The November Epic # 1: Welcome Aboard the Emerald Princess!

 And the winner of the contest for "Name That Destination," which nobody got right, is....

 

 Base map attribution:  https://freevectormaps.com/canada/CA-EPS-01-0004?ref=atr

Don't feel bad if you didn't guess right. After all, I was a little bit sneaky in leaving the correct direction off the previous map! Not to mention that few if any people would think of flying from Toronto to Kelowna BC to begin a trip to England.

 

By the way, if you have no idea what this introduction is all about, go back and read the previous post, and all will be explained. 

 

The flight from Vancouver to London is a bit of a gruelathon. It only lasts 8½ hours, but in that time you cross no less than eight time zones. This is what comes of flying across the narrowest part of the world -- the polar regions -- enroute from Point A to Point B. I'm probably going to be jetlagged for close to a week.

I always love watching the moving map on a flight. This one from the start of the trip gives a perfect illustration of what would be the straightest line direct route from Vancouver to London.

 

 

 

In this second one, taken when we were almost at our destination, you see clearly that the designated flyways across the Atlantic often do not correspond to the most direct route. Part of this is the need for twin-engine long-range aircraft like the Boeing 787-9 to keep within safe flying distance of suitable airports with long enough runways in case of an engine failure. The rest is the need to keep the flights to designated flight tracks to avoid collisions in the busy North Atlantic air corridor.

The good news was that when I staggered off the plane at noon in London, everything happened very quickly indeed. It's a long hike from the Air Canada gate in Terminal 2 at Heathrow to the immigration and customs area, but passing through the checks is very quick and civilized indeed. Holders of certain passports (including Canadians) are allowed to use the quick kiosks. You scan your passport, the machine takes your picture, and after a moment the gate pops open and you're through. After you pick up your bags (mine was already on the carousel, as usual at Heathrow), you simply walk through the "Green Channel" and out -- unless you have goods to declare which are going to remain in the U.K.

It then takes about 4 more minutes to hike across the outdoor but covered access area, past the lifts, and across six rows of parking spaces in the garage. You then enter the hotel, walk up a short ramp and arrive at the check-in desk. The best? Even though it was still only 1230, my room was ready. The Hilton Garden Inn Heathrow Terminal 2/3 asks you at check-in what time you expect to leave, and the housekeeping crew is on the job as soon as you go, freeing the rooms up for early arrivals. Pretty awesome.

So was the view from my room on the 13th floor. Of course, I've been in love with airports and airplanes ever since I was a kid.

The tall tail with red/green/black flashes on it is an Airbus A380 of Emirates Airlines. Emirates had two of these 600-passenger monsters leaving London within a couple of hours of each other. Crazy -- I've been on cruise ships that held less people! It's a weird sensation watching an A380 taking off. Because of its sheer size and bulk, it doesn't look like it's going anywhere close to flying speed when it lifts off the runway into the air. 

 

This second pic was taken a few hours later and just after sunset (and after I'd caught up on some lost sleep). Here, I caught two planes silhouetted against the colours of the sky.

I had a decent dinner in the Apron Restaurant on the first floor, where I got a good chuckle from this description of one of the wines on offer. Perhaps this less-than-technical description was meant to get you past the fact that it was the most expensive white wine on the list, by a wide margin.

 

I went with the pinot grigio, and after dinner had another one in the Runway Bar on the top floor, which gives awesome night views over the airport. This is where I watched that A380 taking off.

 

 

The next morning, after breakfast, I went back to the airport and found the transfer service. Presently, I boarded a coach and after a 2¼ hour drive found myself arriving at my real destination, in the south coast port city of Southampton. And here we go -- Princess Cruise Lines' Emerald Princess.

Princess Cruises photo

 

Say hello to my home for the next two weeks and a bit. Emerald Princess is one of a class of nine broadly similar (but not identical) ships built for Princess Cruises and sister company P & O Cruises over a period of a decade or so, beginning in 1998. Princess refers to them as the "Grand Class" after the first of the group, Grand Princess. I've been on 3 other ships of this class previously. These vessels carry different numbers in the range of 2600-3100 passengers. At the time of construction in 1998, Grand Princess was the world's largest cruise ship. These days, the Grand Class are looking more and more like mid-sizers!

