USVI-On-Line

I love your pictures Lisa. They are beautiful!
It sure gets me psyched for going in 49 days! We have a grey snowy day here and I need some sun!

Great photos Lisa!

Lex, you hit the nail on the head: two different versions of paradise.

Lisa, how about a trip report on the off-topic forum?

Martinigirl - you live near that lovely, quaint cozy, romantic restaurant??? Lucky you! We live about 2 1/4 hours from that area and have always loved going (not to the touristy places - been there, done that)... but love driving around and viewing the beautiful farmland!

sea-nile - you will love Kauai for sure... it's more of an adventure-type vacation in my opinion - less limin-time for us

Haha - I just realized in many of the photos my son and / or husband are wearing a St. John t-shirt

Just did, Teddy Salad

Seriously beautiful pictures... I've never been but it's on my short list! Thanks for sharing with us.

Nice pictures. We went to Maui in 2006, and truth be told, I wish we hadn't bothered. We should've selected Kauai instead.

However, for the expense and time involved to get to Hawaii from the East Coast of the US, my husband and I have decided it's not worth it. We're Caribbean people, we admit it.

To me, the Caribbean offers a culture and feel that Hawaii doesn't. Hawaii is very grand, with bigger mountains, bigger ocean, bigger beaches, and bigger resorts, but the Caribbean just feels right to me when I think of paradise.

alw1977 wrote:

To me, the Caribbean offers a culture and feel that Hawaii doesn't. Hawaii is very grand, with bigger mountains, bigger ocean, bigger beaches, and bigger resorts, but the Caribbean just feels right to me when I think of paradise

My sentiments EXACTLY!

lpowmacback - quick question...did you like your lodging? would you reommend it? Loved your pictures, by the way. Kauaii was on my short list for an alternate St. John trip (we are trying to every other year). Which means we will be back to St. John in 2009.

TropicAtHeart (or others) - you mentioned summer was the best season - is this strictly June, July, August - or does it extend into the late spring or early fall.

Thanks!

Many people like summer on Kauai because it's the best time to enjoy the north shore. All of Kauai is beautiful, but the north shore is awesomely dramatic (Jurassic Park was shot there). And "summer" probably runs May-September rather than just June, July, August. The other months are rainier in the north, but also the surf is much, much more rough---often dangerously so. We've been to Kauai twice, both times in early September, and the weather and surf conditions were superb. It's also a bit of a low season apparently, so is not as tourist-heavy as at other times.

The south of Kauai has different weather. Much less rain, usually sunny when it's raining in the north. And it doesn't have the heavy winter surf that hits the north. So anytime of the year, there's good weather on some part of Kauai. We just fell so totally in love with the north shore that we wouldn't think of going at a time when it wasn't the best weather there.

Here's a few photos:

<a href="http://s275.photobucket.com/albums/jj31 ... 9df6_o.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj31 ... 9df6_o.jpg" border="0" alt="northern kauai"></a>
Northern Kauai

<a href="http://s275.photobucket.com/albums/jj31 ... G_1683.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj31 ... G_1683.jpg" border="0" alt="hanalei valley"></a>
Hanalei Valley


Hanalei Bay



Hanalei Bay

<a href="http://s275.photobucket.com/albums/jj31 ... 1044_1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj31 ... 1044_1.jpg" border="0" alt="hanalei"></a>
Hanalei town


<a href="http://s275.photobucket.com/albums/jj31 ... G_1223.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj31 ... G_1223.jpg" border="0" alt="tunnels"></a>
Tunnels Beach

<a href="http://s275.photobucket.com/albums/jj31 ... G_1383.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj31 ... G_1383.jpg" border="0" alt="kalalau"></a>
Kalalau Trail on the NaPali Coast

<a href="http://s275.photobucket.com/albums/jj31 ... G_1764.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj31 ... G_1764.jpg" border="0" alt="waimea"></a>
Then there's also Waimea Canyon on the southwest part of the island

Laura T... YES!!!!! We absolutely LOVED our lodging at the Marriott in Lihue... it could not have been better!!!

Please read my trip report for Kauai in the Off Topic section on this site ...

