Kaua'i -- Wednesday, 11/02/11

The Lush Island of Kaua'i!

Ninini Point Lighthouse.

We slept with our balcony door closed last nite because the outside air felt so hot and sticky. Arose at 6 when the sky lightened. After breakfast, we walked up to the Sky Deck and were greeted by a majestic rainbow over Nawiliwili, where we were to dock at approx 8 am. The shore mountains were shrouded in clouds and mist that soon dissipated.

We had to chop-chop to get ready for our beach snorkel excursion.  We met on the dock at 8:30, with 21 excursionists altogether, plus two guides.  We rode in two shuttle vans to their place to be outfitted with "shortie" wet suits, masks, fins, and snorkels.  Can I tell you that we all looked real cute!  Jimmy said I didn't need to post the picture of us in our outfits!

The vans drove south to Po'ipū, where we "explored the island's underwater wonderland on a guided snorkel adventure."  We must have spent an hour and a half snorkeling over coral in crystalline waters that were teeming with tropical fish!  As seen in the pictures below, I got to hold AND pet an octopus in my hand, which was simply over the top for me!  When Paul first picked it out of it's hole, she (it was a girl) emitted enough ink to fill an ink well, but she soon calmed down.

 

Above right, I held a giant sea cucumber (dumb-looking thing) and right away, I had bright yellow and black fish come to nibble on it; in effect, eating out of my hand.  We saw a variety of stunningly colorful fish, from tiny to big.  Jimmy and I and our guide, Paul, were the last ones out of the water.  This counts as one of THE best adventures of my life.  I'd never snorkeled before and was afraid to put my face in the water, till I could hold onto my rock (Jimmy), and then once I saw the underwater beauty, I could have stayed in all morning.  I absolutely loved it.  Rain showered down on us once or twice -- who cared? -- we were in the water, for Pete's sake.

Light snacks were served afterwards, and we were shuttled back to our ship, everybody chattering on about how cool this excursion was.

After getting cleaned up, we took the free shuttle to the town of Nawiliwili. Love the rainbows that seem to pop up all the time! Jimmy and I walked the beautiful Marriott gardens and beach. We even shopped a bit -- wow!

Ooooh, nice pool!

The Garden Island:  Colorful Hibiscus, Gingers,

Bird-of-paradise, Jungle Geraniums and hundreds more.

Hawaiian Geese (Nene) and Black-necked Swans.

We returned to our ship and watched her depart around 5 pm, dodging raindrops, of course and with an escort "doing donuts!"  Another flawless rainbow framed the mountains; we saw too many today to count.  Eventually we had a delicious dinner and we were hungry! Tired, too.  We could easily spend a week (or a month!) here, and hope to return someday. This was THE B.E.S.T. Day!!!

Next up:  Maui, mañana, approx 7 am.