Thursday we woke to quite a bit of wind and sadly, a bit of "vog". (According to the ever trusty Wikipedia: "Vog is formed when sulfur oxides emitted by a volcano react with moisture to form an aerosol. The aerosol scatters light and so makes the vog visible.") We decided we wanted to try and find the warmest spot on the island to do some beach time & snorkling and that ended up leading us to Tunnels Beach. On our way to the beach we stopped for some amazing photo ops that weren't visible last night in the dark.
First up was an overlook of the Hanalei National Wildlife Refuge.
This guy was working on some awesome watercolor paintings.
Here is one of the infamous Kauai roosters! They roam the island everywhere you look. It's quite a funny "wild" animal to see all over the place.
Next stop was a quick shot of Hanalei Bay. I put together this fun Panaromic shot! (HERE'S the full size photo)
A pretty church in Hanalei...
After the photo ops, we reached our destination, Tunnels!
We had a great time snorkling and seeing all the amazing colored fish. There were tons of different varieties, and yes words such as iridescent and rainbow and neon were used to describe them :) Perhaps one of my favorite things we saw at the beach was this monk seal taking a snooze. He looked rather content and how can you blame him?
That evening we had dinner at Scotty's BBQ and we all enjoyed it. You couldn't beat the view, every table looked out at the ocean!
Good night for now!
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The Dolphins were definitely a highlight of the tour. They are so cute, they swim right up to the tour boats and play in the currents the boats create. I think Jessica was tempted to jump on one and never let go :)
Thankfully we found a calm enough spot to do our snorkling. Jessica and I were cold and not sure if we were up for it, but we are both glad we did! (even if my back did get a nice burn in the 20 minutes I was out in the water).
We finished the day off with a drive into Hanalei Bay but by the time we got there it was too dark for any scenic photos. I'm excited to go back there when the sun is up!
One thing I was really wanting to try this trip was the famous Hawaiian Shaved Ice. Listen up people - it's not your traditional snowcone, it's super fine shaved ice (instead of crushed ice which is what is used in a snowcone) and this finely shaved ice with your flavor(s) of choice surrounds a scoop of vanilla ice cream. We got ours at a little roadside stand called Kalapaki Shave Ice and we were not disappointed! Yummm. I foresee more shaved ice on this vacation.
We hung out near the beach of the Marriott because we were wanting to grab a bite to eat at Duke's during Happy Hour. The Hilton has quite the sweet spot, I must say. I sure wished I had my beach towel & swim suit because that beach looked amazing. (Note to self - while on Kauai, always be prepared with swim suit and beach towel on standby at all times.)
We made a last second pit stop at Lydgate State Park and it was one last second decision that we all enjoyed!
Don't they look quite at home in their little stick hut?
It's quite possible it's because these two lovebird's 
Explorer or Major Tourist? ;)
ello coconut.
