The last day of our trip. On this day, we explored Waimea Canyon. Well, it is pretty much untracked wilderness, so we explored it via helicopter. We were picked up by a minibus at the port by none other than the guy who played the Papa at the luau the night before.
Breakfast in the ship's diner.
At the airport
Ground crew with our helicopter coming in behind her.
Our ride
Never having flown in a helicopter, Andrea says, "Do I really want to do this?!"
We flew with two other couples. Our pilot told us he had just gotten his commercial pilot's license, then he told us he had flown military helicopters for decades before he got this gig.
I took several hundred pictures during this flight. What you see here is just the best ones.
Waimea Canyon is the wettest place on earth. We had no idea we would see this many waterfalls.
The famous Napali coast from behind.
NASA's Kokee Park Geophysical Observatory, originally part of the NASA Manned Space Flight Network. Site in now used for a variety of NASA and university projects. The domes protect radio telescopes.
The Napali coast from the air
Hanalei Bay
The big waterfall scenes in the movie, "Jurrasic Park" were filmed here.
Flying low over the rain forest canopy
Yeah, this is real, not some artist's conception for a sci-fi movie
Coming back to the coast for landing
Standing on the X for our picture with the helicopter
After our airborne tour, we were taken around by our driver, Domi, who we had seen just the night before on stage at the luau.
A nene, or Hawaiian goose
Birds flying by the Kilauea point cliffs
The Daniel K. Inouye Kilauea Point Lighthouse, built in 1912.
Red-crested cardinals
Laysan Albatross
Kilauea Point from a beach futher along the coast, where we had lunch.
Kauai wild chicken, called mua or moa. There are bunches of these on the island, descendents of the ones brought by the Marquesans around 400 AD.
Our driver and host, Domi
Domi teaches us some hula
Back on the ship heading back to Oahu
Ninini Point and its lighthouse
Our cabin.
Some shots of the bow wave of the ship
A couple of shots of the Napali coast. We had flown over this earlier in the day.
Sunset at the end of the last day of our trip. The next morning we disembarked the ship and headed to the airport for a long flight home. I think the island in the distance is Ni'ihau, because there is nothing else out in that direction.