 

Oh, the cruise? Sixteen days from Southampton to Fort Lauderdale. The real attraction of this trip for me was getting a whole series of destinations that I'd never seen before. That's the best kind of cruising -- you get to sample a wide range of places, and decide which ones merit more detailed visiting at a later date.

 

As we were driving into Southampton, we passed a couple of historic buildings along the waterfront of this historic commercial port. Here's the Southampton Harbour Board headquarters.

This building, whose identity I haven't been able to determine (although it may have been the Southampton offices of White Star Line), is the site on the lawn outside of a memorial plaque to White Star's most famous ship, RMS Titanic, whose home port was in Southampton. 

 

Indeed, the Titanic and many other great liners in the golden age of Atlantic sea travel used the Oceanic Dock, now the Ocean Cruise Terminal, which is where our ship, Emerald Princess, was moored. Here's the first look I got.

Boarding was very quick and efficient indeed -- 17 minutes from coach to cabin. The big luggage was sent down from London by separate truck, and was a bit slower, but still arrived at my cabin before the ship sailed which was all I asked!

Q: How do you know you are on a cruise ship?

A: As the afternoon moves towards evening, the internet service gets slower and slower and slower....

            (mainly because of all the people trying to stream and share video, I'd guess)

From my cabin, on the port side, I had a view of two Isle of Wight ferries docked in an adjacent slip -- I think that was a repair or service facility, as the main ferry terminal was on our ship's other side.

It was already dark when we sailed at 5:00 pm, but here you can see the unmistakable diagonal slant of the Oceanic Dock, which you can compare to any number of online photos of classic ocean liners moored here. I saw one beauty which I wanted to use, but the $69 license fee was too steep for my budget to take. Just Google "White Star Line Southampton" and you'll find them, no trouble. 

In this picture, a brilliantly illuminated cruise ship at the Queen Elizabeth 2 Cruise Terminal poses a huge contrast to the much more decorous Emerald Princess. Looks like a very new and flashy vessel from Aida, a cruise line which, despite its name (suggestive of Italian opera), is actually German. German is the working language of all staff on Aida cruises, which helps to explain why they aren't marketed in North America. Aida, like Princess, belongs to Carnival Corp.

 

It felt absolutely awesome to be setting out to sea again on a Princess ship, for the first time in over three years. Nowhere did I feel it more than the three-storey atrium midships called the Piazza, seen here from above...

 

 

...and from below.

Our first port of call was Cherbourg. Like its near neighbour of Le Havre, Cherbourg had a long association with the great Atlantic liners. Many ships, leaving Southampton or European ports, would stop to pick up passengers from France here. Today, it's more of a commercial port, although it also serves several ferry routes to and from Spain, England, and Ireland.

It was on the night crossing from Southampton to Cherbourg that my jetlag and lack of sleep caught up with me, and I slept off and on for eleven hours. That caused me to miss my early morning tour to Bayeux, to visit the famous Bayeux tapestry, so that will have to wait for another time. So will a separate pilgrimage to the Normandy beaches from the D-Day invasion on June 6, 1944, all of which are quite close to here.

Instead, I stayed aboard, going for a big breakfast in the buffet, a good brisk walk around the promenade deck, a light lunch in the Piazza -- a hot sandwich and to-die-for cappuccino from the International Cafe, the ship's 24-hour food and drink outlet.

Since then, I've been working away in my cabin at this blog post, while also grabbing another nap. So, to close out, here are a few pictures I took during my walk.

 

Cherbourg is an artificial harbour, enclosed by breakwaters. The breakwaters are marked by numerous forts and castles, which shows that the builders of this port definitely meant business. 

A view of part of the city is centred on the Holy Trinity Basilica, its square tower looking surprisingly Church-of-England for a French Catholic basilica.

To the west of the port, a marina shows that recreational sailing is big business here.

The cruise terminal building looks plainly as if it dates back to the golden age of the Atlantic liners.

 

Later in the afternoon, the mix of sun and rain clouds gave way to clear skies, and we could see the rain clouds departing to the east.

