On Wednesday we headed down to the southern side of the island. We spent most of the morning and afternoon at the Waimea Canyon. I've seen pictures, but I don't think any pictures can truly do justice to this amazing natural wonder. It's been called the Grand Canyon of Hawaii, and it was breathtaking.
It was a bit of a bummer that it was overcast and cloudy- you couldn't see everything as clearly, but it was still amazing and well worth the trip! We were able to drive up and all around the canyon- there were stops all over the place to see different parts of the canyon.
This is what the canyon looks like when it's not completely covered in clouds- gorgeous!
I loved the main views of the canyon, but we also loved the beautiful views of the Napali Coast. You really could just stand there for hours taking everything in. The colors themselves were captivating. We also stopped at a little museum/shop along the way, it was fun to do some reading about everything- and nice that we could actually stand there and read everything! Usually I'm chasing kids around...
Nepali coast
There's a reason for the constant clouds- Mt Waialeale is one of the wettest spots on earth, receiving an average of about 450 inches of rain per year!
When we finally made it back down the canyon, we decided to go a little further along and go explore the 'Barking Sands' beach. It's a 17-miles stretch of beach that goes right up to the cliffs of the Nepali coast. You have to take this crazy, bumpy, 4x4 only, dirt road for a while- we were glad we had opted for the jeep! It's pretty much a private beach- it's out all by itself and so big that we only saw a couple people during our whole time there. It was fun to walk along the beach, then go exploring and rock-hopping around the coast. We even managed to find a seal that was sunbathing among the rocks. He was camouflaged so well I could have almost stepped on him if I hadn't noticed his bright tag.
When we were coming back we saw the most amazing rainbow- a complete rainbow that was so bright. We decided to stop at some waterfalls on the way home- it took us a little while to find Kipu falls, but eventually we found the little path and trail that led to a really cool waterfall. It's a pretty popular destination for jumping off and swimming. We planned on going back with the Formans because it's one of their favorite spots, but sadly we were busy enough, we didn't make it back. We didn't jump & swim right then because it was getting dark, but it was still really cool to see.
We stopped for a quick dinner, then made it back to the condo about 9pm where we met up with Dean, Linda, Daniel & Joseph who had flown in that afternoon. It was so fun to see them again and we were excited to be able to spend some time with them.
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