Noordam in Nawiliwili
Nawiliwili is just a port. The closest town is called Lihue, about a mile and a half away. The ship docks in a container port that probably has a hard time finding qualified help if our docking experience is even close to what’s normal there. First it took the dock crew 4 tries to catch a line thrown to the dock from the ship. Like the previous port in Hilo, they used a forklift to pull the line to where they wanted to hook it onto the dock. Unlike Hilo where they had no trouble with their maneuvers, in Kauai as they tried to pull the rope tight it sprang off the bulkhead and tripped a nearby worker who wasn’t paying any attention to the line he was standing next to until he suddenly ended up on the ground. After much additional fumbling of the lines they finally got the ship tied up.
using a forklift to move the docking lines
Gangways started popping out of the side of the ship before they were quite through securing it to the dock since it took them so long to finish. Meanwhile the captain didn’t look very happy as he watched all the bungling from the portside bridge docking station – which we could see from our cabin.
docking station on the Noordam
Average temperatures in Kauai range from lows in the high 60’s at the coldest to highs in the mid 80’s during the warmer months, without a whole lot of variation throughout the year. The wettest season is from October to May. Rain showers are often short and frequently come during the night. It’s often humid especially in the summer. Annual rainfall is about 43 inches per year with over 200 days generally experiencing some rain. June is the driest month and January the wettest.
port at Nawiliwili
We had hoped to find locals with signs for last minute tours or something to do available right from the port as there had been in Hilo, but there were none to be found. There was nothing but the security check set-up and some gathering areas for shore excursions at the port.
mall shuttle at the port
Other than containers at the port the closest buildings are a lumber store and a gym, with a storage facility on the top of a nearby hill. Nothing for tourists visible in the immediate area around the port other than free shuttles to town. Which shuttle you board determines where you go. One goes to Hilo Hattie’s gift shop. The others go to malls.
the trolley was just another mall shuttle
There was a trolley shuttle that goes to one mall. There’s supposed to be an option for a trolley tour rather than just the free shuttle to town, but their website said no tours were running that day as they were having maintenance done while we were there.
Poipu Beach
There’s supposed to be a nice beach across the street from the Anchor Cove Shopping Center where some shuttles go, but as we didn’t go to that mall I have no first-hand verification for that. We took a tour that made a stop at Poipu Beach, but that’s not the one by the mall.
it said hop on hop off, but first it was a shuttle and then a tour bus
A white bus with hop on hop off painted on the side pulled in. People swarmed to it and we managed to get on, but the driver said he was just doing free shuttle runs to a different mall than where the other shuttle went, with an option to purchase a 3-hour tour that would leave from that mall at noon. It was only about 10:00 then.
feral rooster and hen
Feral chickens are all over the place in Hawaii. We saw some pretty much everywhere we went at all the port stops there. These two were at a shopping mall.
flower
Not having found any other tour options we booked the bus tour and then went to Target to get some things we needed while we waited for time for the tour. Graham crackers are not available in Australia and we had too many ducks to fit any in our luggage before leaving home so we got some of those for the Aussies we’d be visiting after disembarkation in Sydney. They had requested that we bring some so they can make s’mores when they go camping.
pilot boat bringing the pilot to the ship in Nawiliwili
We also wanted some sunscreen. Unlike the ship which had no reef-safe sunscreen, Target had only mineral sunscreens. That’s all Hawaii allows. It’s too bad the cruise lines don’t care enough about the reefs they bring so many people to see to stock coral-safe sunscreen in their gift shops and educate people about using it. After adding a few other items to the cart we figured we’d better leave Target before we spent too much. Still having a bit of time before the tour we just hung out at a table in the food court for awhile. The table where people could go to buy tickets for the bus tour was at the edge of the food court. We overheard them telling some people the tour had sold out so it was good we had come on an earlier bus even if that did leave us with some time to kill while waiting for the tour.
tugboat that helped Noordam in and out of Nawiliwili
Shore excursions from the ship in Kauai didn’t have a big selection, though that could be because we were originally supposed to go to Maui instead. Everything from Nawiliwili was somewhat last-minute scheduling. They had several excursions to Waimea Canyon, one to places where movies had been filmed on the island, a river cruise, one to a garden and waterfall, and one with a ride on an old plantation train.
view of the Noordam from the tug
Some friends that we met on the ship had relatives living in Hawaii, one of whom was their nephew who happened to be the tugboat driver for the tug docking our ship so they got some interesting photos of the ship from the tugboat’s perspective. They managed to find a restaurant somewhere near the port where they met with their relatives for lunch.
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