Cruise and Islands
Helicopter Ride

Today’s stop was at Nawiliwili, Kauai. The last time I was here, the visual that was most memorable was that of… what I think was a defunked cannery. As I stepped off the boat and onto the dock, I finally recognized my surroundings: a large parking lot with a few slots for trolleys, tour buses and shopping shuttles to file into to pick up passengers. The joke about this stop is that not only were there the shuttles to Hilo Hattie’s and Wal*Mart, but a bonus as well: K-Mart! (Imagine, coming over two thouand miles just to go to Wal*Mart, etc…. which isn’t to say that those shuttles are avoided; everyone takes the trips anyway. Who can resist)? Anyway, we already had our fill of shopping at Hilo and didn’t feel much like hitting the stores; we were interested in visiting the Fern Grotto, and upon asking a taxi driver we found that it would cost $21 just to get to someplace nearby the Grotto, and that it might not even be open– but if it was, it would maybe cost $15 to get in (and then another $21 to drive back). Didn’t sound like the best deal, so we headed back toward the ship.
Then we saw a new bus in one of the bus slots: Air Kauai.
Air? Like flying in say…. a heeeeellllliiicopptterrrr??!
Snatching up a brochure from the driver, we immediately called to make reservations. After a few calls to really make sure our voice was heard, they let us have a couple of slots!!!

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