Kauai — Almost Rhymes with “Hawaii”

Pilot boat approaching MS Oosterdam in Nawiliwili Bay, Kauai

Our final Hawaiian Islands stop was on Saturday, May 3, in the Kauai port of Nawiliwili.  But we weren’t destined to spend much time here, as Ursula had us scheduled for yet another excursion.

Nawiliwili Bay, Kauai

After we docked Ursula and I headed out to join up with our tour group.  From there we boarded our tour bus and headed first to the Koloa district for a view of the famous Spouting Horn, which didn’t disappoint too badly despite less than optimal tides and surf for maximum spouting.

Spouting Horn

If we had been luckier in our timing we might have seen this:

Wikipedia image of Spouting Horn from the article linked above

The shoreline here is very picturesque, with black lava rocks and beautiful blue waters.

Kauai Lava Shoreline

While strolling over to Spouting Horn we ran across this future KFC serving pictured below.  He seemed very far away from South Carolina, but then Gamecocks really do have a lousy sense of direction.  They keep winding up in Columbia when they actually wish they were in Clemson.

How a University of South Carolina fan appears just before getting plucked in Death Valley by the Clemson Tigers

I’ll get to our goal on this excursion in a moment, but first I’d like to say a word about a wonderful place where we stopped on our way back to the ship.  That would be the Kauai Coffee Company.  No, they’re not today’s sponsor.  They’re just good enough for me to mention that you should stop there and sample their island-grown coffees.  You won’t be disappointed, and you’ll be bringing back several varieties of their flavored and unflavored coffees both for yourself and your friends.

Kauai Coffee Company — great island-grown coffees

So, what was our goal on this road trip?  It was the Grand Canyon of the Pacific — Waimea Canyon State Park.

Waimea Canyon Lookout

Alas, the weather worked against me, but I was able to compensate for mist and rain with a little digital darkroom magic.

Waimea Canyon State Park

We’ll see more of Waimea Canyon on Wednesday, but until then enjoy this panoramic stitch of images taken at the lookout point:

Waimea Canyon Panorama