Discovering southern Kauai

DS exploring the beach behind Hilton

DH decided to run on the beach today. DS and I hung out by the beach behind Hilton. The beach is not fantastic by any standards & one cannot swim in there but we had a great time walking through the shallow waters. We caught some expected heavy showers. It was great!!

Opeka'a falls on the east coast

We left for breakfast at 8 am and went to Dani's restaurant on Rice St. based on the receptionist's recommendation. The food was terrible - definitely not recommended! :-( Then I dropped DH off to his helicopter ride on Blue Hawaiian). The Helicopter ride is most certainly recommended. We took turns doing the ride because we did not feel it was worth spending the money on our 3-year old DS. While DH did his ride, DS and I drove to see Opeka'a Falls off of Waimoa rd. The falls looked lovely but it was too hot & stuffy to be walking outside. We then drove to Lydgate beach. We parked at the beach parking lot and wen to the very narrow beach and enjoyed standing in the waves, then building sand castles. I wasnted to spend more time here but had to pick DH up from his helicopter ride. He was ecstatic after his rider and felt it was worth spending the $200 on it.We then picked up lunch at Fish Express and headed back to Lydgate beach because apparently I had completely missed the lagoon/snorkeling pool. Unfortunately the beach at Lydgate lagoon was closed! The water looked too murky to do any snorkeling, so we spent some time in the play area instead. We sat at a picnic table to enjoy our lunch. I did not enjoy my garlic/pesto fish wrap - the ahi was too dry. DH enjoyed the mahi-mahi & we both loved the spicy ahi tuna. We decided we were definitely going back to the place - its a hole in the wall but totally worth it for the Ahi! After lunch and play we headed back to the hotel pool. Hilton has a sand sided pool with a water slide. This was a lot of fun, especially when our 3 year old DS figured out he could go down the slide all by himself!

At Smith's Tropical Garden

We then headed to Smith's tropical garden luau. We were taken on a tour of the garden which was alright. Then there was the Imu ceremony where the cooking pig is revealed. The Poi (pig) looked more authentically prepared than what I have seen before.. The buffet luau was better than what I had in Maui but the entertainment wasnt as good. Overall, it was just decent - we felt it wasnt worth it considering we had experienced an excellent Luau in Maui!