The Grand Canyon of the Pacific and a secluded beach

Day 7, Kauai

On our last day of the cruise, we journeyed northwest to Waimea Canyon State Park, which is described as the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific." Once again, it was fascinating to explore such a drastic change in landscapes, from the lush rainforest of the Na'pali Coast that we experienced the day before to the dry desert of Waimea (although not quite as dry as the real Grand Canyon.)

Before we had to return to the ship by 2 pm, we spent our last hours on Kauai driving through Poipu, the resort area on the south side of the island. We read in Fromer's about Mahaulepu Beach, which was described as "the best-looking unspoiled beach in Kauai and possibly in the whole state. Its 2 miles of reddish-gold, grainy sand line the southeastern shore at the foot of 1,500 foot high Haupu Ridge...almost untouched from modern life, Mahaulepu is a great escape from the real world." The best part of this little adventure was that we had to take a bumpy dirt road to get there, so Derek really felt like he was getting the "Jeep experience".

Mahaulepu Beach

The highlight of this beach was the walk we took along the shore, to where we came to the orange plastic fence (you can see it in the back ground.) We discovered that the fence was there temporarily to protect a baby Hawaiian Monk Seal which had been born a month before. It was amazing to observe the seal, basking in the sun just 30 yards away from us. Of course I had left my camera in the car :(

A tiny crab that I was amused by on the beach
I took this photo for my Dad as our ship departed the harbor in Kauai, to convince him that next time they go to Hawaii, he's got to go to Kauai, if only to play this Jack Nicklaus-designed course.

Our ship journeyed to the North Shore so we could get a great view of the Na'pali coast before heading back to O'ahu, where we would disembark the next morning.

Na'pali Sunset