Our Kauai - 2004
Terri and Bill Taylor
This is the first in a series of coffee table books and online galleries that express our love of Kaua’i through pictures and narrative. This is not a tour book, nor it is simply another photo book of the “Garden Isle.” Rather this is a photojournal of our annual pilgrimages to Kaua’i that began in 2004. Please enjoy this gallery, and the additional galleries that will follow.
Aloha and Mahalo,
Terri and Bill Taylor
Our Kaua'i - 2004
This is a love story. Not just a 40 plus year personal romance, but OUR romance with the, “Garden Isle” of Kaua’i. While we traveled to Hawaii several times before, including twice to Maui, once to Hawaii and several times to Oahu, our first trip to Kaua’i was in June 2004. Thus begins this love story, which has no end in sight.
The pictures are all Bill’s. Bill has been a serious, though not yet professional, photographer since he was a child. The images in this first volume, “Our Kaua’i - 2004”, were all taken with a Sony F707 digital camera. Pictures in subsequent volumes were taken with Sigma cameras equipped with the Foveon “Full Color Sensor”.
This love affair will endure for the rest of our lives. We love you, Kaua’i. Thanks for the memories, past, present and future!
Terri and Bill Taylor
October 2010
Copyright 2004-2011 All RIghts Reserved
Tuesday, June 15, 2004: We arrived at Lihue Airport late in the afternoon after 14 hours of travel from Maryland. The good news was that our hotel, the Radisson Kaua’i Beach Resort, was less than 10 minutes from the airport. We were exhausted, but thrilled to be back in paradise.
The first order of business was getting a decent meal after a long day of travel. The concierge recommended the Hukilau Lanai Restaruant up the road a few miles in Kapaa. We had a wonderful meal there on the garden patio. It was so good that we’ve been back every year since! Returning to the Radisson we were greeted with this gorgeous evening view from our balcony.
Wednesday, June 16, 2004: We learned quickly this morning that sunrise is directly off the shore in front of Kaua’i Beach. This was a beautiful sunrise, though not the most spectacular one as you have already seen on the cover.
With our “Ultimate Kauai Guidebook” in hand we headed north on Highway 56. Bill, the photographer, had to stop at the first vista point and there captured this great view of the East side of Kauai.
The Kilauea Lighthouse was our first tourist stop. This famous navigation guide is also the most northern point in the Hawaiian Island chain.
The vista to the West from Kilauea Lighthouse towards Princeville is spectacular.
This is Kalihiwai Beach. We’re still not entirely sure how we found it, but we’re sure glad we did. The road to this peaceful, secluded beach was severed by a tsunami that took out the bridge in 1957. We’ve been back every year and it has never been crowded.
Another special view at Kalihiwai Beach.
Just past Princeville Highway 56 ends and becomes Highway 560. The first stop on Highway 560, this panoramic view from the Hanalei Lookout, is simply spectacular. Little did we know that the drifting clouds would provide the backdrop for amazing scenes later in the day.
Note the one-way Hanalei Bridge just to the right of center above, as the road winds around and drops quickly from this lookout to the valley floor.
Each new vista in Kaua’i is more spectacular than the last. This is Hanalei Bay from another lookout heading down the road to the valley floor.
We started late, and so were hungry by midday. We stopped at the Hanalei Dolphin Restaurant, which was both sunny and scenic.
To one side was the quiet Hanalei River with kayakers paddling past.
To the other side were the mountains and spectacular cloud-shrouded waterfalls that have not been repeated in subsequent trips. This was a special day.
One moment the mountains were completely shrouded in clouds; minutes later we turned from lunch to see the clouds had raised up to reveal this sensational view of almost a dozen waterfalls. One thing about Kaua’i, the weather is constantly changing, and no matter how many times you come back to a place you will see something different.
This is famed Kee Beach at the end of the highway. This is the last beach before the Na Pali Coast, which is inaccessible save on foot over the rough hewn Kalalau Trail. Note that there are lots of people on this beach!
Heading back to the East on Highway 560 we stopped at the Limahuli National Tropical Botanical Garden. This is a peaceful, beautiful place to spend a few hours savoring the wonders of mother nature in paradise. The terraced gardens are believed to be 700 to 1,000 years old!
Limahuli was the backdrop for many scenes from the movie, “South Pacific”.
The bridges on Highway 560 are one way, which could cause traffic problems. Not here in Kaua’i! There is an informal protocol that everyone seems to understand, that once three to five cars have passed from one direction they yield to the next three to five cars from the opposite direction. Imagine depending on this common courtesy in a major east coast city!?!
Rolling across the wooden one-lane bridge.
Thursday, June 17, 2004: Sunrise! Oh what a sunrise. These pictures are indeed worth thousands of words.
More magical sunrise.
The Sun, finally clearing the horizon.
Red Dirt. Good old Hawaiian Red Dirt. It’s everywhere, but these scenes on the road to Waimea Canyon were special.
Closeup view of Red Dirt.
What’s this, you ask? Trees and clouds?!? Well, this is one of Kauai’s MOST photographed scenes, the Kalalau Valley from the Kalalau Valley Lookout in Kokee State Park. As noted earlier, you can visit the same places on Kaua’i time after time and see different things. This visit was a “clouded” bust, but visits in later years have more than made up for it.
Kaua’i’s chickens are everywhere. Theories abound as to why there are so many wild chickens, but they certainly roam the parking lots at Waimea Canyon in numbers. How many wild chickens to you see in this one picture?
Waimea Canyon, with the Pacific Ocean in the background, is truly one of nature’s wonders. Mark Twain called it the, “Grand Canyon of the Pacific.” You can easily spend a whole day taking in its beauty from the numerous vista points.
A wondrous panorama to simply savor.
Another fabulous panorama with clouds well below the vista point. Note the tourists photographing from the lower right area.
Another Waimea Canyon view.
A closeup view of Waialae Falls in Waimea Canyon.
A more distant view of Waialae Falls,
Note the helicopter just above and to the right of Waialae Falls.
Friday, June 18, 2004: This was a special day. First we went horseback riding. Our hostess was Leilani Rivera Bond, a legendary Kaua’i singer and hula teacher. Second, we went to the Pahio presentation and bought our first timeshare at Kauai Beach Villas. The rest, as they say, is history.
We rode that morning with some Kaua'i showers to "enhance" the experience.
Later we savored Leilani's magical voice at the Grand Hyatt Lobby in Poipu.
Saturday, June 19, 2004: We were supposed to go on a helicopter tour of Kaua’i this morning. Unfortunately the weather was so bad they could not fly. Oh well, next year. So we went sightseeing on our way to the airport. First was Wailua Falls. There was lots of rain that spring, so the falls were engorged with water and as beautiful as we have ever seen them.
The beautiful rooster icaught our attention as he pranced about the parking lot as though he owned it!
Then at the next lookout we saw dark specs in the flowing grass on the valley floor. What on earth were they?
Upon closer inspection we discovered beef cattle lurking in the grass!
Further up Highway 580 from Wailua we found Opaeka’a Falls. These falls were also engorged with water and provided a spectacular view.
Our parting shot before heading to the airport was this great view looking east over the Wailua River Valley to the Pacific Ocean.
Aloha and Mahalo, Dear Kaua’i, we shall return!