Wednesday - Kilauea lighthouse and Anini beach

We decided to check out the Kilauea lighthouse today and possibly do some geo-caching with our hand-held GPS. The lighthouse was only a 10 minute drive and was a beautiful view and location. There were plenty of people whale watching from the cliffs. The views from the lighthouse was "to die for" but unfortunately we couldn't climb to the top of the lighthouse. We decided to check out some geo-caching sites in the area but they were all apparently in remote locations and not easily accessible to us... i.e. we would need to cross private property boundaries (I think) and I didn't care to spend any of my vacation time in the Kauai jail. :-)
Afterward, we decided to stop and have lunch at Duane's Ono-Char Burgers... a roadside burger stand between Kapaa and Kilauea. The chickens walking around while we were eating was a little unsettling but the food was great.
We then went to Anini beach; as the story goes... "This beach used to be called Wanini, but during Hurricane Iniki in 1992, the "W," fell off the name sign, and rather than fixing the sign the name was permanently changed." That is the kind of history I like. The calmness of this beach is fabulous... you can sit and relax or swim in safety while you watch the waves crashing in the near distance.




Interestingly, Hurricane Iniki occurred a few weeks after Hurricane Andrew in 1992, but that storm took everyone's attention (especially the media), that no one on the mainland US knew much about or remembers Iniki.
We ended the day with dinner at the Lighthouse Bistro in Kilauea. Beautiful place... great food... and the skies decided to open up while we ate. (Boy, am I glad I don't routinely leave the top down on the Mustang convertible.)
We finished with ice cream at Lappert's Ice Cream in Princeville and went back to the condo.


We are not sure of our itinerary tomorrow, just yet... just that there is lots to do before we have to leave on Saturday afternoon. We are booked at the Smith Family Luau on Friday night... which is a 5 -hour dinner/entertainment package and will be a great send off before our departure on Saturday.
Aloha.