Nawiliwili!! Merry Christmas All 🎅🏻

Christmas Day found us docked at Nawiliwili. Kauai from 8-4:30.   We had planned a riverboat excursion here with Roberts of Hawaii tours.  Early that morning I checked my phone and found I had a message from the tour company saying that due to heavy rains during the night they had cancelled our excursion :(. I called them back to see if possibly they had anything else we could get in on but they were totally booked.   You could see the beach by the port was muddied from all the rain.  One of the downside of booking off ship is this.... and because it happened that morning we couldn’t find another ship tour to take.  But we decided to get off and take the hop on hop off tour offered right close to the ship.  All in all it worked out just fine and on Christmas Day we had a really good alternate tour visiting the Botanical Garden and the Kilohana Plantation.  We spent several hours at the gardens and found them beautiful, serene, and full of hundreds of birds and waterfowl along with lush lovely flowering gardens, ponds and unusual plants.   It looked like they were preparing for a musical holiday extravaganza that night along with a buffet and train ride.  I could see where it was used for weddings and special get together year round.  If I lived there I would find myself spending many days per month just wandering and sitting.   

The plantation train ride was ok.... nothing too exciting but we did learn about the history of the plantation.  They also had beautiful lush grounds and a historic restaurant that was decked out for the holidays.  Lots of little specialty shops lined the driveway and restaurant entrance.  Because it was Christmas Day many of those were closed.  

Once we got off the hop on we spent a little time at the Anchor Cove Mall which sets beside the resort and beach area.   

That night onboard we joined up with some folks we made friends with from New Zealand and Canada.  These were folks we met through the Cruise Critic meet and greet.  Of course our meal was wonderful and we enjoyed chatting about our day.  Most of the entertainment throughout the ship was themed to Christmas.  Santa came and passed out gifts to the wee ones right before the ship left the harbor.   We have had a violin duo onboard which are excellent.   There have been a good variety of movies under the stars too with nice padded loungers and red plaid blankets!!  We just haven’t been that brave to brace for the cooler evenings and whatever is presented on the big screen is always on our TVs.   The cruise line really has made it a very nice holiday sailing in every way.  Our steward gave us a little stocking with candies and candy canes.  We have been thoroughly spoiled!!  

Most all stops had authentic musicians to welcome us!!

Botanical Garden. 

Our map of the grounds.. 

Several of these beauties were here and one gal got them to eat out of her hand.  They sold seed for a nominal fee and I got my share! 

This was one of the highlights of my trip getting all these Zebra Doves feeding out of my hand!! 

A video of my fun!!

The monarch caterpillars feeding on the milkweed!! 

Beautiful hibiscus everywhere!

Dans always looking for a lizard, bird or critter! 

Red Crested Cardinal.. outstanding!

Beautiful reflections 

Interesting structures ...

Giant breadfruit trees 

Muscovy ducks were hungry too!

We found the real money tree!!  Ha ha

Old canoes served as planters along the shore of the lakes

Check out this reflection!

There were beautiful roosters everywhere and baby chicks scurrying to get some seed. 

This was a live fresh cut bouquet by the banquet hall!!

An old photo of the train from the plantation times.

Our coach!

Original train depot for the plantation and tracks 

The restaurant..

Photo of the original plantation buildings

Dans ready to hop on!

Back at Anchor Cove..

Colorful is what Hawaii is all about 

I could come back and stay here!

Got some great shots of this colorful fellow!

And this one

And these lovely plants 

Walking back to the ship 

Merry Christmas to us 🎅🏻🤶🏻

The Eve of Christmas 🌲

After four cool and breezy days at sea we finally docked at Honolulu on Christmas Eve day.  We had decided that having been here several times we would try snorkeling at Hanauma Bay.   We read all the reviews and folks said if you present your Medicare card to the city bus driver you can ride the bus for $2 so with a long day here we decided to give it a go.   We walked quite a ways with our gear for the day and finally found the correct bus to board.  People we met were helpful about switching buses and what to do.  But in reality the bus was overcrowded and a fight broke out between a native couple and tourists!   This was a first for us.  We felt the driver let things go on too long and he should have stepped in sooner.  He gave them both a stern warning saying he wouldn't tolerate the language or behavior but atceach stop he continued to let folks pile in and push passengers back.  Finally the fight erupted again and he threw them off the bus!!!  

It took about an hour by bus to get to the bay.  With it being Monday and most folks off work or out of school it was packed!   We stood in line a long time and after paying admission you have to wait in line again to watch a video about protecting the reef and the area.   Finally making our way down a long steep path to the beach area we stake out our claim to a spot where we can place our towels and packs.  The reef was difficult to enter and having not brought swim shoes I couldn’t make it into the water or past the reef area without crashing.  Dan decided to give it a go first and see if we could actually see fish!  Another thing we overlooked was who would watch our belongings which included wallets, phones, binoculars etc.  So I stayed back and spread out on a towel taking in the view.  Shortly after Dan entered the bay he signaled that the snorkeling wasn’t good.  The reefs were bleached and the waters were murky.  Too many people and too much use.  He stayed a bit longer but both of us were disappointed.   More tourists kept pouring in to the bay.  We enjoyed the warmth and the views but after an hour or more decided to pack up and head back to the port.  We decided to take an Uber as the bus ride was long, crowded and not returning to the stop for another hour.  We got a neat college senior who had a basket of drinks and snacks in the back seat for passengers!  We had never seen that before.  The ride was fun and enjoyable andxwe gave him a good tip.  Back at the ship we showered up and had a bite of lunch then headed back out to see a few lights and walk to Walmart for a few supplies.  Everything was hectic as shoppers tried to eek out the last remaining minutes of the shopping day for last minute bargains.   When we finally returned to the ship we had well over 10,000 steps and were ready for a nice Christmas Eve dinner, a little entertainment and off to bed!

Close to our ship... reminded us of Todd and when his ship was here in the harbor .

Downtown decorations

What a great statue!

Nights closing in..

The ships all lit up!

Found these lovely plumeria laying on the ground and so fragrant!!  Aaron’s favorite ❤️