After landed in Honolulu at night and stayed at a hotel close to the airport, we flew to Kauai next day in the early morning to start the four day adventures on the last major Hawaiian island that we haven't visited.
The once a week Farmers' Market was a must do thing and we happened to arrive just when it was about to open. By the time we got there, we're surprised that many people (locals and tourists) were already waiting under a tent, with bags in hand and ready to rush to their favourite spots to grab the freshest produce, fruit, baked goods, and other local products. I had never seen so many people eagerly waiting for Farmers' Market to open.
We wanted to buy some papayas and other local tropical fruits. The papayas were tree riped and golden looking. We also got some local grown longan as well as Mountain Apples (蓮霧) and bananas. All of them were incredibly fresh, sweet and ripe, like honey, particularly for the papayas.
We dropped off our luggage at Marriott Resort hotel and then immediately drove to the Napali Coast. There were a number of trails for hikers, from 2 miles to 14 miles. We chose the shortest, called Kakalau trail, as we wanted to come back before sunset to do some snorkeling at the Ke'e beach.
Parking was a nightmare - very limited spaces available at the parking lot. Many cars had to park on the side of the road while police was having a field day in giving out parking tickets. All cars parked on the road side must be off the pavement or else a ticket would be waiting for you at the end of the day. The officer had no empathy - ticket was issued even if the tires were only slightly touching the pavement. We ended up finding a parking spot that was almost in the next town and had to walk back very far to start our hike.
The hike was moderately challenging. It was uphill climbing immediately and then up and down along the way. The trail was slippery at times due to wet ground from the rain. Our goal was to reach the first beach at the end of the first hiking section, for about 2 miles. However, we had about another 30 minutes to hike and decided to turn back as time was running short and Richard really wanted to do the snorkeling.
As if to make it up for our far far away parking, we managed to find a parking spot that was next to the shower and only few steps from the beach for our snorkeling session. We saw many different types of fish and did not have to swim far to do that.
It was a very long day and we squeezed in many activities. Another prime example of Commander Wu's travel itinerary.
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