Day 7 Hawaiian Cruise

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Day 7 Nwilliwilli, Kauai, November2, 2011
Today's Forecast: Isolated showers- High 78 Low 73
Sunrise 6:43, Sunset 5:58
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The waters of the Ocean had become on the rough side as we snaked inot the port of Nawilliwilli. The port side was tall mountains and a very small breakwaterarea. The ship landed next to a huge shed that looks as if it were used to load ships with sugar cane or other products. The ship had to move completely to one side in the wind and then straighten out to dock along the tiny port.

I took the free shuttle to Walmart. the crusty female driver had been doing this for years, drove us up the hill. She had a good patter and narrated the sights. She could also let you stop at the museum or the anchor shopping area. But she made it clear that she would not pick you up at the anchor shopping center. It was about a half a mile away from the ship downhill.

The town its self is really small and kind of broken down. Along the top ridge are various helicopter businesses to take people for adventure rides into Wiemea Canyon. 

One of the old guys on the shuttle said he was cold and could she turn down the air. We had been waiting outside and the rain had fallen, She said,"No" He asked why. She said that she liked it that temperature. The shuttle was a 25 passenger bus with a tall ceiling and a short step up to get in.

There was also a free shuttle for passengers that wanted to go to Kmart and Hilo Hatties. All the big boxes knew they needed to get the ship passengers up to their businesses.

Later that morning we were waiting transport up to the walmart with Sue. The Hilo Hatties shuttle arrived ahead of the Walmart one. We opted for the Hilo Hatties.

Sue and I had a great time at Hilo Hatties. That girl loves to shop and it seemed like everything Hawaiian was in this store. Most of the goods were made in Hawaii.

The shuttle driver started out by handing out to each rider a shell lei. One of the old ladies up front asked if he was going to kiss each person that got the lei. He said, "They have laws against that Now!" Everyone on the bus laughed.

Hilo Hatties in Nawilliwilli's is a one story about 10,000 square feet of retails space. As you walk in there are coffee cups and a couple of Hawaiian coffees for self serve as well as a couple of fruit juice containers for self serve as well.

The store has most of the square footage stocked with racks of Hawaiian shirts and other other attire. There are some sections with Macadamia nuts and cosmetics.

Sue found the bargain table and we invested in some nice genuine bargains.
We saw the chickens all over everywhere.

At the Walmart I picked up another 12 pack of caffeine diet pepsi. I was stopped by several passengers in line back to ship asking me whether that was permissible to take on the ship. They all made plans to do the same.

The Follies Singer
At breakfast I met an Asian man that needed a table to eat his breakfast. He told me that he was living in a gated community at 1500 feet elevation just outside of Palm Springs. He had retired as San Francisco architect 13 years ago. He said that he loved his life since he could play golf 4 times a week throughout the year. He also liked the fact that his community village had numerous interest groups that met throughout the month. They brought in a big star at least once a month to give them a show, like Bono or Andy Williams.

Every year the village puts on a big follies show. He was a performer. He likes to be an Elvis impersonator. As of 2 years ago his hearing got in the way of his performance so now he does it with lip syncing. He also is a star in the village people YMCA group. He is the C. Sometimes he is able to do a Louis Armstrong without the lip sync. He used a napkin to demonstrate how he could carry on a conversation with Louis Armstrong leading up to his singing one of his songs for me.  What a treat.

He said that he had 6 Grand kids  but is not as close to them as he should be. Some Grand kids live in Fresno and some in Turlock. He follies singer was a regular character. He asked me to guess his age. I guessed 72. He was amazed. He said that he was 78. It is these encounters that make the cruise for me. I always try to get a conversation going. The only problem that I have now is that these people will see me on the ship and break out in a big smile and they walk by before I can track down the memory of their conversation.


Chickens Domestic ---- Wild
At Walmart there were a huge amount of chickens running around loose in their parking lot. They were looking for a spare piece of a McDonald's bun .


Apparently they started out as domestic chickens in people's backyards. A hurricane in 1992 whipped through the town and lifted the chickens out of their cages and dropped them into the verdant country where they became feral. There were many more roosters than you would usually see in a domestic chicken population. They were also very territorial and had huge spurs.

Our driver mentioned that it was against the law to try to suppress the population. He said though with a little wink that went along with the statement. There homeless don't go hungry. At the Walmart parking lot the flock has become pretty bold, and the cars slow down when they make turns so as not to hit them. The flock was defiantly working the waiting crowd, looking for a a chance to pick up a crumb or a two.

There were downpours again today. Hilo Hatties has a covered outdoor waiting area for the shuttles along the side of the store. Even with this, the rain splashed significantly on one side reducing the sitting area to about half.

In the waiting area, Sue saw a lady show off to her friend a cosmetic bag she had bought on sale in the store. It was bright yellow with orange flowers on its side. She found out that it was only 5 dollars marked down from 27. We marched right back in and bought a stack of them. There was also a matching wallet kind of thing. Sue needed it too.

Sue bought be a T shirt at Hilo Hattie that had the logo from above on a green shirt.. StarClucks Kaui
Dinner:

Pat: Daiquri Soup (watermelon based)
        Calamari-flash fried with baby octopus and artichoke
        rack of veal with aspargrass.
        Apple Struedel

Sue: Daiquri Soup
        mixed greens salad
        Tiger Shrip with mango and tomato chutney
        coffee creme bruelee