Strawberry Swing and other things: Hawaiian Honeymoon Adventure: Day 2

Day 2 was geared to be the best day of the trip. After LOTS of planning (and review reading) we booked a Helicopter Ride with Blue Hawaiian (Watch a sample video of the flight here --> http://www.bluehawaiian.com/kauai/tours/). They have the cushiest and newest 'copters and a lot of their pilots are military trained. The tour goes around the entire island, which is great because 90% of Kauai is inaccessible because of the terrain. The only way you'll see the best parts of the island is be sea (coastline) or air.

We took off from the Lihue Airport near the SE side of the island right by the coastline

We first flew over some sites made famous by Jurassic Park. This picture is of the green fields the raptors are running through in the 1st film's trailer (and obv in the movie too)

This is the waterfall in the movie the scientist lands at, its gotten so famous from the movie its actually referred to it now as "Jurassic Falls"... (ignore the raindrops on the windshield)

The pilot then took us over to the west side of the island over the Waimea Canyon (aka: the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific"). The dirt is extremely red in Kauai because of the iron content from when it was volcanic rock - millions of years ago, Kauai is the oldest of the Hawaiian Islands.

After flying over the canyon we got to the west coast and saw the spectacular Na Pali coastline. Our pilot told us that it is possible to hike the whole coastline, but that its ranked a 9.5 on a scale 10 and would take a few days to complete.

We also saw 3 rainbows during our flight. While we were over the water on the west side viewing the Na Pali coast, we saw one that started and ended in the ocean. Here's a couple pics.

After flying into the Waialiali ("Y ali ali") Crater, otherwise known as the "Wettest Place on Earth" receiving more than 500" of rain annually and raining 360 out of 365 days (no pics, but youtube "wettest spot on earth"), we ended up on the eastside and flew over Wailua Falls.

One word, two sounds: "Ah-Mazing"

Our helicopter adventure was scheduled at 8am (we had read multiple reviews that the best time for flights/weather is in the morning) so we still had our whole day open. Since we were staying in the South Shore area of Poipu Beach, we decided we'd hit a nearby tourist spot, Spouting Horn, then hit the beach.

Spouting Horn is a natural wonder that occurs when water rushes under a lava shelf and bursts through a small opening at the surface. Every wave produces another spray, similar to a geyser.

After Spouting Horn, we drove down the road and hit Poipu Beach. Poipu Beach was voted one the Top 10 beaches in the U.S. Pete could kill me for saying this, but I actually was slightly disappointed. I'm used to Ocean City beaches which are wide with lots of sand and stretch on for miles. This beach was small... gorgeous, but small. The sandy area was narrow and it was only a block or two long. The water on the other hand was spectacular and there was an awesome sandbar.

After some time on the beach, we went back to the condo for lunch and then hit the pool. After a few hours of reading and relaxing, we drove up the east coast to the Wailua Falls Lookout.

For dinner we decided to make use of the condo's many outdoor grills. Pete grilled up some tuna steaks, while I brought out some dinner to our new friend.