Walmea Canyon and Wailua River tour

Spouting Horn Blow hole at Poipu on the south shore of Kauai

These are tiny shells that they use to make special Lei, for a wedding Lei of 10 strings some 1000 shells per string are used. The shells are only found on the island of Niihau where only native Niihau Hawaians live in accord with their traditions - no electricity, cars etc etc. All very pre-European lifestyle, visitors are not allowed and the natives only come to Kauai as and when they wish to sell their wares and pick up mail and necessities that they cannot grow or obtain from the land.

Poynciana tree just outside the shop with the above Lei's, in a town called Hanapepe

Red Cardinal photographed at Waimea Canyon

Hawaii's answer to The Grand Canyon. Very spectacular

Fern Grotto on the Wailua river

14th July 2010

Pick up outside of hotel at 05.00 hours and off to the airport again. This time to the island of Kauai for a trip to see the Waimea Canyon. Had a bit of trouble with the tour bus and joked that the driver must have been on the big island and appropriated some lava rock. The superstition is that if you remove lava rock from the big island without due ceremony bad luck will dog you. Had two Spanish girls on the trip - neurologists on a convention in Ohau island plus a neurotic female from New York who was a right pain in the ass. I had the "pleasure" in sitting next to her on the plane and on the return trip she did not say a word. Must have been my magnetic personality :-) anyway the two Spanish lasses more that made up with plenty of laughs and chat, off to Scotland in a few weeks time to sample whiskeys - ohhh enjoy.

However changed bus and off to see the island. We were shown Norfolk or Cook pines, both yellow and red shower trees and various cacti plants all of which are non native.

First stop was the Spouting Horn blowhole. Quite spectacular and performed well for us. Of greater interest was the sea turtles that were bobbing up and down in the surf, too far away for a photo.

Back in the bus and a short drive we stopped to look up a side valley where the Hanapere river flows, a pretty good view and an idea of what we would see later on in the day. The driver had been explaining about Niiham island which could be seen off shore, whilst it is owned by one of the big post European families the rights of the native people are respected and no visitors allowed. The islanders do look to the other island for potential partners for their offspring but have a strict rule in that if the male outsider is not good enough they are rejected from the island, all females can stay and find another husband if the first marriage fails. One of their exports are beautiful Leis and we were show a private collection, see photo. Recently the islanders were commissioned to make a wedding Lei out of these tiny shells of a pink colour, the cost was $50,000.

Apparently Kauai is know for it's sea salt which due to the very red nature of the soil is also of a red colour. They still have salt pans close to the shore which are used occasionally.

After lunch at one of the golf clubs we were taken up into Waimea Canyon (Wai meaning fresh and Mai meaning red, Kai would indicate salt water). As you can see from the photos it is a spectacular place. As the guide notes say this rivals the Grand Canyon, it is some 10 miles long, 1 mile wide at it's widest point and 3500 feet deep. Carved out of volcanic deposits and lava rock by wind and rain over thousands of years. Had been told that there was only one raptor on the islands, a hawk but saw a number of large birds soaring throughout the canyon. Told that they were Tropic birds, large, white with long tails - very graceful. Did manage to get a photograph of a Red Cardinal after several attempts. Also very lucky to see a Hawaiian Owl, bit like a Barn Owl and the driver commented that it was the first owl he had seen for 10 years!!

One of the points that all the drivers had made was that many of the plants and trees are introduced but in the car park the native Sandlewood tree grows, good to see something that was native to the island.

Would have liked to stay longer to see the differing shades of colour as the sun moved across the sky but we had other things to do. However as we had some time available before our boat trip we visited a place on the shore that was built by the Europeans for loading the sugar cane onto their ships for export. Only the piled substructure remains as hurricanes had blown away all the superstructure. As sugar cane is no longer king the wharfs are no longer in use. Great to walk the walkways and look down into the crystal clear water to watch the fish - no turtles though.

The driver showed us a small low growing plant whose white flower appears to have been cut in half. In accord with Hawaiian legend the other half of the flower can be found on a tree in the mountains.

Then on to view a waterfall set back off the road side up a small valley.

Time had moved on so we reached our second main event of the day, a trip along the Wailua river to the fern grotto. We were treated to a 2 mile river cruise up Hawaii's only navigable river in a fairly unique shallow bottomed boat. Unique because of the design of the power unit at the rear of the boat. The tour was started by the Smith (get everywhere these Smiths) family in 1946 with a row boat and outboard engine. One gets to see some beautiful scenery along the way, entertainment is provided by the family with two of the grand-daughters showing us how to do the hula dance. Talk about putting your left leg in, left leg out and turn it all about!!!. On the return trip we all had a go enmasse, great laugh.

The fern grotto was disappointing as the ferns are recovering from a hurricane of 12 years ago. Apparently this ripped out much of the surrounding trees and bushes as well as much of the fern growth around and in the cave entrance. They are growing back but these ferns are slow growers. We were treated to the song Blue Hawaii whilst at the grotto by two of the Smith family, many many celebs have visited these island and plenty of films shot on Kauai, Elvis was especially mentioned. Back on the boat we were royally entertained by the family with native song and dance, the grandad playing the guitar and blowing on a large conch shell. He told us that this was a family heirloom now as he had personally used this shell on the Elvis film where blue hawaii was sung. Hip hip hurray.

Sadly back to the airport and back to the hotel arriving around 21.00 hours - a long day but enjoyable.