Kauai

Kauai, Hawaii - Day 56 - 15th August 2016

This port was an addition to our original itinerary to make up for missing San Diego due to ship repairs that were carried out in San Francisco.  We were quite happy about the change as we had not been to this island before but we had been to San Diego.  However we were disappointed about missing out on our Segway tour in San Diego.

We had a bit of a slow start to the day as our friends were locked inside their cabin and could not get out!  It took the ship's maintenance men about 45 minutes to release the lock on the door.  Meanwhile Peter was waiting for them at the Purser's Desk and I was in the terminal on the dock not knowing what was going on and thinking that maybe I had been left behind!

Anyway we were all reunited and walked the short distance into town.  I had had it in my mind to do a helicopter tour over the canyon which is one of the main attractions and best viewed from the air but by the time we got to the booking office most flights had been booked out.  Luckily we found a company, Island Helicopters that scheduled an extra flight late in the day so all 4 of us were booked on and excited.

Our pick up time was 3.15 for a 4.15 flight so we had enough time to walk through the shops, have lunch and a refreshment overlooking the beach and to go for a swim in the surf.

The flight was for 55 minutes which gave us a very small window to be back on board the ship by 5.30 so we were a tad nervous but confident all could be achieved in the time that we had.

The flight was amazing and the scenery breathtaking…. so worth the money!  I would definitely recommend taking this flight.

Luckily we were dropped back at the ship with a couple of minutes to spare before the gangplank was packed up and we were on our way to our next port which is Honolulu tomorrow.

Quick Facts:

Region: The oldest of the Hawaiian Islands and is the 4th largest.

Population: 67,091 (2010)

Climate: Tropical

Language: English

Currency: US Dollar (USD)

Our arrival into Kauai

Lunch with Marie and Mal

Time for a swim

Relaxing

All aboard

The Waimea Canyon

Napali Coast

Leaving Kauai

The Steakhouse set up "under the stars"

Our tug to keep us on track as a very narrow opening from the harbour

Sunset at sea

San Francisco - Day 2 and 3

2nd and 3rd Day San Francisco - Day 50 - 9th August 2016  

On our second day in San Fran Peter wanted to visit some of the Navy ships open for inspection so I joined Marie and Mal on a ferry ride over to Sausalito.  The weather was perfect…. sunshine and blue skies!

Sausalito is across on the other side of the bay and takes about 30 minutes on the ferry.  Travelling across the bay we had fabulous views of Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge without the fog and mist.  Once on the other side we perused the shops and found somewhere overlooking the bay for lunch.

After lunch we caught the local bus back into Union Square for a spot of shopping… mainly at Ross for any bargain we could find and Britex for craft supplies.  The public transport system is very easy to use and very cheap and more so if you are a senior!

We went our own ways as we all had different shopping missions.  After watching a Michael Jackson look alike on the footpath outside Ross I tackled the shops as well as taking in the sites such as the grand old Westin hotel where we stayed on our last visit.

Around 7pm I headed back to the ship via the street trams for our 8pm meeting with our friends for dinner.  The plan was to go to Fisherman's Wharf to find a crab meal which we did… we were not disappointed!

Our last day in San Fran was only short as we were all due back on the ship by 12.30.

Another very enjoyable day was had by all in San Francisco.

Five days at sea before our next port Kauai, Hawaii.

 

The wharf area

Fancy bread

Fisherman's Wharf precinct

Not so many seals these days

Golden Gate Bridge

Sausalito

Lunch with a view and good friends

Michael Jackson look-a-like

Westfield Shopping Centre

The Westin Hotel at Union Square

Riding the tram

Bye Bye San Francisco

San Francisco

San Francisco - Day 49 - 8th August 2016

We arrived into San Francisco mid morning then we had to do the whole face to face with the US immigration officials because we had been into Canada.  That took up a couple of hours but thankfully we were out just in time to be picked up for our afternoon tour around the highlights of San Fran.

We had a 4 hour private city tour organised for a group of us off the ship.  Our guide was there to  meet us on time and we set out to see all the usual tourist stops that you must see when in San Fran.

Our tour ended around 4.30pm which gave us just enough time to go back to our cabin, freshen up and get our warm coats to head to a night game of baseball.  A group of 8 of us booked seats to the game before we left Aus.  The game was in Oakland which was a train ride away on the other side of the harbour and took us about an hour to get there as we were travelling in peak time.  The teams playing were the Oakland Athletics who were near the bottom of the table and the Baltimore Orioles who could have been leading the competition.  The game was exciting with a number of home runs hit and the local team winning.

We had a long and tiring day for our first day in San Francisco.  A lot of territory was covered but we sure made the  most of every minute of our first day on land!  Tomorrow we are heading over to Sausalito for a walk around and then lunch overlooking the bay.

Quick Facts:

Population: 837,442

Climate: Mediterranean - mild wet winters with cool dry summers

Language: English

Currency: US Dollars (USD)

Arriving into San Francisco

Cable car

Lombard Street ( the crookedest street in the world!)

Street art

Civic Centre

Iconic terrace houses

The view over San Francisco from Twin Peaks lookout

Golden Gate Park

        

a local delicacy - ice-cream between chocolate coated biscuits

Haight Street

Golden Gate Bridge

The Presidio

The trolley buses - $1 for seniors!

The baseball ground at Oakland

Peter's new friends

The gang all seated ready for the match

      

My seat was directly behind the guy in the checked shirt! Luckily there were plenty of spare seats so I sat across the aisle

     

The ground The final score board

The view of the Bay Bridge at night when we finally got back to the ship