Sue
Snorkeling from shore means just that - you walk right into the water at the beach. Ok since you are staying at the St. Regis then you can snorkel their beach! It is a great snorkeling spot. You take the elevator to the beach (I know it sounds crazy) and walk right out. PM me your email address and I will send you the pictures I took at the beach there (we stayed somewhere else in Princeville). At low tide the beach area has some really awesome tide pools that you can explore as well. The other beach for good snorkeling on the North shore that I mentioned is Tunnels. It is probably a 20 minute drive from the St. Regis. Be sure to stop at *Red Hot Mama's* for one of the yummiest burritos you will ever have. They are literally a hole in the wall in the middle of nowhere on the road to Tunnels and Ke'e (Ke'e is the end of the road on the north shore). You an snorkel at Ke'e too. It is a nice protected Lagoon with lifeguards. There are some other snorkeling spots on the north shore but most of them involve hikes and I don't know if you are up to that or not. They are explained in the book I mentioned as well as the website I linked too. Plenty of gorgeous beaches with easy access though - just no good for snorkeling as they are unprotected by reef. Oh I thought of one more with OK snorkeling but a nice place to swim and hang out with no waves because it has a huge fringing reef - Anini beach. It is also a nice place to watch kite surfers and wind surfers.
On the south shore you can snorkel at the Koa Kea as well. You just walk a little bit down the beach and there you are (Poipu beach area). A 5 minute drive from to the Koa Kea is Lawai beach and that has good snorkeling too. The only thing about this time of year is that it is more likely to be calmest on the north shore. In the summer the north can be flat as a pancake and the south may have huge swells. In the winter it is the opposite. But swells change all the time. I checked www.kauaiexplorer.com daily for ocean report updates form the lifeguard stations to see which beach we might go to or snorkel that day. (The Haena station is the one that is relevant to Tunnels beach as it is about 1/2 mile down)
For food other than Red Hot Mama's (I could eat that every day) the only other place we ate on the North Shore was the Hanalei Dolphin. DH and I had a nice dinner there. We cooked in for the other meals. Be sure to check out the Hanalei saturday farmer's market not only for delicious treats but also some local crafts.
On the South Shore we like Keoki's paradise (Poipu). They have good happy hour specials as well. Sueoka's Grocery Store (in Koloa) has a take out window with good cheap food too. We have never been there but Plantation Gardens at the Kiahuna Plantation is supposed to be very good in a romantic atmosphere. And the Beach House is supposed to be very romantic for a sunset dinner (have also never been) so if you go make sure you make a reservation for sunset.
The guide book reviewed just about every restaurant on the island so check in there for food too.
I have a hint that you might like - check out the thrift stores for souvenir and gift ideas. We have found some really nice things there for CHEAP. Things like beach chairs, local items, leis, etc. Lots of people (including us) buy things to use on the island but don't want to take them home with us so we donate them at the end of our trip. The thrift store in Kilauea (right off the highway by the gas station) had the best prices. The humane society thrift store in Lihue has a bit higher prices but more stuff. I wasn't too impressed by the salvation army store and we haven't made it to the other ones yet.
One last thing - if you haven't paid for your car reservation yet, don't hesitate to bid on priceline. For our trip in June I got a standard car for $8 per day. Not bad!
