Day 7—Nawiliwili, Kauai
Christmas Day! I woke up and remembered it was Christmas and got a little teary thinking about all the great Christmas’s in the past that my husband and I had shared. Even thought about just holing up in my room and not go off on the excursion tour I had planned, but decided I needed to get out and make the best of it.
Had breakfast out on the Sea View Deck outside the Lido since we weren’t scheduled to arrive in Kauai until 10:00. Called my son and my parents. Also, saw all the same people I keep running into in the mornings—people are definitely creatures of habit, and I am too it seems since I go the same places around the same times.
There was another beautiful sunrise again, but cloudy. Kauai is called the garden island and it was easy to see why as we approached. It was green and extremely lush.
As we approached the island, the cruise director made an announcement that he wanted to inform the passengers that there seems to be an incident they were monitoring and wanted us to be prepared for. Apparently, the captain and bridge crew were seeing something on the radar that appeared to be a large object and several smaller objects and would informed us once they understood the nature of the radar sightings. About 5 minutes later, the cruise director stated they were in communications with the vessel and that the individual had identified himself as Santa Claus and requested permission to come aboard. The cruise directed then asked all the good boys and girls and their parents to make there way to the Mondarian Showroom since Santa Claus had asked to see them all. Apparently Santa Claus manages to find children everywhere—even on a cruise ship!
Unlike some cruise lines, there weren’t many children on board, but it was nice that the ship had Santa Claus make a visit for those few who are on board.
Once the ship docked, I made my way downstairs and waited while the ship cleared customs. I was scheduled for the “Grand Canyon of the Pacific” excursion and had to meet the group on the pier at 10:15.
It must be a popular excursion since there was a huge group of us going. They had us bunched up in a square made up of several lines and boarded the buses in groups—looked like there were six buses going all together. Jim and his wife (the couple from my dinner table) were on the same bus as I.
Our driver and tour guide was outstanding! The excursion was scheduled for 5 hours and could have been very boring if he wasn’t so knowledgeable and entertaining. It took about an hour and half to get to the canyon. Everyone was dressed in shorts and a t-shirt, but I had on a turtleneck and jeans. I think I was the only one that was comfortable both on the bus and at the canyon since the air conditioning was running on the bus and the canyon was at about 3,000 feet altitude. It was very chilly up at that altitude.
Unfortunately, we didn’t see the canyon. When we got up there, it was completely fogged in! I did climb the steps to get to the overlook and even took a picture of what I saw (clouds all inside the canyon). Our driver apologized, and then did his best to entertain us on the drive down.
When we got back on board the bus, our driving announced that he had received a call from his office and was told to let us know that the security procedures for getting back on board had changed. When the bus arrives back at port, a security officer would board and check everyone’s passport and shipboard card. At that time he would ask us for the code that would allow us to enter the pier area. Our driver informed us that to make it easy for us to remember, the code would be the state fish of Hawaii and then told us what the state fish was—humu-humu-noki-noki-aha-a-a! Then he asked us all to repeat it—of course we all butchered it and couldn’t say it at all. He had us laughing the entire rest of the trip trying to say the “secret code” that would allow us back on our ship. He cautioned us that if we couldn’t say it, we would be taken to a holding area and forced to eat poi (which apparently tastes like wallpaper paste).
We made several stops getting back—one at the inevitable souvenir shop where I bought a postcard of what I should have seen. I’ll but the picture I took in the scrapbook of what I saw along with the postcard of what I should have seen.
Our driver told us the island was overrun by—suspenseful pause—killer chickens (lol)! Apparently the very aggressive colorful chickens the Polynesians brought with them when they arrived have bred with the domestic European chickens brought over by the missionaries and the result was wild, colorful, but less aggressive chickens. And since Kauai has no mongoose or other “chicken enemies” the chickens are everywhere. Our guide told us that sometime during the tour we would have an uncontrollable urge to photograph the chicken and recommended that we just give into it and take a picture or we would return to the ship and be unable to sleep that night wishing we had a picture of the famous killer chickens of Kauai (lol). As I said, he was very entertaining throughout the entire 5 hours.
We also stopped along the coast at a place where the waves shoot out of a blow hole in the lava and goes off every minute or so—kind of like Old Faithful, but much more often. Our tour guide provided a running commentary of everything we saw as we drove by, interspersed with jokes.
Got back to the ship by around 3:45 and once the security guard had boarded and checked all of our IDs, our tour guide said, “OK, everyone, on the count of three—one, two, three.” We all yelled, “humu-humu-noki-noki-aha-a-a”! Well, maybe we didn’t really all say it, but we came close. The security guard cracked up laughing.
So despite not having seen the actual “Grand Canyon of the Pacific,” I had a good time, and yes, I did get a couple of pictures of the famous “killer chickens of Kauai.” I’m so glad I went on the excursion since it kept me from getting sad and depressed.
Once back on board, went up to the Sea View Bar deck to relax and watch the ship pull away. Neil, the deck crewmember asked what I wanted to drink and I asked him to surprise me with something cold and fruity. He brought over a layered drink, white on the bottom and red on top, that turned out to be a pina colada on the bottom and strawberry colada on top—it was very refreshing.
Dinner that night was formal again and most of my table mates had the traditional turkey or ham—since I wasn’t really “doing” Christmas, I had a shrimp cocktail and the Chilean Sea Bss with lobster ravioli. It was wonderful!!
Went back to my room by 10:00 and was asleep shortly after.
I’m writing this as we arrive in Honolulu and will post it before I get off the ship. Hope everyone had a good Christmas and that you enjoyed your time with family and friends.
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