It rained overnight but the sun was trying to come out when we left this morning. It didn’t last long though and we had another overcast day. We drove to Waimea Canyon this morning. This is Hawaii’s version of the Grand Canyon, even though it is only a fraction of the size. Waimea Canyon is about 16kms long and nearly 1km deep. The Canyon was formed by the Waimea River and the huge amount of rainfall runoff from the island’s central peak which is one of the wettest places on earth.
It was a beautiful sight and we could really get perspective of how big it was when helicopters flew through it.
The road up to the Canyon just kept going up and up. It was a winding road, narrow at times. Signs warned driver to watch out for logging trucks using the road but thankfully we didn’t see any.
We stopped at every lookout on the way up. We kept driving until we hit the end of the road. The end of the island is owned by the government and houses the Pacific Missile Testing Facility. Once we left the Canyon area, the lookouts we stopped at were at the top of the NaPali Coast sea cliffs we had seen from the boat yesterday. There was a lot of cloud in the area and at times we couldn’t make out what was water and what was cloud. It was very beautiful though.
Once we came down from the Canyon, we drove as far as we could along the west coast. We ran out of road at the edge of the missile facility again. We turned around and drive back to the town of Waimea. This is where Captain Cook made landfall in Hawaii in 1778. We stopped for lunch at the Shrimp Shack and tried the famous coconut shrimp.
Further along we cane to the historic town of Hanapepe. I don’t know why it is historic - the sign said it was! The Main Street was full of galleries and boutiques. Just off the Main Street was the Swinging Bridge. It was a wooden suspension bridge over the river. We walked across it and it sure does swing!
We got back to the hotel with a little bit of time to spare before we had to change into our Aloha clothes to go to the luau. It is held on the beachfront lawn here at the hotel. As we joined the queue, we noticed an area of the beach was roped off. This was because there were 2 Hawaiian monk seals asleep on the sand.
We had bought Premium tickets for the luau so we were given a lei made of fresh orchids as we walked in. Our table was in the 3rd row from the stage so we had a great view of the show. Pupus were served first and the on a buffet dinner which included Hawaiian fish, huli huli chicken, beef, salads and poi. Poi is made from the fermented root of the taro which has been baked and pounded to a paste. It is a lavender colour and is the consistency of wallpaper glue. It doesn’t taste very nice. A man at our table said if you sprinkle sugar on it, it tastes much better.
After dessert of cakes and fresh pineapple, it was time for the show. It started with man and women performing different hula dances and then moved through dances from all the Polynesian Islands including Tahiti, Samoa and New Zealand. The dancers were excellent and the costumes reflected each Island. There was a small band of ukuleles, guitars and drums. Some Of the instrumentalists also sang the traditional songs. It was great to see all these dances.
It was pretty cold out on the lawn and then we had a passing shower. There were lit torches around but they don’t seem to have outdoor heaters in Hawaii. I really enjoyed my first luau but it was good to get back inside once it was finished.