6 posts tagged “kauai”
These are the last few photos I'll pester you all with. Here's the 'Anini beach reef again from the air (that we saw on the horseback ride the day before).
This is a waterfall coming down from Wai'ale'ale mountain. The cloud above are obscuring the rest of the waterfall and mountain. Remember this is the wettest spot on the Earth, averaging 487 inches of rain per year (I think they mean wettest on average, since there's a place in India that gets a ridiculous amount of rain during the monsoon season). Wai'ale'ale is in a sweet spot. It's right in the path of the pacific trade winds, and the mountain height is around 5k feet, not to hight to prevent clouds from rising over the summit. Also Kauai is more northerly than the rest of the island chain, so she'll get more exposure to frontal trade winds. Tradewind clouds form around 3,000 feet and when they reach the mountain, the rising air cools, the humid air condenses and it rains (alot). I think this is all on wikipedia, if you're interested.
A little overcast, but you can see the craggy green mountains of Kauai here. It's almost surreal in it's beauty. I hope you guys enjoyed the pictures!
This is the beach that a lot of movie shots were taken (apparently). I think Six Days and Seven Nights was filmed here, but I don't recall. I just like the tiny patch of sand nestled in the Na Pali cliff line.
I don't know what this is, but in the black bar in the center of the photo looks like the ocean cut away from the cliff face, giving it a shadowy ledge like appearance. Pretty, huh?
I'm in Guam now, but I still have a few more pics left. :)
The lower picture is one of the last pictures I took of the Na Pali coast. I just like the sharp contrast between the brown and the deep blue sea. The picture above is the last valley we flew into heading out of Na Pali. Everything is beautiful. Interestingly, nearly 90% of the foliage on Kauai is non-native. Most of the plants brought by the polynesians (and later by people like Capt. Cook) took root and quickly flourished in this clime. It's just an amazing place to see from the air.
Here are a few shots of the Na Pali Coast. It's used in a lot of movie shots (remember the boat approaching the island in King Kong? That's this coastline). And the little isolated beach in another shot coming up is also used fairly often for movie scenes. You can see the beach in the top shot, and the helicopter in front of ours really let me take some shots where you can get a sense of scale. I love the bottom shot for the contrast in colors.. the red dirt, the green-brown cliffs and the blue haze of the sky and ocean.
Am I caught up yet? Or are you guys just tired of looking at the pictures? :)
Just about all of the next shots are from a helicopter tour of Kauai, which made it hands down my favorite island visited so far. At first I thought this was Wailoa Falls, but I don't think it is now. There are hundreds of falls on Kauai you can see from the air, and every one is an amazing sight.
On Kauai, we took a horseback ride to see a few bluffs. This bluff overlooks 'Anini beach and the large coral reef you can see (looks like dirty brown water).
Maria rode Rudy and I rode JJ (so named for his brand). I don't horseback ride often, but I love every chance I get. JJ was fun to ride, though his saddle had a tendency to slide to the left slightly, so I had to lean into my right stirrup to compensate. Apparently that's a common problem for JJ. Other than the fact that he's a pig (eating every chance when I slack the reins) he was great. At first I think he didn't like me veering off the trail too much, but when he saw that he got the chance to be in the front of the group, he liked it a lot more.
