Kaui, Northshore

I've been looking forward to staying at Zen Root since we booked our stay months ago. What a unique place. Very comfortable, with a great vibe. The host designed and constructed the place himself, in between conceiving and building installations for Burning Man. From the lainai we could see the ocean and look for whales with binoculars.

Maloaa Bay

Just down the hill is a beautiful beach where the locals go, with shoreline access tucked discreetly down a path between two private houses. Calm enough to swim and snorkel on most days. When I googled Moloaa Bay it turned up that this is the beach where both the pilot and season 1 episode for Gilligan's island were filmed. Robert's Hawaii tour buses were stopping here on their movie tour of the island, but they stayed only long enough to hum the theme song.

a local fishing in Maloaa Bay

Although we didn't take the tour, the list of movies shot in Kaui is quite long and includes recent films like The Descendants and Snowden to the relatively recent, like Avatar, Jurassic Park and Pirates of the Caribbean, to classics like South Pacific and Blue Hawaii. It's fun to transpose the lists and try to match it up with the beaches and jungles we visited.

tunnels at Haena 

We drove a few hours most every day to take in the incredible views and beaches. Anini Shoreline, Kilauea Lighthouse, Makana Mountain (Bali Hai), to the end of Kuhio Highway and Ke'e Beach Park. Stopping in different places along the way to enjoy scenic lookouts or pull out our chairs and look at waves hitting the beach.

Waioli? Wainiha? Lumahai? It was unmarked, so I'm not entirely sure but if you are driving north on the Kuhio Hiway this beach is hiding behind New Zealand Pines.

We took a river cruise down Wailua River to the Fern Grotto. It reminded me a lot of Toronto Island with palm trees, and watching the river boats cruise by us when we are at anchor. The Smith family musicians entertained us with Hawaiian music and taught the hula. It was cheesy,  but fun, and we saw silver fish jumping several feet out of the water and landing with a splash.

Jo2 was an outstanding restaurant in Kapaa. Chef Josselin is a six-time James Beard Foundation Award nominee, a pioneer of Hawai`i Regional Cuisine and author of A Taste of Hawai`i.  Beautiful on the plate and absolutely delicious, I had ceviche Tahitian style, Thai squash tempura, crispy duck salad and Rob had the slow cooked wagyu beef cheek.

Not sure at this point if I am emptying out or filling up, but am definitely rejuvenated! It is now well into the third week of the vacation and this stretch is definitely one of our favourites of the trip.