The Fern Grotto

The last day in Kauai was going to be a short one. We were sailing around 1 PM. We didn't want to rent the car for the second day because 1. there was no place to park it and 2. it was going to be a short day and we didn't want to risk not getting back on time.

So instead we booked the Fern Grotto tour. (We booked it early the day before so it wouldn't be sold out.) Our bus driver took us to a couple scenic overlooks so we could photograph some of the waterfalls and then we took a boat trip on the Wailua River to the Fern Grotto. The Fern Grotto was the site of royal Hawaiian weddings in times past, as well as some more recent Hollywood celebrity weddings. There were enough ferns to impress me, but as I understand it, many of them were ripped out by a hurricane that went through a decade or so ago - the same storm that was responsible for freeing the chickens that now run around the island.

The boat ride had some entertainment - musicians who played Hawaiian music. (Someone requested Sweet Home Alabama, but they declined - said they had to play Hawaiian music or risk being fired.) It seems the older guy is something of a local legend. He was in the Elvis movie, Blue Hawaii and also worked at one of the hotels and as legend has it, could tell you stories about Sinatra and other big names, but he prefers to just sing and play his ukelele a few days a week on this tour. Good fun! We had another hula lesson. And it rained really hard on the trip back from the grotto - glad the boat had a roof.

We had a stop by the beach before being returned to the ship. Here are some of our photos.