with the green mountains in the background, which made for such a relaxed setting, we just sat back, (with the chickens of course...) drank cocktails, and watched the sun go under the incredibly calm ocean…

After sunset we went back in to the hotel lobby and they had live entertainment, so we enjoyed that as well.

 
St Regeis Views by Y Rosen, on Flickr


St Regeis Views by Y Rosen, on Flickr


St Regeis Guests... by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Canoes & palm trees by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Cloudy, But still incredible by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Cloudy, But still incredible by Y Rosen, on Flickr


St Regeis Sunset by Y Rosen, on Flickr


St Regeis Sunset by Y Rosen, on Flickr


St Regeis Sunset by Y Rosen, on Flickr


St Regeis Sunset by Y Rosen, on Flickr

St Regeis Sunset by Y Rosen, on Flickr


St Regeis Sunset by Y Rosen, on Flickr


St Regeis Sunset by Y Rosen, on Flickr


St Regeis Entertainment by Y Rosen, on Flickr

We went back to our hotel, Warmed up some delicious pomegranate meals, went back to the pool/hot tub, had some drinks, and went to sleep.


The Wsetin, Drinks by the Pool by Y Rosen, on Flickr

To be continued...

[ludmila]

Thanks, amazing pictures and TR.

[yrosen]

I see now that a few pictures are bigger than others.
i selected all pictures to be 1024 x 768, except for the panoramas which i did bigger.
i have no idea why this is happening.
in my first post all pictures are fine...
if anyone can please help i would appreciate it.

Thanks.

[bobzilla]

Good stuff! Keep them coming! Very helpful as I’m planning on coming to Kauai and staying at the Westin in the end of August

[yrosen]

Wednesday - 6/27

We had a lazy morning, with a sunset cruise scheduled for the afternoon. we chilled on the hotel grounds & pools, ate breakfast, and as we wanted to go out to the Kilauea Lighthouse, it started pouring rain!!!   So we went back to our room to wait out the rain, by the time it was done, we had to leave already to Port Allen marina which was about 1:30 drive, and check in time was 2:15.

We booked the Star Na Pali dinner sunset sail tour, with Capt Andy’s, On the Star class 65 foot yacht. For $159 per person. We got to their office, checked in, and waited for the captain to take us to the boat. From the office it's a few minute walk to the boat. Before going on to the boat, the crew had everyone take off their shoes, and put it on a wagon, which was later stored in a secure place. (i didn't know that it was a shoes off tour, so i wasn't too happy about it at first, but i did not regret it because A: it feels more free and chilled to be without shoes, B: You get really wet on the boat, and it wouldn't have been fun with shoes on...)
the boat takes on a total of 49 popole, which sounds like a lot, but it was actually quite spacious on the boat.

The boat was really nice. It had a huge deck on the front, with a lot of railings to hold on to, and a few couches to sit, and 2 big hammocks on the floor, where you can lie down right on top of the water, pretty cool. On the back of the boat there was a lot of couches and tables to sit and relax, there was an indoor room as well, where they had cold water and lemonade for the entire trip. And there was also 1 bench on the top deck where the captain was, and you can sit there and watch him to his thing. The captain and the entire crew were a lot of fun. they had a great sound system on the boat with good music as well.

The weather was beautiful, the wind was calm, as we started cruising, and the water was crystal clear, we could literally see the rocks at the bottom of the ocean... the boat has a lot of power and we were going really fast.
A few minutes into the tour we encountered a group of dolphins, the captain stopped the boat at first so we could watch them from up close, and then he started racing with the dolphins. they can swim at really impressive speeds.

We continued cruising down the east of the island and passed a few beaches and mountains. as we got closer to the Na Pali coast the real fun began, the water became really choppy and the waves were about 10ft high, but this boat is made to ride on large waves. we became really wet as the boat crashed into the waves, but it was all worth it to see the crazy scenery as we were driving by the Na Pali coast. We turned around at 1 point and started heading back. When the water became more calm the captain shut the engines off, and raised the mainsail. and as we started sailing they had everyone sit down at the tables and they served a full course meal, we brought our own sandwiches, but we enjoyed the cocktails and beer. (they are very clever and they named the cocktails with hard names to pronounce, and their drinking policy was “if you can't name the drink, you had too much already”...)

The sailing part was very calm as there was no engines running so you could hear the waves crashing into the boat, and the scenery was breathtaking as you saw the green mountains of the na pali, with rainbows all over, will let the picture do the talkin…
We sailed for about 45 minutes, and started heading back.
At sunset the boat stopped and the views were spectacular…

We got back to the marina about 7:30, and headed back to the hotel, enjoyed our last night in the pools and hot tub, and went to sleep.


