Coconut Palms Beach Resorts

Travel diary - Hawaii - Kauai

by AndreSTGT

"21st day"

5 h flight from SFO to Honolulu and on to Kauai.
Picked up our rental car and went to the hotel.
In the evening we went to the beach and to the pool.

Accommodation

Best Western Plantation Hale in Wailua; Nice Apartment with two rooms, a kitchen, bathroom and a big veranda with direct Pool and jacuzzi access. Not far from the beach. Excellent value.

"22nd day"

We first went to the south coast to the beautiful luxury resort beach of Poipu with its picnic places under coconut palms; from here we continued on an unpaved road to the more deserted , long Mahaulepu beach for a swim.
On to the impressive Waimea Canyon, the so-called Grand Canyon of the Pacific, from where we hiked to a wonderful little waterfall with pool amidst a natural tropical garden.
In the afternoon we spent some more time beach, this time Polihale Beach on the West Coast, which was also only accessible via a sand track, but it was nevertheless quite busy. Not surprisingly though, as the beach has a good surf and is long and wide with the impressive high cliffs of the Na Pali Coast immediately to the north.

"23rd day"

Trip along the north coast of Kauai.
The scenery here corresponds perfectly with all clichés one might have about Hawaii. Magnificent bays, tropical gardens, green valleys.
At the end of the road of the Kalalau trail starts. This trail, supposedly one of the most beautiful in the world, runs along the Na Pali Coast, but we only walked it to the first viewpoint.

"24th day"

In the morning we took a trip with our Jeep into the wild and green interior of Kauai, along unpaved roads.
The rest of the day we spent at Secret Beach, a remote, wide dream beach with huge waves, which is only accessible via a dirt road.

Secret Beach

"25th day"

Catamaran trip along the Na Pali Coast with Holoholo-Tours. Even though this trip was very expensive (99$ per person) it was definitely worth it.
Seven-hour boat trip including breakfast, lunch, drinks and snorkeling.
The only way to admire the Na Pali Coast is by helicopter, boat or partly on foot.
Huge, oddly shaped cliffs tower over the ocean, only interrupted by green valleys from time to time. At the foot of the cliffs are white sand beaches, caves and little waterfalls. A breathtaking and magical place!
The snorkeling, however, was nothing special.

Na Pali Coast

"26th day"

Before our departure to Honolulu and Molokai we took a small trip to the beautiful Wailua falls, that drop into a huge pool. Unfortunately, walking down there is not allowed due to security reasons.
Arrival on the tiny airport of Molokai in the evening.

smyrna dunes park

by susiemargare

the "pavilion" (a building) by the parking lot has restrooms. there is a boardwalk just to the left of the pavilion, but there is also one just to the right immediately BEFORE the parking lot. both circle around, so it doesn't really matter which one you take.

the boardwalks go through some very interesting plants/shrubs/trees that are apparently typical of florida vegetation. the boardwalks also circle close to the ocean, with relatively short walkways off to the side where you can get to the beach.

the total circuit is 1.5 miles, but there are shaded places and benches for rest along the way, and if you go fairly slowly, it is not really tiring (or you can just go as far as you want and then turn back!).

you can see the ponce inlet lighthouse from everywhere, but to get to it, you need to take a very manageable drive of 30-45 minutes (see my "things to do" tip on the lighthouse).

if you take one of the walkways to the beach, there is lots of space to wander, and the water is very shallow there.

at walkway 3, which is closer to the beginning of the boardwalk to the left of the pavilion, you can bring dogs to the beach.

i very much enjoyed my afternoon at this park.

i'm not sure when it opens, but it closes at 8 pm.

on the "island" side, take 3rd avenue (also called SR 44, the south causeway, and A1A, at various points) to its intersection with peninsula avenue; turn east (toward the ocean).

stay on peninsula avenue until you see a coast guard facility directly in front of you; don't go in there! instead, turn right at the "park" sign, then stop at the park entrance booth ($3.50, well worth it, i think), then straight ahead to the parking lot. the actual address is 2995 north peninsula avenue, new smyrna beach, FL, 32169.

~ New Smyrna Beach & Canaveral National Seashore ~

by noidiotsplease

One time my parents took my brother and I to watch a space shuttle launch from the beach at Canaveral National Seashore. The Canaveral National Seashore is a long stretch of undeveloped and protected shoreline with occasional access points for public recreation. The northern stretch is accessible from New Smyrna Beach in Volusia County, while the other end is accessible from Titusville in Brevard County. I don’t remember anything particularly special about the beach itself, other than its relative remoteness, so it probably has been given this federal distinction due to its close proximity to the Kennedy Space Center.

To get to the Canaveral National Seashore we passed through New Smyrna Beach. The city sits on the opposite side of Ponce Inlet from the other beach towns surrounding Daytona Beach, giving it a quieter small town feel. In fact, even coastal route A1A jogs westward between Daytona Beach Shores and New Smyrna Beach, meaning that visitors can only reach the city via a mainland detour. The bridge that does connect the mainland and barrier island sections of New Smyrna Beach also passes over an expanse of wetlands that give the Intracoastal Waterway more character here than does its canal-like appearance across the inlet.

We only drove through New Smyrna Beach, but its beach does have both praiseworthy and dubious distinctions that visitors should be aware of. On one hand, I have recently seen it touted as replacing Cocoa Beach as Florida’s best surf town. Unfortunately, surfers are not the only ones drawn to these waters. New Smyrna Beach is also known as the shark attack capital of Florida, with several incidents in recent years.

Visit my DAYTONA BEACH page.
Visit my FLORIDA page.

Passing through by Car in 2005

by grandmaR

We came from Titusville

As we were getting to the route 44 exit for New Smyrna Beach, the car started to vibrate again, but Bob is convinced it must be the other tire. We found the visitor's center. Visitor's Centers (when open) are a Good Thing TM.

I wanted to visit New Smyrna for two reasons.

1) We have only been there once by boat, and I did not take any pictures of the waterfront or the historic markers

2) I have been checking to see how the marinas fared. The New Smyrna Municipal Marina was a particularly unusual one, and I could see from the ICW that there was a CSY like our boat there. I can't see the name of it though, and thought I might find that out.

We drove through the historic downtown to the fort Historic Site, and climbed up on it (it's just the foundations about 6 feet above street level) and looked down.

The New Smyrna marina is completely gone. The ladies at the Visitor's Center prepared us by telling us that the Municipal Marina was gone. And ineed it was - nothing was there except the bulkhead, which they were working on. The whole thing had been wiped clean away.

We walked across past the library to the city hall and where the monument to the original Greek settlers was and took some pictures of buildings around the square. By now it was about 11:45, and time to start looking for lunch.

We drove across the bridge that used to be called the Coronado bridge which is a bascule bridge right by the Riverview restaurant and hotel (which used to be lighthouse keeper's house). I had hoped to have lunch there. But as the ladies at the information center had told us, they were only serving dinner.

So we drove on out to the beach, trying to get a view of the Ponce Inlet Lighthouse without going all the way north to get over to the other side (which would have been a LONG detour). I did eventually see the top of it from the Coast Guard Station, but not enough to take a picture of it.

Note that this picture of the CG Station has a red and a green buoy at the gate.

Later - on the way between Titusville and Ormond Beach, we stopped by the Ponce Inlet Lighthouse.

We drove on out to the Canaveral National Seashore to have lunch.