There are several lookouts along the way up to the top of Waimea Canyon / Kalalau Valley. Thanks to the hurricane several years ago, there are also several wild chicken around the canyon.

At the bottom of Waimea Canyon Drive, there are quite a few nice local spots. Shrimp Station and Jo-Jo’s Shave Ice were two of our favorites.

The Kalalau Valley is approximately 2 miles across and drops down over 3,500 feet to the beach. There are several trails that lead down to the bottom, and people even live in the valley – setting up several campsites to call home. On our snorkeling tour, we were able to get a different view of the valley – from the water – and you can see that one here.

When we drove up to the Kalalau Trail head, a rush of sirens were following us up the road. We watched as a helicopter, police and firemen arrived at the beach. We didn’t quite realize what was happening until the next day’s Garden Island arrived on our doorstep. Several people make lives for themselves in the Kalalau Valley, and this guy happened to be one of them. A hiker found his body and wrote S.O.S. on the beach along the trail, which allowed a helicopter tour guide to bring in rescuers to get the body. Crazy.

Here is a picture of Wailua Falls – from far away. You can see a picture from a different perspective – the bottom of these falls – here.

We took off from the Lihue Airport, which is on the southeast side of the island. We looped around the south shore, and the pilot pointed out our resort, the Grand Hyatt in Poipu.

We didn’t get a chance to get any closer to these falls, but you can go ahead and rent Jurassic Park if you want a different perspective on these.

After the loop around the south, and over the Waimea Canyon, we made our way to the Napali Coast. These pictures don’t quite do it justice. To try to put it in perspective, there is a missile base on top of these cliffs. If you look very closely you can see how they are tiny specs on the top of these massive drops – portions of these cliffs are around 4,000 feet above the ocean.

If you look closely in the below picture, you can see two giant sea turtles making their way onto the beach. Looking at this picture in high resolution really allows you to see how large these guys are.

Whales!

Dolphins!