Hawaii Anniversary Cruise: Kauai Day 2

I am still kicking myself for forgetting to order room service for breakfast on the balcony!  We would have had a beautiful view!

I couldn't believe the last full day of our cruise was here!  I thought about coming back to the ship tonight for the last time--I was dreading that moment already!

But we still had another great day planned.  Today we were going to do a small plane tour of Kauai, have lunch on the beach and then watch the ship sail by the Na Pali coast from our balcony.  So we would be seeing the Kauai coast both by air and by sea today.

Everyone met at 8:00 am and we took the free shuttle to where we would meet up with our tour with Wings Over Kauai.  We were early so we sat out by Kalapaki Beach in the shade enjoying the morning.

When we took our cruise to Alaska, one of the highlights of that trip was a seaplane tour over the glaciers.

Seeing Kauai by air is considered a must-do on any trip so I found Wings Over Kauai which is a small plane tour similar to the one we took in Alaska.

The plane holds six passengers plus the pilot so we would have the entire plane to ourselves.  Yet another plus is that unlike a helicopter, everyone has a window seat.  I thought booking this tour was one of my more brilliant suggestions! 

At 9:00 am, the company picked us up and drove us to the airport.  We were checked in, given a thorough safety briefing and weighed.  I was very impressed with all this attention to detail.

We had our picture taken and boarded the plane and got settled with our headsets.  I had told everyone to wear dark clothing to minimize the reflection from the windows.

I had brought my Nikon and everyone else used their phones for pictures.  I learned it was much easier to use your phone instead of my big camera because I could not get my lens completely on the glass to block all the reflection.  So only a handful of my pictures came out great.  Luckily, Ben's new iPhone took incredible pictures!

Our wonderful pilot, Marcus.

We had another beautiful, clear morning.  The flight was so smooth, at times it felt as if we were suspended over the island, barely moving.

Ready for takeoff!

This tour was so amazing--my eyes actually welled up with tears several times!

This is Hanalei Bay on Kauai's north shore.

Here you can see the Princeville resort up on the hill and behind it is the Hanalei Bay Resort, the condos my mom and I will be staying at in May.

This is the Grand Hyatt, the nicest resort on Kauai.

Here are the pictures I took that I deemed worthy:

And my one masterpiece of the Na Pali coast from the flight:

Amazing, incredible--there really aren't enough words to describe seeing Kauai by air.

After our tour, we walked over to Duke's restaurant on Kalapaki Beach for lunch.  We had heard from the shuttle driver that the Marriott on the beach had beautiful grounds and a koi pond so we put our names down for a reservation at 11:30 am and went over to the Marriott to walk around before lunch.

 Then it was back over to Duke's for lunch.

I got kalua pork nachos and a lava flow which was one of the best I've had in Hawaii.

When we were done with lunch, Ben and I and Fran and Harvey headed back but Jason and Alice wanted to spend some time at the beach--I told them all aboard was 1:30 and I better not hear their names over the loudspeaker, ha!

We said goodbye to Fran and Harvey for the afternoon.  They would be meeting us in our cabin at 5:00 pm to watch the ship sail by the Na Pali coast.

When Ben and I got back to the cabin, we had some surprises waiting for us--a beautiful towel animal and another bottle of champagne!

We loved our room steward, Edwin.  Throughout the week, he had left us towel animals, putting them in sneaky places for us to find when we would return at night!

Ben and I spent the afternoon at the Waikiki Bar out on Deck 13 sitting with a group we had met on the cruise.  It was at the aft of the ship so it was a great spot to watch the ship sail away from the dock to turn towards the Na Pali coast.  Aloha Kauai, see you soon!

We were back in our cabin and on the balcony at 5:00 pm sipping champagne and waiting for the cliffs of the Na Pali coast to come into view.

Once the ship turned, we saw a beautiful sunset.

What an amazing end to an amazing cruise!

That night, Ben and I and Fran and Harvey had dinner at the Japanese hibachi restaurant on the ship and I drug Ben to the final show of the cruise.  Norwegian always has a big finale where the officers and crew come out and line the halls to say goodbye on the last night.  I was emotional saying goodbye to the wonderful staff and gave them high-fives on the way out!

Tomorrow, we would be back in Honolulu with only a few more hours in wonderful Hawaii!