We left the Westin about 11am and had several hours before we needed (or wanted!) to be at Lihue airport for our flight to Maui. We spent most of that time in Kapa’a.

We began with a stroll north along the coastal path from Kapa’a Beach Park. There are houses next to the path, and one of them had some spectacular hibiscuses (hibisci?) mere feet away from the path.

It was cloudy with occasional rain; the path was pretty empty and nobody was out on the beach, but there were people fishing in the bay.

We walked about a mile, stopping at a shelter a bit short of the Kapa’a Lookout. There was a sign on the path there saying that it was one of the rare locations where you might see a Hawaiian monk seal, and they were right!

It was lunchtime, so I pulled out my iPhone and asked Yelp for advice. The highest-rated restaurant in the area was a food truck: Tony’s Catch.

Yelpers sang the praises of everything on the menu, especially the ahi tostadas. I followed their advice and was delighted (Diane had the fish tacos with mahi-mahi and was equally pleased). The only thing I didn’t like was their choice of drinks – Coke products, which I could get anywhere. Fortunately, the adjacent food truck had Aloha tropical drinks (with 4% fruit juice!). While I was getting the drinks, one of the local moochers tried to get a bite of my ahi – Diane kept it safe for me.

We walked a bit more, then drove to the airport and had a fine flight to Maui if you ignore the surprise go-around just before our first attempt at landing (we were in an exit row, and I did wonder if we were going to have to work for our legroom!).

We drove to our AirBnB in Haiku (very nice!), dropped off our stuff, and went out in search of dinner…and Yelp failed us. It claimed that the closest restaurant (the cafe at the Jaws Country Store) was open until 9, but they’ve changed their hours and had closed an hour ago. The store was still open and the clerk was kind enough to point us to a cluster of restaurants and food trucks in Haiku Town proper (about three miles from the AirBnB), and that worked fine.

Tomorrow, we take the Road to Hana! Our guide will pick us up at 6:30am, so tonight must be an early night.

We started the day with a trip to the Farmers’ Market at Aiaina Hou Community Park, about 15 minutes down the road. The produce looked wonderful and the vendors were an eclectic mixture, but all we brought back with us was lunch – “aloha fish”, which was spiced baked Mahi Mahi with curry sauce. It wad delicious, and I wish I had gotten the name of the vendor.

We had lunch on our balcony and were once more graced by a visit from a red-crested cardinal, who watched us eat and left unfed.

There are three scenic overlooks within a few minutes of our resort, and we visited all of them this afternoon. The first is more than an overlook; it’s the Hanalei National Wildlife Refuge Viewpoint, complete with six informational signs and a volunteer docent.

There’s even a view of the road to Hanalei showing how far down it is from Princeville to Hanalei. I’m not sure what the pipe is carrying, but it’s hard to miss.

Our next stop was the unofficial overlook on State Highway 560 at the hairpin turn just before you start your descent to Hanalei. There are no signs, but it’s unmistakable, and there’s a little space to park safely and enjoy the view of the bay.

It took about 15 minutes to get to Hanalei (we had to wait at a one-lane bridge). We parked at our fourth shave ice shop so far on this trip: Wishing Well Shave Ice. It was good, but Honu in Kapa’a is better.

We walked a few blocks into the center of town and did some light shopping at Hanalei Center (Diane spent an hour buying a dress at Tropical Tantrum and I looked at some vintage Hawaiian shirts at Yellowfish Trading Company) before going back to the car for our final scenic overlook of the day, the official Hanalei Valley Lookout.

We had planned to have pizza at Wikipizza, which is inside the Hanalei Bay Resort…but we couldn’t find any parking except valet parking, so we left and drove 15 minutes to Kilauea and the Kilauea Bakery, where there was easy free self-parking, friendly servers, and pizza with an interesting crust (more bready than I expected, but still tasty).

We leave Kauai tomorrow but are already looking forward to our next visit.