This morning I got an early start. I left the ship at 7am and started to explore the north part of the island.
The first stop was for a lighthouse.
While driving back from the lighthouse to the main road I stopped for a few photos.
while on the main road towards Hanalei pier there was another amazing viewpoint of a valley in front of the mountains.
I drove to Hanalei pier. It was reconstructed recently, but was originally made from wood. The view was spectacular with the mountains in the background.
On the way to and back from Hanalei pier I crossed a small one-lane bridge with wooden planks. Apparently it was rebuilt as a duplicate to the original bridge that was there over 100 years because the locals didn’t want a large bridge to increase the number of vehicles coming into the area (or the size of the vehicles).
I attempted to snorkel, but I didn’t find many fish and the current was very strong.
I made my way to Opaeka’a Falls. It had a good viewpoint from the parking lot.
Across the road from Opaeka’a Falls was the only navigable river in Hawai’i.
Finally I visited Wailamu Falls. I climbed up on the wall to get a better picture. There was a faint rainbow near the bottom of the falls.
I returned the rental car and took an Uber back to the ship.
I had a brief lunch before the sailaway at the buffet.
I set up both GoPro cameras for the time lapse of Na Pali Coast. The view from the ship was great.
Tons of pictures of the Na Pali coast….. hard to describe how majestic the experience was.
I had dinner in the Skyline main dining room again tonight. I had the gumbo to start, it was amazing…. even better than what I’ve had in Louisiana.
After dinner I had to pack since it was the last night of the cruise. 7 night cruises seem so short now, especially this one that has no sea days. Overall it was a great trip, although it was far from a typical cruise. This was much more independent than a typical cruise. I used rental cars in all the locations and adventured on my own rather than take excursions. Although excursions cost more money they require much less planning and provide a lot of detailed information about the places you visit. Excursions also make good use of time ashore because you aren’t searching for places to eat, and don’t zig-zag back and forth between places.
