Today we had a very early start, with a 5am alarm call and bags by the door at 5.45am! Yikes! We had to meet the bus at 6.45am for transfer to Honolulu Airport as we were transferring to Kauai (our second island). Security was pretty painless - apart from my usual humiliation of riding the ghost train as Di likes to call it. I'm not fooled, I'm being passed through the airport conveyor x-ray scanner. It's undignified! We were soon at the gate and waiting for our flight. Fortunately, I got some hash browns from Burger King that kind of made up for it!
It turns out we were flying on a Boeing 717! I didn't even know there was a 717, but it seems it started life as a McDonnell Douglas MD-95. It looks like a bit like an Embraer, with the two rear side-mounted engines, but it was bigger and had a two-three seat configuration. None of us were seated together (the tickets had been issued to the group apparently randomly) but that didn't matter. I saw Dave had an empty seat next to him, while I was stuck on Di's lap again, but he didn't offer it to me. Oh well, it was only for 25 minutes or so!
Blimey! They don't hang about on Hawaiian Airlines. As soon as the door shut we were taxiing. He didn't even pause before entering the runway (hope he did at least get clearance!) he just continued the roll from taxi to take-off. As soon as they could, they handed out small fruit cups or coffee, gave us five minutes to drink them, then gathered up the empties (or in the case of a lady behind me, threatened to gather them up finished or not!)
There wasn't much point taking photos - as per her usual luck, Di had managed to get a seat as far from a window as it was possible to get, being on the aisle seat on the 3-seat side of the aircraft. She is so useless! I have to say it was a nice touch by the airline when they handed out maps of Kauai. We were soon ready to land, right on time. There were no worries about collecting our baggage once we landed as Archers were taking care of that while we went off for our day out. The plan was for the baggage to go straight to the hotel while we took the scenic route. What could possibly go wrong?
A new island meant we had a new bus today and a new driver, Tino. His delivery was a lttle staccato, which took some getting used to. We started at Lihu'e, at the airport and were heading for Waimea Canyon. The people of Kauai are apparently more laid back - it is the least developed and least populated of the islands. Sadly, pineapple is no longer commercially grown in Hawaii and very little sugar cane grown and processed.
Our first stop was to view an area of Kauai which was used in the opening sequences of Jurassic Park. It was certainly an attractive spot.
Next stop was in Waimea Canyon State Park
at Waimea Canyon Lookout, which was at 3400 feet. They claim that Waimea Canyon is the Grand Canyon of Hawaii and they are right! The road up to the overlook is pretty twisted and on the way Tino gave us a whole bunch of facts about Hawaii. There's too much to bore you with here so go look it up yourself. Or better yet, go visit Hawaii!
It was very busy in the canyon with one helicopter after another whizzing through. It very nearly rained on us in the Canyon but changed it's mind and by the time we were back down at sea level the sun was back out again. Phew.
We stopped for lunch in the town of Waimea.
We had an hour to wander the small town, where Captain Cook landed when he discovered Hawaii. They have a statue of him that we took a look at. He arrived at Waimea in January 1778 and gradually word of the port spread around the world, putting Hawaii on the world trade map.
We spent some time in the supermarket where we got some snacks for lunch. We sat out of the heat of the sun near a mango tree while we waited to rejoin the bus. Not the most exciting of stops, but bus travellers have to eat!
Our next stop of the day was at Spouting Horn Beach Park. Here they have a blowhole that blows a plume of sea water into the air. When the waves are forced over a lava shelf, the water is squirted through weaknesses and holes in the lava, resulting in the spouting phenomenon.
Here it is in action.
While we were looking out at the waves, someone spotted a surfing sea turtle. Seriously - he's on some kind of board!
Another stop took us to Opaekaa Falls. It is one of the few falls that can be seen from the road and it flows all year round, so there's a small car park here. We didn't stop for long, but it was certainly worth it.
We carried on to our hotel, the Courtyard by Marriott Kauai,. That night we were going to an included luau. This hotel was great. Not only did it have Wi-Fi, but there was a good amount of towels and toiletries. To be fair, the view wasn't that great, but once you went out the back you were literally right on the beach. Even the pool was nice. Pam had shown us part of the town on the way into the hotel and it was only a short walk away so it was in a great location, with restaurants nearby.
