Kauai...Sort Of

 Monday, February 5, 2024

For the last several months, I had been booking (and re-booking) rental cars for each port through the Discount Hawaii Car Rental website. The website is easy to use, has the best prices available and also lets spouses drive for free. I kept checking prices and if I saw a better deal, I just cancelled one reservation and made a new one. For Kauai, I chose to rent from Payless because they are one of the few agencies that still run a free shuttle from the cruise port to their airport rental location. No money is required in advance so there is no risk if the ship isn't able to dock...or your plans change. My rate for a compact rental car was $66.15.

We could see the island of Kauai when we went to breakfast at the buffet. It seemed like the ship had stopped moving while we were eating and I wondered if perhaps the dock was on the other side of the ship and we were getting close. About then the captain made an announcement that the swells were too big and waves were washing over the breakwater in the Lihue harbor. The entrance into the harbor requires an S-curve and with the rough conditions it just wouldn't be safe to try and dock. Kauai was cancelled. 😢 (I was thankful I didn't have to worry about losing money on our car rental reservation.)

But the captain continued with his announcement saying that he wanted to try and make up for the loss of the port so he was going to go around to the other side of the island and sail past the Na Pali coast before continuing on to our next port of Honolulu. He had tried to find a way to dock somewhere else or get to Honolulu earlier, but there were no piers available for a ship the size of the Koningsdam.

Leaving Lihue and starting around the island towards the Na Pali Coast.

Since we were traveling clockwise around the island, the land view was off of the starboard (right) side. That meant the view from our port side balcony was...just water. The Koningsdam was due to reach the scenic coastline around 2 pm and I decided maybe staking out a spot on a public deck might be a wise move. So later on in the morning Bob and I went to the aft pool deck and found a couple of loungers where we could have a view of the Na Pali coastline as we sailed past. It was chilly and windy but we stayed put.

Somebody was cold.

It was comical to watch these ladies try to control their sunhats in the wind.

The southern coastline of Kauai.

Around 11:30, Bob went to the NY Pizza & Deli and got us each a Rueben sandwich for lunch. By the time we finished eating, the ship had rounded the southern end of Kauai and we were headed north up the western side. With the change in direction, the wind speeds dropped drastically and it got much warmer.

Once we reached the Na Pali coastline the captain turned the ship so we went back to our cabin thinking the view would be good from our balcony. But in a short time, the captain turned the ship again and continued sailing. Instead of going back up to the pool deck, we went down to the promenade deck (3) and had a great view from there (although there aren't any chairs or lounges and it was hard on my knee to just stand.) 

I am sorry that we weren't able to dock and spend the day exploring Kauai as we had planned, but at the same time felt very fortunate that we were able to see the Na Pali Coast. So beautiful!!

Promenade Deck

The Na Pali Coast is only visible from the water, the air or by taking a very long strenuous hike.

Bob stayed on the promenade deck and walked while I went back to the cabin to shower and dress for dinner. Shortly before we left the room to go for dinner I glanced out of the balcony door and saw a rainbow over the coastline. Although the skies had been blue over the ship all day, the island had been draped in clouds and haze...perfect conditions for a rainbow. I snapped photos as the rainbow just kept getting bigger and more vivid.

The beginning of the rainbow...

Becoming more vivid.

A full rainbow!

The rest of our evening was spent listening to the country hits set at Billboard Onboard followed by the Step One Dance Company performing Musicology...a show that we had seen previously on another cruise.

Before crawling into bed, I tried to get organized for our day in Honolulu. Bob continued on his sports movie binge by watching Remember the Titans while I updated my blog notes. The BB Kings band had the night off so we drifted off to sleep in beautiful silence.