Day 8 in Hawaii: Kauai

We woke up in Kauai to a deary, rainy day! We decided to still try to do our "plan" for the day, knowing that the rain and clouds would probably ruin our schedule. We headed down to the buffet, grabbed some breakfast... then headed to the Cadillac Diner to get some coffee to go, basically to warm us up! We got off the boat and waited under the ledge of the warehouse for our shuttle. It took about 20mins for the Budget shuttle to arrive.

The view from our room

Sad that it was RAINING

Pouring outside

The view of the weather from the Cadillac Diner

We arrived at the rental place within 10 mins of leaving the pier. This Budget office was quick, fast and friendly.

We left the rental car office and headed to the Waimea Canyon. It was an easy route yet about an hour drive. The GPS guided us right to to the road through the canyon. We stopped up the road at various points, but as we headed up, the clouds got thicker and thicker. By the time we got up to the top, we SAW NOTHING! Just CLOUDS :( It was a huge disappointment to my DH and I who were hoping to see the beautiful canyon. All of our notes, to see the canyon, and different notes about continuing up were cancelled. Disappointment and slightly covered in muddy with red clay, we got back in our rental and headed to Spouting Horn.

Driving up the Canyon

Our views :(

As we headed to the Spouting Horn, we passed through a few small and interesting towns. We saw the Tunnel of Eucalyptus Trees, which is on Maluhia Road in Kauai. It was really interesting to see. 

The Spouting Horn is about an hour from the Waimea Canyon. We arrive at the Spouting Horn, watched it spout a few times, which was really interesting then walked around. Around the area of the Spouting Horn, vendors have tables set up selling jewelry, souvenirs, etc. Chickens/Roosters are EVERYWHERE around here, you must be careful not to hit them with your car in the parking lot.

We got back into the car and headed to see Wailua Falls. It was about a 40 min drive from the Spouting Horn to Wailua Falls. We arrived at the falls, which are off a small road. You park on the side of the road and the falls will be on your right. The falls were very pretty. We took some pictures and headed back to drive around.

At this point, it started to pour again and we did not know what to do. We were going to head up the coast to see the Kilauea Lighthouse. But with the weather and an hour drive we decided it was not worth it. We headed back to the area near the cruise ship. We went to the beach behind the Kauai Marriott. It was a smaller beach but beautiful. The rain has stopped. So we took our stuff and decided to relax on the beach. We walked along the beach and then laid down. No sooner did we lay down, did the rain begin again!! :( We were so disappointed. We grabbed our stuff and headed back toward the restaurants in the hotel, hoping it would be a quick shower. We waited 10-15mins and it was only getting harder.

We decided to get back into our car and headed toward Kmart to get some souvenirs. We spent about 30mins in Kmart, and got some great items at low prices!

As we left Kmart it looked like the skies were FINALLY clearing up. So we were going to take the chance and head back to the canyon.... as we were driving, it began to pour again :( We just gave up... headed back to the Anchor Cove Mall, parked for $20. We walked around the mall, looking at all of the shops and then took their free shuttle back to the boat. We got back to the boat, took a nap, showered and headed to the buffet for dinner. Again, the food was delicious, hot and plenty of choices.

Since the weather had ruined our day, we decided NOT to let it ruin our night. We booked a couple's full body massage. We had an appointment at 7:00pm. It was an hour long massage. The SPA is very relaxing and worth the money. We loved the massages, they were just what we needed to end a crappy day!

We headed to the Mardi Gras Lounge to watch "Close up Magic with Matt Marcy." My DH loved the show. The magician Matt Marcy, showed us some of his tricks, and show us some HOW TO DO his tricks. My DH has been showing everyone!! Ha Ha..

We headed to the Gold Rush Saloon for a few drinks and then headed to bed around 11:00pm, as we head to be up early the next day for our Helicopter ride.