Now back to our regularly scheduled programming! Today was our first day in our last port of the trip. This is also another of our overnight ports. Initially Adam and Amy had chosen to do the NCL excursion called Discover Kauai and Luau but when we reminded them that we'd be seeing a luau at the Polynesian Cultural Center, they reconsidered. Tonight was also the night that the ship offered excursions to the Luau Kalamaku which is usually largely attended. Some cruisers will encourage others to spend the evening instead enjoying an empty ship. We had originally decided to join them on their 2nd day pick of the Wailua River & Fern Grotto ship excursion but when they changed the first day choice to one that included the river and grotto, they changed their second day's choice to the Heaven and Earth Quest ship excursion.
Prior to the cruise, Dad had been looking into going on a flight tour while in Hawaii. Originally he found a company that takes two people and a pilot in a Red Baron style plane where the two people share the front cockpit (the pilot sits in the 2nd cockpit behind them) and contribute to operating the controls. Each cockpit is open to the elements. He was really lobbying for me to do this with him but let's just say I wasn't too disappointed when he realized the two of us together was over the weight limit for the front cockpit space. He next looked into an all day combo tour from the Air Ventures Hawaii company called the Best of Kauai Tour. To start the tour, you go on a 60 minute tour called the Northshore Limousine & Tours Kauai Sightseeing tour. The description refers to it as a photo friendly van tour so I'm guessing it's like the van we used in Maui. Then you got to take a 1 hour and 20 minute river boat ride through the Fern Grotto. The last item in the combo tour is a small plane flight that lasts 60 minutes and flies over the whole island. It's a great offering for including just about everything you'd get from the various NCL choices at $289 per person. They are also one of the few flight operators who had a higher than 250 lb. weight limit.
However, after booking it, the Air Ventures company called us a couple weeks before we left on the trip and revealed that because our then time in this port was a full day Thursday and leaving at 2PM on Friday, we couldn't do the full day tour since it wasn't offered on Thursdays. We were disappointed but agreed to switch to doing just the flight portion. It was only after this did we learn through a Pride of America Facebook group that NCL was changing the next several weeks worth of itineraries to have us stay in Kauai until 5PM for "maintenance" and we would be missing the last night sailing past the Napali coast. To make up for it, NCL gave everyone booked a $100 on board credit (OBC). In the end we decided to stick with just the flight on Thursday anyway.
Dad did briefly seek out a new tour to do on the second day but neither of us could find something that really stuck out. We decided that it was better to schedule the flight on Thursday and then we had Friday as a backup if the weather was bad. And if it worked out, we'd have Friday to enjoy being on the ship while most were off on their last tours.
When we woke up this morning, the sky was a little overcast but Air Ventures had sent an email confirming that things were still on for our flight. Since we had selected the 11AM flight, we had plenty of time in the morning to visit Cagneys for breakfast. Next to us was a large group that took up a lot of attention from the wait staff ordering and re-ordering several things so service was a bit slow today. In my effort to try everything on the menu, I asked our waiter Sid if I could get the pancakes without the Buttered Walnuts and Caramelized Bananas listed in the description. I learned my lesson from the Celebrity cruise when I asked for the extra stuff like the fruit compote to be left off and he also left off the syrup. So this time I asked for just pancakes and syrup and that was perfectly okay. After waiting a long while for our order to arrive, I noticed that one of the extra waiters trying to help this large group brought them a plate of plain pancakes. They looked at him completely clueless as to why they were brought plain pancakes and turned it down so off he went back into the kitchen. Shortly thereafter, Sid came back out and handed me my plate of plain pancakes and a small cup of syrup on the side. Don't be afraid to ask for modifications if you have dietary restrictions! Worst they can say is no or encourage you to choose something else that fits your needs better. I didn't realize though until receiving them that the pancakes were three pancakes each almost the size of the plate! Could have used 3 cups of syrup to cover it all! I made it through 1 1/2 pancakes before I had to throw in the napkin and give in to my full stomach.
One of the nice things about Kauai and some of the other ports is that they included shuttles from the port to shopping centers. These are a free service (though most everyone tips the driver) and run routinely back and forth so you can leave when you're ready and come back when you please. Since we booked privately, we had to make our own way to the ABC store where their rep would pick us up. About an hour before we were scheduled to meet the rep, we boarded the next shuttle at the port only to arrive at the ABC store within 10 minutes. To kill time, we wandered through the shops in this strip mall style section. There is also a beach and recreation area around the corner from the shops.
Pretty good looking beach if you don't feel like traveling far from the ship:
The rep was running a little bit behind prompting us to call the company to check on her. She arrived within minutes of us calling. Slight downside here in that she brought a van with no way to step up before having to step inside. In and out was not the most graceful image as we had to get a knee up and crawl inside essentially. Once at the airport, we were offered the chance to use the restrooms before being made to step on a scale to confirm our weights. They do make you also hold or wear anything you plan to bring with you when you get weighed in so that the weight balance for the flight is correct. First time I've ever had to prove my reported weight with a weigh in for the company. They did also weigh the skinny people too and they handled the number discreetly by writing it down and passing it to the pilot so no worries about having half the building hear how much you've eaten on this cruise. We were the only people here that had cruised in, the other two couples making up our party of 6 were vacationing solely on land. The Air Ventures employees had us all line up in front of the plane for a group picture to be emailed to us later.
Our pilot came over and introduced himself to everyone and kept the weight list to himself as he thought about how to arrange us in seats. One of the guys was close to 7 feet tall and one of the other ladies reported sometimes getting motion sick so he took all that into account when arranging us. The young guy dating the motion sick girl reported flying experience so he got to enjoy the front passenger seat and got a quick lesson on aiding in the controls. His girlfriend sat behind the pilot and Dad sat across from her. I sat behind Dad and the girlfriend of the 7 foot tall guy sat behind me. There was no seat next to me so it was the perfect spot for the tall guy to sit next to his girlfriend and stretch his legs out. Wish we'd all had that option because both Dad and I were squished as far as leg room. At one point I was concerned that my hurt knee would open up again from being squished against the back of Dad's seat. I shifted a little to keep the side of my knee against the seat instead and by the time I could pivot to get out at the end of the ride, I added a big rugburn across my knee when it pulled away from the vinyl seat. The pilot (who admitted during the ride that his other part time job was at Costco), had thought to provide a cooler in the plane that held water bottles and cold wet washcloths in individual baggies to help those who might feel sick. He joked that because of my position, I got to play "stewardess" if anyone needed something. He kept checking on the motion sick girl during the flight and finally near the end she asked for a cold washcloth which helped keep her from having to use those provided barf bags.
The views you can enjoy from the air are comparable to nothing else and I highly recommend everyone try at least one flight tour of some kind. From a photography standpoint, take my advice and only bring your regular lens, not the telephoto or zoom lens. I went with the wrong advice and brought only the zoom lens. It hindered my ability to take pictures since I was already pinned up against the window and any picture I tried to take straight out ended up getting whatever was above it. After a while I figured out to aim low on the window to compensate and started snapping a bunch of pictures every so often in hopes of getting some good shots.
The flight overall went well with only minor turbulence. Our pilot kept sharing his amazement at how clear the skies were that we were able to get such a nice view. It was great to be able to see the Napali Coast this way since we'd be missing it on the ship. Once back on solid ground, we had the chance to grab some other pictures before being escorted back into the building. They were strict about leaving anyone unattended on the airstrip and to get in and out our pilot had to put in his code to unlock the door. It was a nice touch as we walked in that they offered everyone a mint. I'm hoping it was to help facilitate ear popping and not because they thought we'd had hot spicy peppers for breakfast.
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