A Full Day in Kauai

Blow Hole

Wailua Canyon

   Today we were on a full day tour of the garden island. We were off the ship at 8 this morning and returned after 4:30. In fact our bus was the last one to get back and the CO announced shortly after that we were ready to sail. He also mentioned that he was close to skipping the port. It is probably the tightest harbour that we have ever been in requiring a tight z turn to get out. Other cruise companies (Holland America, etc.) have already cancelled the port for tomorrow because of the high winds.

Coastline

   This island has some wonderful scenery and has been the location for a number of movies including Blue Hawaii (we saw the hotel), King Kong, Raiders Of the Lost Arc to name a few. Our first stop was the Wailua Canyon. It has the nick name of the Grand Canyon Of The Pacific. It took us about 90 minutes to get there and the road to the rim was a true snake road of tight turns as we made our way up. The view was spectacular but the wind was blowing so hard that hats were flying off. In addition the dirt particles from the canyon were so strong it was like having a facial. Besides the wind and dirt, it was unfortunate that the sun was shinning right down the canyon which made picture taking difficult.

Fern Grotto

    We next made our way to the Spouting horn which is a blow hole in a lava tube. The coastline in the area was very scenic. It was not the same as we had seen in Australia years ago but it was still very interesting. We made our way through towns that are booming because of

Forest Tunnel

the number of tourist coming to the island. Last year they had 1.2 million tourists arrive by air and about the same number by cruise ship. There are some wonderful golf courses in the area. The PGA calibre course we saw charges $32.00 for 18 holes cart included. The golf course was part of the location for a very tasty lunch.

At The Grotto

    The afternoon included a boat ride up the Wailua River to the Fern Grotto with Hawaiian music along the way. The grotto area itself is an old lava tuba was quite interesting as we walked through a forest area filled with flowers, tall bamboo plants, etc.    After a short ride and a stop at the twin Opaekaa Falls, we returned to the ship.

We are expecting a bit of a rocky run to the big island of Hawaii, our last stop in the islands. Dinner was good. Our regular waiter was ill for the second time in 3 days. The piano player in the Princess theatre was quite entertaining. That ended a long tiring day. Tomorrow we hike to a volcano. Should be interesting!