"Treasures of Cruising the World" with Bill & Mary Ann: Report #16 Nawililwili, Kauai, Hawaii October 9, 2016 Sunday Sunny & 84 degrees Part #1 of 2 84 Pictures

The island we sailed to this morning was Kauai. It is the northernmost island of Hawaii, and the 4^th largest of the 8 main islands. Kauai has 522 square miles of mountains, canyons, rivers, plantations, and beaches. It is also one of the wettest spots on earth with up to 485 inches of rain a year. The population is close to 64,000. The first sign of human settlement was around 500AD. Captain Cook arrived in 1778, the first outsider to find it.

There are many activities here, but the first and foremost is Waimea Canyon, the Grand Canyon of the Pacific. It is over 10 miles long, 1 mile wide, and 3600 feet deep. This mammoth chasm is 4 million years old with lava rock in shades of red, purple, green, and blue. Today would have been a perfect time to see the canyon, since the sun was out, and there was no fog. Those folks who chose to do the 2 hour helicopter flight over it would cost about $290. A bus ride for 8 hours included a lunch for $140. But you could see it on a shorter 5 hour excursion for $60. The first time we toured the canyon, the weather was perfect. However, on the second visit, by the time we reached the top, the fog covered the entire scene below.

A fun excursion was Hollywood Kauai, a tour to see where movies were made many years ago. The Wailua River Cruise and Fern Grotto visit was really cool, since it was all about Elvis. That 3 ½ hour trip ran about $80.

Since the all aboard time was 4:30pm, we stayed close to the ship, taking advantage of the complimentary shuttle to Kmart and the Kukui Grove Shopping Center, actually in the town of Lihue. This outdoor-type mall has 50 stores including Kmart, Macy's, Ross, and many restaurants. Across the street is Home Depot and Costco. We found things we needed in both Costco and Kmart. The big deal of the day was getting a free large tote bag at Kmart with a $10 purchase. It was so funny watching the bus load of people lining up to get that bag. Got to admit that with so many stores charging for bags, this tote will come in handy on the cruise and at home too.

The shuttle ran every 15 minutes, and was waiting when we left the store. This is especially convenient for the crew members, that have limited time ashore.

Back at the ship, we put our stash away, and headed back out to go to Anchor Cove and Kalapaki Beach. There was also a free shuttle ride, although it did us good to walk there. It's only a mile or so. The beach was beautiful today, and not over-crowded.

First we walked through the Kauai Marriott Resort Beach Club. The grounds are very nicely landscaped with fountains, ponds, and a garden stream full of koi carp. Some of them are huge, always begging for food. Other interesting residents of the ponds are black neck swans from South America, and the Ne Ne geese, native to Hawaii. Back in 1949, there were only 33 Ne Ne geese left. Almost extinct, the numbers were brought back to over 1000 now.

There have been several times we have been here when a wedding was taking place. This hotel is certainly the perfect spot for such as occasion. Last year, we witnessed a wedding ceremony taking place right on the beach.

Running into friends here, we chatted for awhile. They had never been here before, and we quite surprised to find beaches and shopping so accessible. Someone had told them not to even bother getting off of the ship…..there's nothing here. How wrong is that?

Lunch was next on the agenda. Duke's, right on the beach, was a perfect spot for us. In the past, we have noticed it was always busy, so we wanted to find out for ourselves. We shared a Caesar salad and a cheeseburger with waffle fries. Never had those before, and found them tasty.

We got back to the ship after 3pm, and worked on photo downloading and report research. Sail away was well after 5pm. It was a surprise to us that a strong breeze had come up, almost chilly, as we watched the sun go down around 6:15pm. A car-carrying barge was towed out of the harbor right before we left. We raced with it, until we passed it like it was barely moving. We had hoped to see some dolphins, but there were none. All we saw were a few flocks of sea birds flying over the waves.

Dinner for us tonight was in the Pinnacle Grill. Tina, the manager, had promised us veal chops, as she knows we love them. And they were every bit as good as we remembered them. We saved a very little bit of space for dessert…….one soufflé, and one lemon tart. Both delicious.

The show this evening was The Bornsteins, a married team of a mind reader, and a Hollywood stuntman. Afraid we missed this one. Tomorrow's port is Hilo, so staying up really late was not in the cards.

Bill & Mary Ann

We're here in Nawiliwili