2009-Feb. 26: sunset cruise, Hanapepe, Waimea Canyon overlook

Today was the day of our sunset cruise. We had to be at Port Allen around 1:45, so we left the east side around noon and headed south. Since we had a little time to kill, we stopped at the swinging bridge in Hanapepe, the canyon overlook, and even had a quick lunch at Grinds. Lunch was very good with very good service.
The swinging bridge:

Waimea Canyon overlook

This was Ken's and my 4th Napali cruise, all in the winter. The first time we went was a morning snorkel trip, the winds were strong and the surf was high, but they made it to the Napali. The views weren't good, though, since the wind was throwing mist on the cliffs, but at least we got to see the Napali. The snorkeling was in really deep water and it wasn't very good, either. The other 2 times we had great views of the Napali. One of those trips was also to Niihau with snorkeling there (not great) and the other was a sunset cruise with great views, but cold and rainy on the way back. This time, the winds were high, as they have been all week, and the surf was very rough. A few people, including Angie who has never gotten sea sick before, got sea sick.

We made it about as far as Polihale and had to turn around.

We spent about 5 hours in the stretch between Polihale and the boat harbor. The good thing about it was we did get to see lots of whales. None that were breaching very far out of the water, but at least many were breaking the surface.

and flipper slapping

and tail slapping

Plus the views of the coastline were still interesting---
Salt Pond from the cruise:

 Old Sugar Mill?

 red dirt--

Even the sunset was pretty good this time and we didn't encounter any rain. It was chilly, but not too bad since we came prepared with sweatshirts and jackets.

Even caught this slight rainbow.

Since dinner was on the cruise---luau style complete with kalua pork and teriyaki chicken---we headed straight back to our condos after the cruise and called it a day.