Hawai'i Day 8 - Day 6 of Cruise [Kauai] ⋆ Superb Vacations

This morning the ship arrived in Kauai at about 8:00 am. The view was spectacular as the ship was arriving so I quickly grabbed my GoPro camera and set it for a time lapse video and took some pictures as well.

Time lapse video created with my GoPro

View from the ship as we were arriving in Kauai

The view kept getting better the closer we came to shore

Closer to the harbor, you can start seeing small boats in the harbor

A small lighthouse near the harbor with a resort with a golf course

The cliff and the golf course with the mountains in the background

They started allowing us off at 8:30 am. I took the rental car shuttle to Dollar and picked up another Jeep. It’s enjoyable to remove the roof with the weather always being spectacular.

I started to drive to Waimea Canyon. Along the way I stopped at the Russian Fort. I decided not to walk through the fort and continue to the Canyon.

Before reaching the official lookouts I stopped to take pictures of the neighboring islands. There was also a good unofficial lookout of the canyon.

One of the viewpoints heading up to the canyon. You can see one of the other islands in the distance

Another view looking down from the road heading to the canyon

Telephoto picture at the same location as the previous photo

It costs $5 to park at the Canyon lookouts, which is pretty reasonable.

The canyon looked like a very green and more beautiful version of the grand canyon. In fact they had many helicopters flying through just like part of the grand canyon. There was also a very nice waterfall visible in the canyon.

Still the first lookout, just in a different direction

If you look closely you can see the waterfall in the photo

Another photo…. you could drop your camera and accidentally take a great photo from here

A better view of the waterfall from along the road

You can still see the waterfall in the photo

One of the lookouts had a deceiving hike. It said the lookout was 0.1 miles… It also said the trail intersection was 0.5 miles. I’m sure the intersection was about a mile away, and in rough terrain, up and downhill. The view was nice, but not worth the time and effort invested.

The view after the long, treacherous hike

The view from the viewpoint at the second parking location

Unfortunately the last two viewpoints were obscured by a cloud. I took pictures anyways.

You can see the clouds in the background

A flower along the edge… still no visibility in the valley

Apparently it is normal to be cloudy and rainy here…

After visiting the canyon it was time for a late lunch. I found a place called Porky’s. I had the pulled pork on top of a pork sausage on a cheese bun with pineapple and sweet and spicy sauce. It was fabulous.

Porky’s… and they also had a shaved ice place inside, but I was too full for shaved ice

Pulled pork on a pork sausage with sauce and pineapple. It was delicious.

After lunch I stopped at Kauai coffee. They had a free guided tour at 4 pm (self guided is available as well). I got to see some of the orchard and the tree shaker that collects the beans from the trees.

You can also take a self-guided tour by following the marks in the sidewalk

The next stop was the spouting horn. This is a hole in the lava that shoots water in the air like a blowhole by the waves coming ashore.

It was nearly sunset, so I drove to Popei beach. There was one sea turtle on the beach. Eventually a few others came out of the water.

I think this is my favorite sunset photo…. no I didn’t manipulate the colors

I was holding the GoPro in my hand to take the sunset and a turtle came up out of the water

I managed to find a parking spot on the road near the ship tonight. No need for an Uber or paying for parking

For dinner I ate in the Skyline restaurant again. I had the coconut chicken tenders for a starter and the turkey and beef strips for the main because I couldn’t decide. The beef strips were amazing. For dessert I had the Snickers pound cake.