Soaring with the Birds and Swimming with the Chickens

One of the best ways to experience the full scope of Kauai's beauty is by helicopter.  As we were planning this trip, we looked at a bunch of tour companies and decided upon Blue Hawaiian Helicopters.  It turned out to be a pretty popular choice, so we needed to boot our tour from the first day on Kauai to the second.  That's always a risk because Hawaiian weather can be a bit changeable, so we elected the first tour of the day just in case we needed to rebook for later.  Ah, logistics!

Anyway ... we needn't have worried: look at that blue sky!

Blue Hawaiian runs about five helicopters for each tour time, and while we waited, it was fascinating to watch them all zoom back out and in along the same path, perfectly in line as if connected by an invisible thread, and then float softly back to earth.  When it was our turn, we ducked our heads (for no real reason other than that's what people do on tv) and hustled to our helicopter, through the remarkable noise of the whirring blades.  As soon as we got in, we got a hand signal to put on our headphones (voila, we could hear again!) and buckle up.

Look how excited Penn is!  Ah, mornings.

Harper is our co-pilot!

That's more like it!  As a side note, Ned wore his shell lei every day of our trip--best free souvenir ever.

Our pilot was a military veteran who spent his off hours hiking and camping on the island, and he flew the helicopter like it was gliding through smooth water.

What we saw at every moment on the flight was breathtaking beauty.  As so often in our many extraordinary adventures, it seemed everything came together just so: the perfect weather, the clear light of the day, the absolute blue of the sky, the puffs of clouds ... everywhere we looked, a postcard come to life.

We started off by zipping back over Lihue, where we were docked.  The flight includes some very on-point music cues: the initial ascent and fast flight out are scored by the Hawaii 5-0 theme.

Oh no, has the day taken a turn?  

Nope: look to the right.

Those very different pictures were taken within seconds of each other.  And, the photos below show how that happens.  In a word: mountains.  The weather hits one side of the towering volcanic structures and they tear the systems apart.  Leaving sunny skies and long trailing clouds on the other side.  Yay!

Can we take a moment to talk about the greens of Kauai, cause there's about a billion of them and they create a textured landscape that is technicolor vibrant.  I mean, come on!  This doesn't even look real.



As we flew over the island, our pilot noted that much of Kauai is owned by just a few families.  The advice to invest in real estate never made more of an impact.  (Of course, this land was kind of owned by folks before these families showed up, but that's a different story.)

One of the sights on the tour is the waterfall from Jurassic Park, which was filmed in Kauai (before it was moved outside the Scotia Bank Arena #WeTheNorth).  The actual name of the falls is Manawaiopuna.  The helicopter follows the same path in toward the falls and the soundtrack is ... the Theme from Titanic.  No, of course it's the Theme to Jurassic Park.

Again, come on!  The sky, the clouds, the valleys, the falls.  Too beautiful.

(helicopter blade cameo)

From Jurassic Park, we set out for the Napali Coast.  The Pride of America was scheduled to sail past the coast as part of the cruise, but ship maintenance kept it in port for the full day.  That was cool with us because we were flying past it on the tour, we then got more time in Kauai, and NCL gave everyone some generous shipboard credit to mollify their tourist anger.  The Napali Coast is definitely worth seeing, though, and after the helicopter tour, I did wonder if seeing it from the ship would have been even half as impressive.

Some of the coast looks almost like the Grand Canyon and shows what happens on the leeward side of the volcanic cliffs ("no wind, no rain" means no green).

The water just pours off in gorgeous, super high falls.  It reminded us of the falls in Milford Sound, NZ: when it rains, they just pop us all over.

Again, not sure how seeing this from the ship would be the same.  The blue of the sky and ocean almost match and the cliffs seem almost human, rising from the sea like brooding mythic figures standing guard.

Lens flare tribute to Spielberg.

Here the coast looks like sharply folded paper or giant delicate leaves.

It's like a scene from Moana--imagine living in that valley and searching the sea from that beach.

You can trace the paths of the rain to the ocean through the cuts into the cliff, and look at how brilliantly clear the water is here, the jewel-toned turquoise and sapphire.  Wow!

Aloha, Napali Coast!

We made our way back through more interior volcanic mountains that flowed down to some lush, green farmland in the center of the island.

Again, the greens!

And back on the ground--ohana!  (By the way, those stylish and flattering yellow pouches held inflatable life jackets in case the helicopter crashed into the ocean.  Dodged that bullet!)

Blue Hawaiian drove us right back to the ship, which was pretty empty.  I'll use this opportunity to say again how much we liked the boat itself--even when it was full and sailing, we never felt crowded, the crew was gracious, and the appointments were stylish and American-y without being jingoistic.  Yay, POA!

Because our helicopter tour was so early, we got back to the ship before lunch was officially open at the poolside grill.  So, we made ourselves comfortable.

Finally ... fresh burgers, even one with the gf bun!

No paparazzi!  (Hint, take note of this hat.  It's significance will be revealed soon.)

With really the whole day before us, we decided to hop in a cab and visit one of Kauai's famous beaches: Poipu Beach.  Can you feel the ohana love this trip is triggering?

Poipu was selected as one of the country's top beaches by the Travel Channel.  Can't imagine why.

The caramel-golden sand had the color and soft texture of crumbled graham crackers, and the sun warmed the shallows near the beach to a lovely bathtub temp.  This beach bunny loved it.

As did this one.

If you walk down the beach a bit, you're likely to see Monk Seals sleeping deeply in the sun.

And, if you turn around ... chickens, chickens, chickens!  (Remember the hat? Chickens!)

As the sun fell lower, it was time to get ourselves back around the island to our boat.  We got an ETA of about 40 minutes for the cab, so we grabbed Hawaiian ices and watched the chicken cross the road.

It was a 40 minute drive back to the POA, and it turned out our cab driver, Eduardo Valenciana, could fill it.  He shared a remarkable story about how he was one of only a handful of people who had survived the 1979 El Dia De Los Muertos crash of a Western Airlines jet in Mexico City.  For reasons that he only alluded to but seemed to suggest that his life was in danger during the investigation because of what he knew about the crash, he felt he had to disappear and was advised that the best place to do so was on Kauai.  So, for decades, he hid out, building a new life on the island (which included serving as a taxi driver).  But, recently, he had published a book, Jump Seat: A Twist of Fate, telling his version of the events.  

I'll admit it: as a stranger drove my family down empty backroads on an island I'd never visited before, spinning wild yarns about a plane crash, unnamed conspiracies, and dropping off the grid to avoid being murdered--I was a bit worried.  But, as he talked and I quickly Googled the crash and his stories, lo and behold, it kinda checked out!  Whew!

And, boom, we were at the ship just as the final all aboard call rang out.

The sun set with a lemony glow as we started our last night at sea.

Ned wished Kauai, "Aloha!"

And we watched the low clouds darken the water as the POA pushed out into the ocean, sailing back to Oahu.

One more trip to dinner--this time at La Cucina because eating Italian food in full Hawaiian garb is required on the POA :)  (Note, Ned's sporting the shell lei!)

Then, filled with pasta and more adventures than we could have ever imagined (but, thankfully, several fewer than Eduardo has had), we fell into our POA beds for one last sleep, overseen by a silvery moon lighting our way.

Good night to all the chickens at sea!