Pella in Paradise
Day 7: More Sightseeing On and Above Kauai
Monday, October, 9, 2023
V and I woke up early again. Mind you, we were still on Pacific Time, so it wasn't that early for our bodies, but it was still early. On this day, we joined the hotel's Sunrise Ceremony. We waited in the lobby for the guide to arrive, and we had some of the yummy juice. As I was sitting there, a cat decided that I hadn't sneezed enough and joined me.
Our guide, Kamealoha arrived and introduced himself to those of us joining the ceremony. He walked us around the grounds, some of which we could see from our hotel window. Tortuga joined us, too.
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| Kamealoha |
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| Cue Lion King opening music |
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| Wailua River State Park We can see this from our hotel room window. |
Kamealoha told us about the traditions of the Hawaiian people, as well as his thoughts about today's Kauai. He did a couple of chants to welcome the sun.
Kamealoha told us a little bit about his family, and they are from Ilocos Norte in the Philippines. His grandfather went to school with Ferdinand Marcos. Wait a minute. So did my grandfather! I bet he knew Papa. The family moved to Kauai before Kamealoha was born. So of course I needed to take a photo with my fellow Ilocano-American!
Afterward, V and I got in the water, which was much cooler than at Lanikai Beach. V placed her Go Pro in the sand underwater to get footage of the fish swimming. I don't have that video, so here is some footage from above the water.
V tried to get a Little Mermaid shot of waves splashing behind me, and I even sang, but it didn't work.
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| Watch and you'll see, someday I'll be Part of Your World! |
She went out onto a big log because she's adventurous like that. I don't know why anyone ever wondered why her daughter is the same way.
We took a lot of pictures, and even tried to get a picture of Bro looking at us from the hotel window, but that one didn't turn out very well. Yes, I took more pictures of Tortuga the Hotel Cat. No, I will not post them here, because, well, I have a lot more for you to see!
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| Waterfall at hotel lobby |
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| Flowers in hotel lobby pond |
Meanwhile, JT had noticed that we took some pictures during the shows, and asked if we had any that he could share on Rockapella's social media accounts, making sure to give credit to V and me. Why sure! So yeah, that was awesome.
We went to Island Country Markets, which is an outdoor shopping center. I got a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. So fancy and exotic, right? I did see other stuff like chocolate, but didn't want anything to melt in the car. I also saw a variety of Hawaiian condoms.
We were waiting to see if we would get a confirmation for our reservation, and decided to go to Hanalei. If Hanalei sounds familiar to you, look up the lyrics to "Puff the Magic Dragon". OK, so they call it "Honah Lee", but it's pretty much this place. I saw a really cool tribal art museum, and got some cards there.
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| TRUTH |
Also, this happened.
We decided to go to the beach for a bit while we were there. The sand was very white, and Bro liked the water. It was also pretty warm as we stood out in the sun, but still really nice.
While we were there, V got the confirmation for our helicopter tour! Very excited, we quickly went back to the car and cleaned off the sand from our feet.
We drove to the helicopter landing section of the Lihu'e airport, and parked in the designated area.
At check-in, I perused the merchandise. They weighed us (yikes!), and we signed our lives away on the waiver forms. I used the facilities and perused these prior to going to the tarmac.
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| Wondering if my butt sat where Spielberg's butt or Ford's butt sat. |
They had us put on these booties so that we wouldn't bring any foreign substances to the soil when we would land. LAND! Not every helicopter tour allows landing where we were about to go; in fact, this was the only tour that allowed it. We also had fanny packs with our life vests inside.
Junior went through the safety spiel, and explained what would be happening, and introduced us to Isaac, our pilot for the tour.
We walked to the helicopter and we were assigned our seats. I guess that's what the weighing was for. I sat in back of the pilot, and was worried that my slight acrophobia was going to get the better of me because I was seated at the window, but nope. We were given headphones, and we listened to the film score from "Jurassic Park"!!! I about lost it at that point because I was so excited, and knew that we were in for an adventure of a lifetime. I did tear up a little, but there was no time for too much of that, because before we knew it, we were up in the air!
Liftoff. Is that appropriate for a helicopter ride?
Helicopter Approaching Jurassic Falls
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| I don't know why the marker is Olaf. Or is it LEGO Star Wars? |
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| Isaac |
When we landed at Jurassic Falls, we were told which direction to walk, and Isaac took photos of us. We also helped out the couple in the helicopter, named Bill and Romy. Romy was pregnant, and was so excited that she was able to do this tour before it would be too late in the pregnancy.
Trail to Jurassic Falls
The falls were gorgeous. I pictured the helicopter landing there in "Jurassic Park", and was just in complete awe. I wished that everybody I knew could experience this for themselves; it was spectacular.
Jurassic Falls
We did need to leave eventually, and our tour continued, as Isaac told us through our headphones about the sights we were seeing, where "Tropic Thunder" and some James Bond movies were filmed.
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| Waimea Canyon |
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| Site where Bond flew helicopter through that hole on the right |
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| Gorgeous coastline |
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| I'm in a helicopter!! |
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| Locale for many films |
Stuff I learned on the tour:
- The island of Ni'hou is owned by one family.
- Kauai Coffee Company distributes most of its coffee in Hawaii.
- There are no predators on Kauai, and no snakes.
Seeing Kauai waterfalls
Once we landed, we returned our fanny packs and threw away our booties, then bought a bunch of merchandise, including a hat that I hope to give to JT one of these days.
Knowing we couldn't top that experience for the day, we went back to our hotel and had dinner outside at Mamahune's Tiki Bar, and watched the sunset. I'm really glad that we spent our last beachy sunset there.
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| Rum the Jewels My fire died, so it just looks like this is where I place my cigars. |
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| Ahi Poke Bowl |
Afterward, Bro got a tiki mug souvenir to go, and it came with yet another drink. Well, OK, then! We shall sleep well tonight!
Next Up: Aloha, Kauai
