End of Summer Celebration - Kauai style

Every once in a while it’s nice to be a total homebody over holiday weekends. Heading to beautiful attractions in Colorado can be totally exhausting and defeat the purpose getting out of town to relax because you’re forced to deal with the stress of traffic, long lines and crazy crowds. While the idea of sitting in Strawberry Hot springs seems so relaxing and such an easy way to connect with nature: avoid this place at all costs on the Fourth of July. The parking lot alone will stress you out.

So this past Labor Day, as opposed to hang out in Colorado I decided to head to my favorite place on Earth: Hawaii. I hadn’t been to Kauai yet and because there are direct flights from Denver now, it’s so easy to get there and back for an extended weekend. This sounds kind of nuts but you get there on Thursday afternoon (3pm) and then leave late on Monday (8pm) so you really have five days to hang out and disconnect from reality.

I had two big planned excursions during my stay and then then rest of the trip was dedicated to spontaneous adventures, fresh food and lots of relaxation. Looking back, this might have been my favorite Hawaii trip yet; everything was so easy and came together in the perfect way. Although it’s hard to top the magic of Kealakekua Bay on the Big Island.

I had been diving on the Big Island and on Maui - both times with huge outfitters that take out 30 - 50 people per charter. While neither of those experiences were bad - both just felt really crowded (on the boat and under water) and at times overwhelming, especially because I’m a novice diver. One was a night dive on Kona to see the manta rays; the water was really choppy because and nearly a dozen people were sea sick while heading out to the site. You can imagine how gross that got. So on Kauai I knew that while I wanted to dive, I needed something more personable - a small dive shop that had smaller boats and a more one-on-one approach.

Fathom Five Divers were amazing and I can’t wait to go diving with them again! There were only 3 of us on the charter - (I think they take six out max) and we dove the caverns. The site was only five minutes away from shore so the boat ride was super short. The divemaster I had (her name was Bahar) was phenomenal - she was patient and supportive and super knowledgeable. The caverns are amazing! Huge lava tubes full of so much life - we even saw an octopus, which was so cool.

The other excursion I did was with Go Blue Adventures to see the Na’Pali coast by boat. This was seriously one of the coolest things I’ve done traveling. These guys take you out on these rafts you soar up the coast to see the famous ridges of the Na’Pali. It’s so beautiful words don’t even do it justice. And then - after zipping through these crazy sea caves - they tie up on a little beach, feed you lunch and give you this awesome tour explaining some of the majestic history of native Hawaiian’s who lived at the site hundreds of years ago. So awesome.

I stayed in Poipu - which was the perfect location to all my favorite things: a super chill beach, excellent diving, phenomenal farm-to-table dinners (hello Merrimann’s), a natural food grocer where I can score a local sugarloaf pineapple, some local coffee and those tiny little apple bananas that taste like heaven.