Objective of trip: Other than some R&R, we wanted to snorkel off of as many beaches as possible and get some grinds (hawaiian for food) with the locals. Well...cause I hate resort food. Overpriced and never as good as it sounds. And eating at local dives was cool and adventurous.
Day 2:
Breakfast at Marriot: We ate there cause it was included in our package. Fruit bar and omelet bar was excellent. But would I pay $19 bucks per person? Hell no. But some crazy tourists sure did. Some people just have money to burn. Hehe.
Lygate Park: It was a beginners snorkel beach/ocean area on the East Coast. Though I got my technique down, I still get freaked out when I snorkel out into the deep ocean - goes along with my fear of depth/height, whatever. Yup, and just as I entered the water, I started to hyperventilate and suck in air so fast that my snorkel clogged up - cause it's one of those waterproof dry snorkels - see picture. Lyn always laughs at me.
The beach was pretty weak, but snorkeling is decent for a beginner. After I adjusted to the environment, the snorkeling actually became kinda lame cause the water wasn't deep enough. I don't like to snorkel where I can almost stand, that's silly, that's how Lyn's mom snorkels and she doesn't even swim. Haha.
But we did do some people watching. There was this family that snorkeled with a full body wet suit and mask. Guess they were either allergic to salt water or really afraid of the sun. Perhaps you had to be there, but it was funny.
Wailua River: So after a couple of hours lounging and snorkeling, we headed to see the Wailua River. We wanted to kayak it, but my concierge told me that since I'm pregnant, I shouldn't go in freshwater rivers just incase of bacteria. So...better be safe than sorry.
Waterfalls: Then we went to check out a couple of waterfalls - a must in Hawaii of course. We saw the twin falls that was in Fantasy Island, called Wailua Falls. It was definitely more impressive than the ones we saw on Maui, since Kauai is a rainier island.
Hamura's Saimin: Saimin is noodle soup in either chicken, pork, or beef broth. A Chinese/Japanese noodle that locals eat. (A bit of history: There were lots of Chinese rice farmers that used to live in the West coast of Kauai. They even had gangs. Crazy...I think that influenced alot of the island food. More so than Maui or Big Island. So lots of local food we ate included noodles and Chinese BBQ char siu and roast pork.) Anyways, this restaurant is supposedly the best noodle shop on Kauai. And they weren't kidding. The lines were so long and everyone sat in a stool about 3 feet high on a counter, no tables. You seat yourself as people get up. And ordering was like ordering a Philly Cheesesteak in Philly. Here, you say small, med, large, or special and if you want extra stuff like won ton or roast pork in it. The waitstaff didn't really speak to you, they like to ignore you actually. And locals get priority - nice for us tourists, isn't it. But dang, never thought a $5 bowl of noodles with green onions could be so good. I added some roast pork and Lyn got a special with won tons, roast pork and veggies. We also tried our first malasadas there, the local fried donut. That was awesome too.
But the funniest part was probably with our waitress. We felt she ignored us the entire time. She acknowledge nothing I said so I wasn't even sure she got my order, but apparently she did. But when we were leaving, I forgot to tip her. I really just forgot. So I was really scared to go back even though we liked the noodles so much. The the craziest part was that we went to eat somewhere else later in the week and found her working at another restaurant. Well...this story will continue then...
Halo Halo Shaved Ice: We love island shaved ice. This one was in the same house as the saimin shop. I was too full to have any, but Lyn had one. It was like the shaved ice I had in Taiwan, with fruit syrup, condensed milk, red bean, jelly, and all that jazz. Yum.
Marriot Pool: So when we got back to the resort, we were ready to relax. Lyn got his banana daiquiri and I had just water. We lounged out there and played in the pool all afternoon.
BBQ Inn: We headed out to the same street as Hamura's Saimin and had dinner out on Kress St. again. With the same Jap/Chinese influence, Lyn had tempura shrimp and I had teriyake BBQ pork. It was a bit more expensive, but we had soup, salad and dessert with it. The mac nut chocolate pie was heavenly.
(Note: I will probably talk extensively about where we ate on the trip. The was 1/3 of the fun, esp when we are such food connoisseurs and all...hehe.)
Poipu Beach: We woke up first thing in the morning to go hang out on this beach. It was voted the #1 beach in US. I guess we arrived too early cause there were only 2 snorkelers hanging around and a couple sitting on the beach. The sand was definitely nice. The currents were really strong, but we went in to snorkel anyways. But it didn't last long since most of the time we were basically kicking in place. The currents were pushing us backwards. 
But when other snorkelers arrived, we headed out for another try. We were more determined this time and went further out and did find some fish, but swimming out there was tiring. On the way back, we saw a Moorish Idol (the one in Finding Nemo). That was exciting, it was our first on this trip. Getting back to shore was kinda dangerous cause we were being pushed by the currents into some rocks. But luckily, I made it back without a crash.
Lawa'i Beach: One of the nice couples on the beach recommended that we check this place out for snorkeling. So we headed over right after. When we arrived, we saw a snuba team out there. Guess we found the right place. There was lots and lots of fish. But it got crowded our second trip out. Lyndon almost got kicked in the face and some stupid guy was standing on a reef looking at fish without masks or snorkel. 
Camp House Grill: Food in south shore resort area was so pricey, so we went out a bit further to this restaurant for some bbq chicken and burgers. Their specialty was spicy fries. It was goood. (Lyn laughs at that picture, it's just a fried zucchini!)
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