Kauai's Waimea Canyon, South Shore and Sunset Sail Away . . .

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Today we’re in Kauai. I started the day off with a helicopter ride over the island. But by 10am, I was finished with the helicopter tour, leaving me with another 6 hours to explore what has become my favourite island in Hawaii. Some of the girls from the ship met me at the rental car agency at the airport and then we headed out to explore the South side of the island, our main goal being Waimea Canyon.

It took about 45 minutes to reach the little town at the base of the road going up to the canyon. We stopped to grab some snacks at a store, then headed up the winding road to the top of the canyon.

Waimea Canyon is known as the Grand Canyon of the Pacific. I haven’t seen the Grand Canyon, but Waimea is pretty incredible. There are 2 main lookout spots along the road driving along the top of the canyon. We parked at both, then took the walkways to the overlooks. The landscape is so rough, rugged, dry. The colours of it are incredible: green plantlife growing, red dirt everywhere, black and grey rocks. Photos never do justice, but they’ll give you an idea.

We drove to the far end of the canyon road where there is a viewpoint looking over the ocean and at the far West side of the Na Pali Coast. Unfortunately for us, the clouds had rolled in so our view was nothing but white. So we just took some photos with the clouds!

There are two roads that lead from the highway to the canyon drive and we took the second one back down. There were so many beautiful spots where we couldn’t resist pulling over to take more pictures and admire the view.

We took the highway back towards Nawiliwili Harbour, making a detour down Tunnels Road. Earlier today, I flew over Tunnels Road on the helicopter and I knew it would be cool to see. Eucalyptus trees grow over the road creating a tunnel of trees. It was so beautiful. But the road was so busy! Stopping to admire and take photos was a real challenge.

Our final stop of the day was at Wailua Falls. I’d also seen the falls from above, with people lined up alongside. It was cool to then be at the sidelines up close to the falls. They were beautiful.

Then it was time to return the rental car and head back to the ship for work. My time on Kauai was coming to its end. Jenny and I had our teen activities scheduled together. Afterwards, as the ship was sailing away from Nawiliwili and the sun was setting over the island, we decided we couldn’t just walk away from the view. It was very windy and therefore very cold, but we sat on the back deck of the ship for an hour, watching as the sun sank lower and lower, colouring the sky above Kauai.

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