Hawaii Trip, Friday

Friday

Today was an EARLY day. Since the ship was leaving port at 2:00 PM, all excursions were supposed to be back by 1:00. That meant an early start. I got up at 6:00 AM, without any problem. Unfortunately, I couldn't pry Debra out of bed. So, I was on my own for breakfast and the excursion.

We left the port about 8:00 AM, on our journey to Waimea Canyon, also called "The Grand Canyon of the Pacific." It was quite a long drive to the other side of the island. We made a comfort stop (bathrooms) in the little village of Hanapepe at a tourist gift shop. The bathroom was large and beautiful. Obviously, that is how they get the tour buses to stop there. Still, it was a welcome stop and I always appreciate an opportunity to shop.

Back on the bus, we wound up the mountainside on a narrow winding road, with many switchbacks. No part of the road was straight or level. The guardrails were short and offered no security on a big bus. Still, as I had no other option, I trusted in the driver and we got there safely.

En route, we could see another of the 8 Hawaiian Islands, the island Ni'ihau. When we were on Maui, we had seen from a distance the island of Kaho'olawe. So, though we only visit 4 of the 8 islands, we actually saw and learned about 2 more. Kaho'olawe is called "The Target Island," because it used to be used by the navy for bombing practice. It is the smallest of the 8. Even though it is no longer bombed, it is virtually uninhabited due to the lack of fresh water.

Ni'ihau is called "The Forbidden Island." In early times, under King Kamehameha, it was a place to escape to for refuge if you had broken a law. Nowadays, you are only allowed to live there if you are 100% Hawaiian. There is a cattle ranch there, but only about 130 people live there. The island has no infrastructure, no paved roads, no running water, no electricity.

When we arrived at the Waimea Canyon, the weather had cleared and the canyon view was amazing! It was HUGE and deep. From the overlook, we couldn't get a view of the bottom. Unlike I picture the Grand Canyon, this one is lush and green. I took many photos. Looking south, you could see all the way to the ocean.

Kauai is known for its abundance of chickens. Though all of the islands have many chickens, Kauai is the most overrun with them. They have no natural predators in the islands, hence the population explosion. What makes it worse in Kauai is that when Hurricane Iniki hit, in 1992, it destroyed many chicken coops and let most of the domesticated chickens free. I surprised to see chickens roaming around the Waimea Canyon Overlook, even at that high, unpopulated place. At least they are pretty chickens. The males have striking colors.

From a distance along our route, we could see the highest point o the island shrouded in clouds. That mountaintop, Mount Kawaikini, has the distinction of having the highest annual rainfall in the world, 450 inches, with rain falling an average of 350 days a year! So, if you ever see it clear up there, you know it is going to be a clear day. Because of the abundance of rain, they see a lot of rainbows on Kauai. I saw one at the port while boarding the bus and another on our route.

We came back down the mountain on the same twisty winding route. The views were dramatic all along the way. We saw canyons, mountains, cliffs, ocean, beaches, and the other island. In places the surf was dramatically high.

We made our next stop at Po'ipu Beach. I have seen many striking and amazing sights on this trip, including here on Kauai, which is by far the most beautiful of the islands, but what I saw at Po'ipu Beach was the best. There is a feature there called the Spouting Horn. The surf pounds against black lava rock. At one point there is a lava tube. Water rushes under the lava rock and gets pushed up the tube and spurts up 30+ feet into the air like a geyser. I took lots of photos and video of the water spraying into the air. I could have watched it all day.

Back on the ship, I found that Debra had finally hauled her butt out of bed. She really missed a treat today. I guess she'll have to read this blog. We had lunch and then went down to our balcony to watch the ship leave port.

The port at Nawiliwili Bay here on Kauai is just big enough and just deep enough for this cruise ship. I wanted to see it maneuver out of the harbor and through the narrow channel. With the help of a tugboat, the ship slowly turned around and carefully threaded through the eye-of-the-needle channel.

I had talked to Wil earlier and he told me about hail in Gulf Breeze. As I was leaning on the rail of our balcony, I overheard the lady on the balcony next door mention hail and Gulf Breeze. I couldn't resist leaning around the wall and introducing myself. They are indeed from Gulf Breeze. In fact, the gentleman had been raised in Pensacola and had attended N.B. Cook for elementary school. His wife is an elementary school teacher in Gulf Breeze. It truly is a small, small world. I traveled halfway around the world and ended up next door to a person whose home is just a few miles from mine.

Once out of Nawiliwili Bay, the ship turned north. Before leaving Kauai, the ship was giving us a view of the Na Pali coastline. The ship sailed along the coast to show the sights to the port side first, then turn the ship around and show the sights to the starboard side. We had a balcony room on the port side which gave us prime first viewing.

The Na Pali coast is not accessible by road. The only way to see it is by boat, helicopter or our cruise ship. I hadn't heard much about it except that it had high cliffs and it was very beautiful. Once I saw it, I knew why the cruise company went out of their way to show us. I already knew Kauai was the most beautiful island, but I was unprepared for the breathtaking sight of the Na Pali coast.

Words seem so inadequate to describe this, but I'll try. It truly may take 1000 words to replace one picture. (Of course, I took many, many photos!) First you have to understand that Kauai is the oldest of the 8 Hawaiian islands. It is roughly 5 million years old and eroding. The big island is the youngest and is still growing as those active volcanos keep erupting.

Because Kauai is eroding, it has more sandy beaches. It has better soil for growing, hence the beautiful flowers and farms all over the island. The mountains are different, too. All of the volcanos are extinct and natural erosion has carved them into more jagged peaks with steeper sides. Natural erosion carved out the Waimea Canyon. Along the Na Pali coast, there are steep cliffs. As we sailed north, the coastal mountains became steeper and steeper. The lush greenery everywhere gave way to solid rock cliffs, punctuated with the occasional isolated green valley.

I can't even hazard a guess about the heights of the cliffs. They were enormous! I was on the 8th deck of the ship and they were way higher. The ship has about 14 decks and the cliffs were way higher than the ship. Some sailboats and motorboats where cruising along the shoreline and they looked like toys against the massive cliffs.

But it was much more than their size that made the cliffs impressive. The most remarkable attribute was the texture. Natural erosion over thousands of years has carved the sides of the steep cliffs into sharp, wavy ribbons. It was late afternoon when we sailed past, rather close, and the interplay of light and shadow was breathtaking!

The beach was narrow, but at a couple of places there were isolated coves with wide secluded beaches, only accessible by boat. The surf was relatively calm, unlike the high surf along the south side of the island, where we viewed the Spouting Horn. If I lived in Kauai and had a boat seaworthy enough, the secluded beaches along the striking Na Pali coast would be one of my favorite places.

I plan to post a photo album of Hawaii on my Facebook page, but if you can't view that, you should search google images for Na Pali coast, Kauai. I have no doubt that you will find incredible photos. It must be a photographer's paradise.

Tonight we pack for our last excursion to Pearl Harbor, then our flight home.