Port Stop: Kauai

Hello followers and welcome new visitors. The journey continues! It’s just about dawn on the third day of port stops around the Hawaiian islands as the Golden Princess nears Nawiliwili (pronounced nah-willy-willy) harbor, which is the port for Lihue, Kauai, Hawaii. The lighthouse greets us.

I’m up early and on the top deck of the ship to snap this photo looking into the harbor. We’ve been told that navigating a large ship into this relatively small port is a bit tricky. Looking ahead you can see the narrow channel we must go through.

 Looking back, I decided the sunrise was worth a couple of shots on its own.

Early morning light, the seawall, and the tropical green of Hawaii.

Nawiliwili is a pretty harbor.

Here is a pan capturing a good bit of the port all the way around to the ship's bridge where you can see the Captain at work guiding the ship around to put port side to the terminal. This does take some experience!

Today we have arranged a three hour tour in the morning. There are two stops and the first is historic Grove Farm, one of the original sugar plantations on the Hawaiian islands. I can’t begin to tell you the history here, but it’s worth checking out and here is a good place to start.

We arrive at Grove Farm about 10 AM. The gentleman in the photo is going to give us a tour of the farm. He is a descendant of the original family who settled the plantation back in the 1800s. After signing the guest register we are shown some historical photographs.

Here are a few views inside the original home of the plantation's owner. This home was constructed in the early 1900s.

This sofa looks like it has a scene painted on it. Actually, it is needlepoint and took the artist who made it over 5 years to create.

Bird of paradise in a planter on the window sill.

Looking at the front of the big house. The big tree is called an umbrella tree and they are common on Kauai.

Another view of the big house from the back yard.

The plantation foreman lived here.

Views of the garden which includes a mixture of vegetables and flowers.

A close up of one of the many orchids which thrive in Hawaii.

We left Grove Farm and drove a short distance to the second stop for a ride through an old sugar plantation on a train. You know I love trains, so I had to do this. Here is a shot of the engine that pulls the train through the Kauai Plantation.

Sugar cane in the foreground, Cook and Norfolk pines behind, and mountains in the distance. The Cook pines are pretty interesting and the tour guides love to tell the story of how Captain James Cook, who discovered Hawaii, brought the trees from the South Pacific.

On this rail trip through the plantation we stop for photo ops to capture some of the wild critters that freely roam around. Here is one of the wild chickens. They are all over the island of Kauai!

A couple of sky photos to complete this day of the journey. Thanks for stopping by John’s Island. Comments are welcome and appreciated. The next post will wrap up the journey with a stop at Maui and the return voyage to Los Angeles.