We didn't need a restaurant for our first evening on Kauai, however, as we were going to Smiths Tropical Luau which was an inclusive part of our tour.
It was just a short drive from the hotel to our evening's entertainment. The first thing we got to do was get onboard a tram for a twenty-minute drive around the beautiful gardens. While we were waiting to set off a number of peacocks were displaying - mating season was upon us. Gotta say, the girls didn't seem that impressed!
Once we set off we saw all kinds of tropical plants - bamboo, coconuts, fruit and flowers. There are a number of villages representing Polynesian areas.
Once the tour was done, we all gathered around, with a glass of iced water to drink, as they demonstrated the cooking of a pig in an imu. The imu is where a pig is cooked underground, using heated lava rocks. The rocks are heated and placed within and outside of a wrapped pig, together with taro leaves for moisture. The whole thing is then cooked in the underground pit, having been covered over with earth.
They then got a couple of guys, dressed in native outfits to blow a conch shell, before carrying out the task of digging out the pig, peeling away the leaves and removing the rocks, and placing the pork onto a tray. Apparently this would be chopped into pulled pork for tonight's buffet - available as seconds or thirds (they'd already got a head start on the first round).
We were then greeted by the man in charge - the Mr Smith, in the orange Hawaiian shirt, above left - apparently the family had an English father (Mr Smith) and a Hawaiian mother, so, despite having the name Smith they really are Hawaiian too! He told us the way the luau works - we could only take two drinks...AT A TIME! We could have as many passes at the food as we could(once everyone had had a first crack at it) and that we should enjoy ourselves (sounded pretty likely!) As well as the readily accessible mai tais and non-alcoholic Hawaiian punch drinks on offer (we opted for the mai tais - big surprise) but there was also a full bar for wine and even spirits/liquor. So it was all included, all you can drink - just no more than two at a time (it's Hawaiian law!)
There were a couple of tables reserved for the Cosmos/Archers group so we found some seats, then grabbed some mai tais. While waiting for our turn at the buffet, they had an Hawaiian band on stage (yep, Mr Smith again, with family members).
Then it was our turn to go get food. There were six lines available, all with the same set of food so the lines never got longer than a couple of people. There was salad, lettuce, some fabulous salad dressing, pulled pork, teriyaki beef, chicken and four or five types of bread. Even veggie Di was able to get macaroni cheese salad, bread and mashed potato. It wasn't much but she seemed happy enough.
Throughout dinner, along with the other drinks, coffee was also free-flowing and as it was all-you-can-eat we just had to go round again. It would've been rude not to. We couldn't manage a third time though as we were already stuffed. We still had to hit the dessert table - there was coconut cake (very nice), rice pudding (not bad, needed more sugar), fresh fruit - melon, pineapple,papaya and banana (good, although Di and I don't like banana) as well as jelly/jello and a weird white coconut jelly-type thing. I wasn't so keen on that.
I really can't complain about the dinner - it was damned good. Towards the end of dinner they got some willing volunteers up on stage to learn how to hula dance (I kept well out of it) and once the eating was done, we made our way down to the theater. We were amongst the last, so there wasn't much choice of seating by the time we arrived.
There followed a nice little show of Polynesian dancing and music, with a series of performances. Trouble was, we'd had a 5am start and a bunch of mai tais, so I was a little bit sleepy and I probably didn't see the whole show, which lasted about forty-five minutes. But overall, it was pretty good, not excellent, but I didn't need excellent, it wasn't about that.
Show over, we made our way back to the entrance and the bus. For those that couldn't walk too far, they had transportation. I think most everyone I asked fully enjoyed our evening at Smith's Tropical Luau, hence my five Ted rating. It could have been cheesy and it really wasn't. The mai tais probably weren't the strongest in the world, but there were plenty of them, or anything else you might want to drink. Our host was ever-present and personable, talking to everyone, appearing on stage, we wanted for nothing. I have no complaints at all! Loved it.
Back at the hotel we were totally zonked. Our decision to go to bed was further aided when the power went out around midnight. We decided that was our cue to sleep.
