We had a BLAST on our honeymoon, which we spent half of in Maui and the other half in Kauai. Kauai was a little more up my alley since we stayed in a far less touristy area- Kapaa. I think it's safe to say we got a good balance of relaxation and adventure on the trip... not to mention the delicious cuisine we experienced. If you're ever in Maui, do yourself a favor and try the Mahi Mahi at Lahaina Grill, and the Shrimp Dynamite at Sansei! On both islands we were lucky enough (thanks to my in-laws) to stay right on the water with unobstructed views and roll around in Jeep Wranglers. My fave part of Maui was our adventure on the Hana highway. We got caught in an early morning downpour while the top was down, but that didn't dampen our spirits (get it?! Wah, wah, wah). The banana bread from Wailua was the best we'd ever had...we hiked to a waterfall called Wailua-iki and had the whole place to ourselves...and we experienced for the first time together the true fear of being shanked in the middle of nowhere (hiking to the Blue Pool... which was nothing but a trickle!). I went crazy with the digital SLR over the sunsets (how can you see sights like that and doubt that God exists?!) and was glad to have purchased an underwater case for my little digital camera for our under-the-sea adventures. We're looking forward to the next time we can surf the days away in Lahaina and swim with the sea turtles (and maybe next time I won't find myself rescuing any families on floats and swimming them to shore ;)).
Kauai was insane. Since we stayed on the east end we were greeted by sunrises instead of sunsets. We hiked to beaches where no one else was around (definitely recommend the Secret Beach), splashed around in lava pools, and found the best sushi restaurant in existence. My favorite part was definitely hiking to and then jumping off Kamapua'a Falls. Patrick was definitely more daring than I was and didn't even think twice before jumping! We also had the pleasure of boarding a catamaran and sailing to the Na Pali coastline, and on the way we saw dolphins playing (and mating!), and a great view of the ‘forbidden’ island of Ni’ihau. The Na Pali coastline was like nothing we had ever seen before- teal water crashing against towering sea cliffs, views of gigantic sea caves and waterfalls next to the ocean. The captain then took us to a place to snorkel and there were fish everywhere!
Needless to say, our honeymoon was a pretty good way to start our married life together!
