LIHUE

Nawiliwili Bay

Kauai has the reputation of being the most beautiful of the Hawaiian Islands, and when the fog lifted during our visit and we could see the views I would be inclined to agree with them.

We had decided to hire a car and visit Waimea Canyon which was only about an hours drive from the town of Lihue, on the bay of Nawiliwili (what a great name!) where our ship was berthed.

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, located on the western side of Kauaʻi in the Hawaiian Islands of the United States. Waimea is Hawaiian for “reddish water”, a reference to the erosion of the canyon’s red soil.

After an hours’ drive to the bottom of the canyon we started the 3,000 feet climb so we could feast our eyes on the stunning scenery that the guide books had promised us. However when we reached the summit we had a little bit of rain and no view at all………

Our luck began to change and as we drove back down the windy road we were able to catch glimpses of the beautiful landscape.

It certainly is a long way to come and it was a shame we only had one day to spend here as I would have loved to do a bit of hiking. We spoke to a few walkers along the way who told us it was great walking country but that they were amazed at how many people they had seen walking to the canyon floor so totally unprepared……….for example, one lady had no map, only 1/2 a litre of water and was wearing flip flops!

A truly beautiful place and eventually we got to see it at very close to its best!