Tuesday, Day 11 - Jan. 16 - 10am to 5pm, Nawiliwili Harbor, Lihue, Kauai, Hawaii, USA

It is another blue bird day in the beautiful state of Hawaii, a breezy 77 degrees. We are the only ship in port.

                             Chickens roam free on the island.
Kauai is known as the Garden Island of Hawaii with its magnificent, diverse and extreme landscapes, from the nearly inaccessible Na’apali Coast to the wettest place on earth – the Alakai Swamp, to the colorful yet barren and beautiful Waimea Canyon. Set on the East Coast, Lihue, where we are docked today, is Kauai's county seat,  the island's most prominent town and is the center of local transportation, government, and business. The 19th century settlement was built on the sugar industry, and Lihue still features the island's only active sugar mill. Kalapaki beach is near by. Carolyn wanted to find one of the famous Nihau Shell Leis made on the island of Nihau by native Hawaiians but didn’t have any luck.

We have visited this beautiful island before on our 2010 South Pacific cruise. We rented a car and drove to the canyon which is stunning. We also drove along the South and East coasts visiting a coffee plantation, the Opaeka'a Falls and the Wailua River. Opaeka'a means "rolling shrimp" in Hawaiian, a reference to the freshwater crustaceans that were once plentiful here. These spectacular falls cascade down a soaring volcanic-rock cliff.

Today Carolyn has reserved a car at the airport Enterprise location for us. They offer a shuttle to the office and back to the port. It is waiting for us when we get off the ship about 10:15AM.

By 10:45AM we are loading the GPS for our planned stops on the north side of the island. There is only one main road and even it doesn’t go completely around the island so it is really hard to get lost, but the traffic is heavy and we don’t want to have to do a lot of backtracking to find places.

Our first stop is Kealia Beach overlook. There are several beach parks like this one open to the public with lifeguards along the East Coast. They are very popular today. Our ultimate goal is Nanalia Bay about 30 miles and 90 minute drive from the port. The drive is nice with glimpses of the beaches and ocean on our right and the Wainiha Ridge and towering Mt. Wai’ale’ale, 5,146 ft and the wettest place on earth with an average rainfall of 460 inches a year, on the left.

Dick collects battlefields, but Carolyn collects lighthouses. Today it is Carolyn’s turn as we stop at Kilauea Lighthouse. It is located on a peninsula that is protected as the Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge. We actually get a double whammy as the area is teaming with nesting Red-footed Booby, Laysan albatros and Wedge-tailed shear water seabirds.

From there we head to Hanalei Bay. It is a beautiful bay nearly 3 miles across and has been featured in many Hollywood films including South Pacific. We also stop and visit historic Waioli Hulia Church established by missionaries in the 1830's.

Headed back to the port about 2PM, we make a fast stop at the local Walmart. We forgot to get snickers in Honolulu and we know from experience that they are very hard to come by as we head West.  The car rental and return was painless and we are shuttled back to the ship by 3:30PM.

Time to work on the pictures for a while. Then Dick goes top side to watch sail away at 5PM. Carolyn watches from our balcony and catches the sunset. A surfboarder tries to mate with the Navigator as we move into open water from the harbor. The captain blows the horn and the pilot boat heads to the front of the ship to help the rider get out of the way.....what was the guy thinking!!!!

  That tiny black spot ahead and just to the left of the pilot boat is the surfer. Picture from         deck 6 just behind and below the Bridge.
Dick brings cocktails back to the room to have as we dress for dinner in the Compass Rose. Tonight Dick has a local fish, lobster bisque and escargot. Carolyn has a crab salad on avocado, tomato soup and a vegetable plate. We top dinner off with cream brulees.

On the way back to the suite, Carolyn stops at the tour desk and checks to see if we cleared the wait list for the Atlantis sub ride on Maui tomorrow. Yea, we did and actually got the later departure. Tomorrow’s tour has been all over the place. Carolyn signed up for the Sub ride way back in June and wait listed for a Regent choice tour that sounded interesting. We cleared that wait list in September, but Regent forced us to drop one of the tours, so Carolyn canceled the sub.

Well, when we got on the ship there was a notice that the choice tour itinerary was changed. We didn’t like the changes so canceled the choice tour and wait listed for the sub tour. Thankfully it all worked out and we are doing the submarine tour. Tomorrow should be a nice day. It is our last day in Hawaii.

Tonight the ship is really moving around so it should be a good sleeping night!