Hawaiian Island Cruise

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Friday, 6 January 2023 - Took an excursion to Waimea Canyon on Kauai known as the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific," saw dramatic red ridges and valleys including Waipoo Falls, stopped briefly in the town of Waimea, then sailed around the northern end of Kauai seeing the rugged Na Pali Coast from the ship before celebrating the last night on board with dinner in the French restaurant.

hawaii2023 — As we made our way to the canyon, we stopped at Spouting Horn Park to see a lava blowhole spit water up into the air.

hawaii2023 — Kawaikini peak - typically shrouded in clouds as it rains there 350 days a year.

hawaii2023 — Waimea Canyon, also known as the Grand Canyon of the Pacific, is a large canyon, approximately ten miles long and up to 3,000 feet deep.

hawaii2023 — Waimea is Hawaiian for "reddish water", a reference to the erosion of the canyon's red soil.

hawaii2023 — Beautiful canyon walls and valleys.

Online and even at the site, people were comparing it to the Grand Canyon, and several said it was bigger/better. While beautiful, especially with the green and red the Grand Canyon is 20 times longer and 2 times deeper and 25 times wider.

As Arizonians, we can assure you the Grand Canyon is much more spectacular.

hawaii2023 — Waipoo Falls is impressive as it drops 800 feet in the corner of Waimea Canyon. Again the comparison to Havasupai falls in the Grand Canyon is no comparison.

hawaii2023 — The beautiful red ridges of Waimea Canyon.

hawaii2023 — Virginia Ann, Cal, and Liz Brooks at Waimea Canyon.

hawaii2023 — For reasons known only to someone at Norwegian Cruise Lines we stopped at the small town of Waimea for 30 minutes. There was little to do - shop at two stores or grab food to go at one of several small restaurants.

Cal wandered to the seashore and shot a picture of the island of Niihau. Elizabeth Sinclair purchased Niihau in 1864 for $10,000 (equivalent to about $170,000 today) from the Kingdom of Hawaii. Somewhere around 100 Hawaiians live there today.

hawaii2023 — The side of a t-shirt shop in Waimea.

hawaii2023 — Remnants of a sugar processing mill in Waimea.

hawaii2023 — The inside of the sugar factory ruins.

hawaii2023 — Back on the ship we left port early for a rare daytime sail. The purpose was to show us the northern end of Kauai which is not accessible via a road.

We sailed by some of the same places we visited the day before - here is the Kilauea Lighthouse from the sea.

hawaii2023 — The sun was blocked by low-lying clouds as we sailed around the island. On the left is Kauai then low island of Niihau and a tiny speck to the right is the uninhabited island of Lehua.

hawaii2023 — This is the view our ship sailed north for us to see. The ship moved in rather close and slowed way down as we traveled along the primitive coastline.

This is the north part of Na Pali Coast State Wilderness Park. Na Pali means "High Cliffs" which raise nearly 4,000 feet above the Pacific Ocean.

hawaii2023 — Clouds hid the tops of the peaks along the shore.

hawaii2023 — Beautiful light as the sun tried to reach the island. It was clear over our ship.

hawaii2023 — Hard to imagine the lava and force of the volcano creating these giant cliffs.

hawaii2023 — As the oldest island and the one with the most rain erosion has crafted a magnificent sculpture.

hawaii2023 — The sun was low enough to illuminate the bottoms of the cliffs.

hawaii2023 — The tops stayed in the clouds.

hawaii2023 — While the ship was "close" it was still a good ways out making it difficult to see all the waterfalls coming out of the mountains. We were able to spot this one by Kalalau Beach.

hawaii2023 — There is a hiking trail across this series of valleys.

hawaii2023 — We were on the 13th deck of the ship when we spotted a whale going the opposite direction. From our high vantage you could see the whale below water.

hawaii2023 — The whale did not stay long diving under the surface.

hawaii2023 — Colorful cliffs reach into the clouds.

hawaii2023 — Massive lava flows created these ridges and time has made them so sharp.

hawaii2023 — The sun sets on the northern end of Kauai.

hawaii2023 — A closeup view of the red cliffs and a small waterfall.

hawaii2023 — Sunset with the island of Niihau in the distance.

hawaii2023 — For last night on the ship we celebrated in the French restaurant. Melissa Radke, Liz Brooks, Mary Holman, Virginia Ann, and Cal all had a wonderful time together.

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