Fun with Fitness: Kauai 2012 Day 3

Since we were still waking up at O'dark thirty with the time difference, I got my stuff together and headed out for a swim at sunrise. Directly adjacent to our hotel was the Lydgate State Park and sheltered beach area. The sheltered beach area was built in 1964 and has two sections - a shallow inner pool ideal for kids, and a deeper section good for snorkeling and swimming. Although there weren't a lot I was surprised to see a few fish around 6-8" long swimming along side me. This definitely made for the best "hotel pool" I've ever visited.

North of the pools are several religious and historical sites including the remains of a Hawaiian temple named the Hikina Akala Heiau which dates as far back as 800 a.d. South of the pools is a 16,000 sq ft area known as the Kamalani Playground. It was built by 7,000 volunteers in 1994 and is maintained by the community. This will definitely have to serve as a site for workouts and play on future trips to Hawaii. As it was, this morning after my swim I trained right there on the beach for upcoming the Naked Warrior Certification.

Afterwards we headed to the south side of the island. We stopped at a fruit stand along the way for some incredibly delicious mango and papaya, and then continued to the Waimeia Canyon Lookout at around 3,400' elevation. For such a small place, Kauai is an island of extremes. While the north side is a lush and dense jungle, the south side has dry desert like conditions.

Waimeia is known as the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific". Looking at the pics you can see how it got this nickname. It provided another great opportunity to continue my GTG training for the day.

We then continued up the mountain to the Koke'e State Park and Museum. This area was quite a bit cooler than the costal regions, with average temperatures in the 40-70 degree range depending on the time of year. The woman at the museum counter told us that her favorite hiking trail on the island was the Pihea Trail. We drove a little ways further to its traillhead at the Kalalau Lookout. This was the first of four ways this trip in which we experienced the rugged Napali Coast.

With its vivid orange soil and lush deep green vegetation on jagged cliffs rising sharply out of the ocean, the trail looked like it was directly from the pages of a Dr. Seuss story book.

We hiked until the trail met up with the Alakai Crossing a few miles in before turning around.

We headed back down the mountain just in time to catch the sunset at Spouting Horn in Poipu. During large swells, the surf channels into a natural lava tube and erupts into a huge spout of water.

According to gohawaii.com

Ancient Hawaiians believed this coastline was once guarded by a giant moo (lizard) named Kaikapu. Everyone was afraid of the moo because it would eat anyone who tried to fish or swim in the area. One day, a young boy named Liko entered the ocean to outwit the lizard. Kaikapu attacked him, but Liko thrust a sharp stick into her mouth, swam under the lava shelf, and escaped through a small hole to the surface. The moo followed Liko and got stuck in the lava tube. To this day, you can hear the lizard’s roar and see her breath spraying from the blowhole.

Visiting this island makes it very easy to see how so many legends were spawned here.