On Thursday, February 1, 2024, I was anxious to get off the ship. Because of wind and choppy seas, we had spent all day Wednesday ship locked , unable to take tenders to Kona.
When I first went out on our balcony this morning, I again was skeptical of the weather. The cloudy, dark horizon didn’t look promising. Yet, the big ship kept slowly churning to its docking position.
I continued my stay on the balcony, and gradually land came into view.
We kept inching closer toward the dock.
My eyes were locked on the clouds, and the gray, black water.
At some point, my old eyes picked up a speck of light in the thickness of the clouds. The light was powerful enough to be reflected on the surface of the ocean.
I kept watching. The glow on the water grew, and then it would dim.
Then my eyes started to focus against the backdrop of the clouds, and a dark object moving toward the ship. Before I knew it, a huge jet was lumbering in over the ship on its final approach into the local airport.
More land began to appear, some boats were moored in a small harbor, and the next thing I knew we were readying ourselves for breakfast and a 9 a.m. departure to the Waimea Canyon.
We did a good job of getting to the bus on time. Our tour guide for today was an older gentleman known as Uncle Willy. Word on the street was Uncle Willy was a real Hawaiian, and that he had a role in the movie South Pacific.
As a tour guide, Uncle Willy was a two for one—he could yak with the best them, and he loved to sing.
On the ride toward Waimea Canyon, he talked a lot about all things local.
Let me tell you about the road to Waimea Canyon— this road was not designed for large, full-size tour busses. I still don’t know how the driver made some of those hairpin turns. Somehow, the driver got us safely to the parking lot. As I exited the bus, I complimented him on his good driving. He thanked me and said it was his first day. I hope he was teasing me.
Several summers ago, our family had the privilege of visiting the north rim of the Grand Canyon. That canyon from many vistas was simply stunning.
I can say the same for Waimea Canyon. While on different scale related to size, Waimea Canyon is stunning too. What makes the canyon so appealing is its location. As a tourist, I didn’t expect to find a canyon with such a rich beauty out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
No matter where my eyes scan, the natural hues of green and orange that merge seamlessly with perfectly cast shadows could hold my attention for days. Weave into that backdrop the gentle collision at the top of the canyon where the blue skyline and puffy cumulus clouds of white and gray hover, and you have the opportunity to create hundreds of astonishing postcards.
Whether it was his first day or not, again the bus driver did a nice job driving us back down the canyon’s access road. In every stretch of that road the potential exist for lots to go wrong, but luckily nothing did.
Fortunately, nothing went wrong going to or leaving the canyon area. The wrong waited to make its appearance at our lunch stop.
Coming out of the canyon, we stopped in the town of Waimea for lunch. The challenge here is that it appeared that every other tour bus near Waimea Canyon had opted to stop here too.
Waimea is a pretty town with shops, scattered empty buildings, a grocery store, and a handful of small restaurants. I’m not sure any of the restaurants were truly prepared to deal with tourists in a hurry.
I don’t recall the amount of time we were given to purchase lunch and make it back to the bus on time.
Unfortunately, some of our fellow tourists did not make it back on time. When the finally arrived and started to board the bus, some passengers who had been waiting patiently booed them. One of those tardy passengers, a lady, snapped back at the boos with “Hey, I’m on vacation!”
With everyone finally back on board, we slowly moved out of the parking area.
Sensing this tension, perhaps Uncle Willy was reminded of this line from William Congreve’s 1697 play The Mourning Bride: “music has charms to soothe a savage breast.”
Thus, on the ride back to the ship, Uncle Willy sang a number of songs, and he did his best to drag us into singing along. But his attempts, for the most part failed.
Once back at the ship, I seem to recall that we caught a shuttle to Hilo Hattie, the store of Hawaii since 1963. This is simply the “tourist trap” store for tourist.
After Hilo Hattie, we relaxed on the deck of the ship, and snapped some photos of the sun saying goodnight.
I will never forget Waimea Canyon.
But the remarkable beauty of the canyon is tainted by the lunch stop fiasco.
Seems to me that the thinkers for the cruise line need to rethink the lunch stop plan.
That plan did not work.
And that failure was complicated by the “Hey, I’m on vacation” attitude.
And no sing along with Uncle Willy can soothe that self-centered selfishness.
might be baloney 