Grand Canyon of the Pacific

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Blog 36



Nawiliwili, Hawai’i, April 30, 2018 – Weather forecast: partly sunny, temperature 26°C, wind 8kts (3 Beaufort), 76% humidity – overnight wind 23kts – 2m long rolling swell



Our arrival at the island of Kauai was a little delayed this morning and as a result our departure times for tours was out of synch, which annoyed a number of guests.



Kauai is the oldest island in the Hawai’ian chain and by far the wettest. The island experiences 400 to 600 inches of rainfall per year. Even though there are eleven rivers flowing down from the mountains devastating floods do happen just like the one a month ago.



Sugar production was the island’s primary industry up until a decade ago until the mills closed down, now tourism has taken over. Coffee plantations have taken over the former sugar fields and are producing a very flavorful product.



Today we opted to take in another natural wonder, Waimea Canyon, also known as the Grand Canyon of the Pacific. It was given that name by Mark Twain. Transportation today was on a regular 44 passenger bus so the ride was much more comfortable. We drove along the coast with our first stop at a local souvenir shop that had free samples of the local coffee. Following another switchback road, we wound our way up the mountain range into the interior of the island to the viewing area at 3,400 feet above sea level. From there we had a clear unsurpassed view of the 2,857-foot-deep canyon and majestic twin waterfall on the opposite canyon wall.



After our canyon visit we were taken to the Kauai Coffee Company plantation for an introduction on how they grow and process coffee plus a tasting of their various blends and flavours. One tree produces one pound of coffee per year.



Our last photo stop was at Kauai’s Spouting Horn blowhole. The blowhole is a former lava tube found beneath an overhang of lava rock. When the tide and wave action is right the tube fills with water which is then force out of the top in a geyser.



Due to the late departure of some of the tours we all seemed to arrive back at the pier at the same time which caused a long lineup to go through the Border Protection security screening. Sail away was early today as the harbour is very small and navigating out of it is tricky. As it was a daylight departure a great number of us enjoyed the event on the open decks.



This is the last blog from this voyage. We now have five sea days before disembarkation in Vancouver, British Columbia.

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Photos

1
Destination

2
Green canyon

3
Helicopter tour

4
Double waterfall

5
Canyon colours

6
Coffee tree

7
Coffee beans

8
Plumeria

9
Blow hole in action