Capt. andy's 65' Star Class Yacht by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Hammock on the ocean by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Dolphins by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Dolphins by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Dolphins by Y Rosen, on Flickr

Just beautiful by Y Rosen, on Flickr


by Y Rosen, on Flickr


by Y Rosen, on Flickr


by Y Rosen, on Flickr


by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Polihale Beach by Y Rosen, on Flickr

by Y Rosen, on Flickr


by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Ocean Caves by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Rainbows by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Capt Andy's rigid hull raft by Y Rosen, on Flickr

Raising the Mainsail by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Na Pali with a rainbow!! by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Na Pali with a rainbow!! by Y Rosen, on Flickr

Captain by Y Rosen, on Flickr

by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Sunset on the boat by Y Rosen, on Flickr

Sunset on the boat by Y Rosen, on Flickr





Thursday - 6/28

We woke up kinda early, because we wanted to have time to chill by the pool, and eat a normal breakfast before checking out, but to our disappointment, it was pouring outside!!!   So we just chilled in the room, ate breakfast, packed up our stuff and checked out.


Goodbye Rain! by Y Rosen, on Flickr

We had a 1PM flight, (the reason i didn't want to stay for the full day was because my local ruv wasn't able to give me an answer regarding which day shabbos comes out in Hawaii. So since i didn't have a clear answer, i had to leave thursday afternoon to avoid any halachic issues…)

We checked out and drove to the airport, after driving a few miles, the sky cleared up and the sun came out. (which goes back to what i wrote in the beginning of the post that the north was way too rainy...)

We stopped at a few beaches just to say goodbye to the beautiful water, and continued to the rental, and took the shuttle to the airport

The airport is so outdated, everything is outside, except for the gates, and there was no AC in the entire airport!!! But thank god for TSA pre, which saved us probably an hour of waiting in the heat… they scan your luggages twice for fruits, once before check in, and again by the gate.

We took off at 1:00 and the flight was about 5:30 hours. We took along 2 pomegranate meals and we had a flight attendant warm it up for us, it was delicious.

We landed at LAX, and went outside to wait for the Advantage car rental shuttle. As i wrote in the planning part, going with advantage to save money was a big mistake. for starters i waited for the shuttle about 30 minutes, while in the meantime i saw every other company’s shuttle passing by a few times… we finally got to the rental, and there was a line of at least 40 people, and only 2 agents at the counter!!!
I ended up waiting an Hour and 15 minutes… the actual car was brand new, so no complaints on quality…

 We headed to our hosts in the Le Brea area, and went to sleep.


Mahalo by Y Rosen, on Flickr


LIH Takeoff by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Landing in LA by Y Rosen, on Flickr




Friday - 6/29

We woke up, i went to daven,and then we went to La brea bagel for breakfast, they had really good food.

After breakfast we drove down to santa monica area, we parked on Ocean Ave, where there is a few mile stretch overlooking the ocean to ride on. We renter those new trendy scooters with the “Bird” app, and we drove to the santa monica pier and back.

After chilling around in santa monica, it was time to head back to the Le Brea area, as we were warned by our hosts that there is a lot of traffic in the afternoon. The way going took us about 30 minutes, and the way back about 1:30…
We got back on time to make early shabbos, and enjoyed a really nice shabbos in LA.


Santa monica by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Santa monica peir by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Santa monica peir by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Santa monica beach by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Santa monica by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Ocean Ave by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Ocean Ave by Y Rosen, on Flickr



Shabbos - 6/30

On motzei shabbos we went to One80 Pizzeria. It is a very cool pizza shop, where you create your own pizza from the crust, to toppings. It was a really nice experience.
and then we went out to hollywood & Beverly blvd, very cool nightlife. and went to sleep.


one80 Pizzeria by Y Rosen, on Flickr


one80 Pizzeria by Y Rosen, on Flickr


one80 Pizzeria by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Beverly Center by Y Rosen, on Flickr



Sunday - 7/1

Sundy we didn't do anything, we just packed up our stuff, went to La brea bagel to buy food for the way. And we were of to the car rental, the return was actually quite smooth, and we had a shuttle waiting outside for us.
We took off at 12:45 and landed in JFK at 9:00. picked up our luggage and took an uber to our Home Sweet Home.


American Airlines by Y Rosen, on Flickr


LA Takeoff by Y Rosen, on Flickr


Sunset Landing in NYC by Y Rosen, on Flickr

I hope you guys enjoyed this TR, and i hope to write some more in the future.

And thanks again for all you people for making this and all my other trips happen.

[ludmila]

Thanks, well written, nice pictures.