Thanks for the photos Lex.
46 days until I am there.

Wow Lex, those pictures are great, and reinforce my original thought - we should've picked Kauai over Maui for our 2006 trip. The picture of that beach with those green, craggy mountains at the end? Gorgeous and peaceful. Oh well, maybe next time!

Lex, great photos!

Laura, my 2 cents worth on Kauai weather:

Lex is correct saying that summer is the best time to experience the north shore if you are looking for sun and calmer, warmer ocean water.

I'm not sure when summer and winter in Kauai begin and end. I would guess summer is from April to October and winter from November to March. The book The Ultimate Kauai Guidebook says that the average high in January is 78 and the average high in late August/early September is 85. It also says the ocean temps range from 73.4 in February to 80 in October, but we never felt that the water was too cold to swim in. From the rainfall graphs in the book, it looks like the rainiest months are from November through March in Princeville (north side) and November through January in Kapa'a (east side) and Poipu (south side).

Location is a bigger determination in the rainfall than the season. For instance, Waimea on the south shore gets less rain during its rainiest months than Kapa'a gets during its driest months. Princeville gets about the same rainfall during its driest month (June) as Poipu does in its wettest month (January).

We have been to Kauai three times. We stayed on the east side all three times. It worked out great because we could choose between the north side and the south side depending on the weather, but the east side is also very nice. The first time we went was in May and the weather was gorgeous everywhere we went, but the north side was cloudier than the other parts, which is typical. The second time we went was in February and we happened to time it so that a high pressure system moved in and stayed so we had mostly dry weather island-wide the whole time we were there. It had been rainy just before we got there, so the waterfalls were still spectacular. We saw whales pretty much every time we looked out onto the ocean. The third time we went was in January, and we had some rain, but it was mostly in the north, so if we wanted drier weather, we went to the west and south sides. The waterfalls were really running that time, and we got to visit the wildlife refuge in the northeast part of the island, which can only be accessed if you are accompanied by a park ranger. As you can see, it was sunny that day on the north shore, although it was January. This is looking west toward the Kilauea lighthouse, a sight not many people get to see, we were lucky.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/22826825@N05/2373077135/" title="KauaiWildlifeRefuge by TeddySalad, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2275/237 ... 6f12_o.jpg" width="714" height="428" alt="KauaiWildlifeRefuge"></a>

Here is an albatross on its egg (the egg is kind of hard to see) in the refuge.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/22826825@N05/2373077075/" title="AlbatrossOnEgg by TeddySalad, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3279/237 ... 12b7_o.jpg" width="485" height="648" alt="AlbatrossOnEgg"></a>

So, to say that summer is the best season . . . well, it depends on what you're looking for. If you want a more Caribbean-like experience, you are probably more likely to get it island-wide in the summer, but you also need to figure in what time of year you like to get away from your neck of the woods.

Bottom line, Kauai is great any time of the year, and you can usually (not always) get sunny, dry weather by going to the south and west sides of the island. The rainfall is overwhelmingly concentrated in the center of the island, most of which is inaccessible anyway, but feeds those waterfalls. Hope this helps. PM me if you have any other questions on Kauai.

That photo of tunnels beach is very nice! That is our favorite beach in Kauai. We've been there in summer and winter and prefer the summer months when the water is warmer and the plumeria trees are in full bloom (especially around the Marriott Resort in Lihue. We could go out in the evening and walk around the golf course to pick plummeria blooms so my wife coould make her own leis. Thousands of blooms around so no chance of picking too many.

we did the Kalalua Trail and made it to a beautiful beach that was quite an adventure. It was not an easy hike, but was worth it. Crossing over streams, looking up at waterfalls and then the blue ocean on the other side is unforgetable.

Thanks all! We are definitely off-season people (well, usually) - fewer crowds, etc. But, we live in Chicago and it is so nice here during the summer that we hate to vacation in the summer months. September may be a good month to go.

I have printed all your suggestions and it is going in my vacation file - not sure when we'll get to Kauaii, but I am hoping in the next couple years. It's been over a year since St. John, so that may need to be our priority.

Thanks much, again.