Kauai, HI

Our first port disappointment! When we got back to our room last night, we had a notice that our excursion to go tubing the ditch had been canceled and refunded. We were both really looking forward to tubing the irrigation canal through caves. That would have been so cool! I scrambled down to the excursions desk early the next morning for more info and to see what else might still be available. Tubing they said was canceled for weather. What? It was beautiful out! Aargh! Oh well, time to make lemonade… They still had openings on the Wailua River Fern Grotto boat tour so I booked us on that. It was only a few hours and would leave us all afternoon to do some gift shopping. Hmm. Not quite as good but definitely a good alternative.

Back on a bus again to the marina. George sneaked into my backpack to avoid being left behind again. That George! We arrived and were directed to the boats. There was live entertainment on board as we made our way up the river past canoes and paddleboards. The grotto is a short walk from the dock up a nice path past a stream and waterfall. It is a beautiful area. There is a deck area to stand and look at the grotto. Ferns were everywhere.

Afterward, the bus took us to see Opaekaa waterfalls. There were chickens all around. Hawaii has a lot of loose chickens running around. Their coops get damaged by storms and the chickens escape and setup house elsewhere. This guy below was posing for tourists. LOL

Back at the ship, we hopped a free local shuttle to Hilo Hattie’s for shopping. They gave us shell necklaces and we found a few goodies for the grandkids and ourselves there. Bernie got a lovely Hawaiian shirt for herself. I got a bamboo cutting board with the Hawaiian Islands burned into it.

We spotted a KFC across the street. It is very hard to find one of those in Texas and we both needed a break from the rich ship food so we had lunch there before hopping the shuttle again. With so many free-ranging chickens around, the KFC should be well stocked!

We stopped off at the edge of town just before the pier for a little more shopping and to see the beach. It was fun going through the little stores. I wish we could have spent some time on the beach there. It looked very nice.

For more pics click here.