And finally, to wrap up, a last picture on board the ship. I sat down for a breather mid-point of my walk, right opposite one of the lifebuoys on the promenade. It's a sight that always makes me laugh, but you have to have been there to know why. The "Hamilton" named as the port of registry is the capital of Bermuda. It's laughable because Hamilton Harbour is only accessible through a tight gap called Two Rock Passage, or even smaller passages between other islands in the Great Sound. Emerald Princess is so large that, like all fleetmates in the Grand Class, entry to Hamilton Harbour is an impossibility. This ship can never visit the port where it is registered. Seriously.

Return to Aloha # 1: Back to Kauai

Well, here I am, and the secret is out. My late winter holiday is a return to Hawai'i, which I last visited five years ago, in 2017.

 

Getting to Hawai'i is all about the jetlag for residents of eastern North America. It's no less than six time zones away from Toronto or anywhere on the U. S. east coast. I left my hotel in Toronto at 6:45 am on Friday, and after 3 flights and 2 stopovers of about 3 hours each (and several other hassles), I finally reached my hotel room in Kaua'i at 10:30 pm (which is 4:30 am in Toronto). Think of it -- over 24 hours in transit. Needless to say, I'm going to be living in a jet-lagged fog for quite a few days.

 

But it all became worth it when I woke up in the morning to this sunrise view from my room.

 

Honesty compels me to admit that I spent a fair chunk of my time in Kaua'i lounging by the pool, soaking up local colour in the lounge, and otherwise decompressing after two solid winters at home without a single hot day anywhere. But I did get out to see a few scenic highlights. Kaua'i has many.

Kaua'i, often called "The Garden Isle," is the oldest in geological time and the least developed of the four major Hawaiian Islands for tourism. That second point may not remain true for much longer. The mere fact that it is more rural and less built up seems to be attracting more and more visitors, competing for the available hotel rooms and driving up room rates accordingly. Comparable resorts in Kauai are selling for easily twice the cost of properties on Waikiki Beach in Honolulu. Five years ago, Kauai was notably cheaper than Waikiki.

 

One look at this map is enough to tell you that this is a rural island.

 

I'm referring, of course, to the one single road running all the way around island, State Highway 50/56, most of which is only two lanes wide. No freeways here! There is one major airport at Lihu'e, with a runway long enough to accommodate medium-size twin-engine flights from North America. The secondary airport at Princeville can handle inter-island flights on smaller light twin aircraft and helicopters.

The three main resort areas are Princeville in the north, Kapa'a and Wailua in the east, and Poipu on the south shore. I'm staying at the Sheraton Coconut Beach Resort in Kapa'a. Here are a few pictures of the property to give you an impression.

In the last picture above, the wide paved walkway/cycle path marks the limit of the hotel property. To the left of the path is public land, including the beach, since by state law there is no such thing in Hawai'i as a private beach (except for beaches inside military reserves). There's a public beach access point on the south side of the hotel.

A fourth-floor corridor window on the landward side of the hotel gives this panorama of the island's mountainous interior, all of which has eroded down over untold millions of years from the two primordial volcanoes which gave birth to Kaua'i. On the far left side, behind the nearer peak and partly hidden in clouds (a normal condition) is the summit of Wai'ale'ale, the highest mountain on the island, and one of the wettest places on the entire planet.

We've barely got started, and it's time to begin language lessons.

Yes, I know that the apostrophe is actually turned around and has another special name but we're not going to get too technical here.

 

My first full day was spent just lazing around the pool, the restaurant, the bar, the pool, the bar.... Well, you get the picture. I still keep feeling sleepy at the weirdest times on the clock, thanks to the six-hour time zone displacement. On the other hand, simply lazing around the pool is very good for the soul in its own way.

On my second day, I went for a drive. Kaua'i is one island where a rental vehicle becomes essential, to put it mildly. Distances look deceptively small on the map. Also, traffic increasingly poses problems, especially in and around Lihu'e. So it took me almost exactly one hour to drive from Kapa'a all the way around to Kekaha and Highway 552. Along the way, I took a brief stop at the overlook for the Hanapepe Valley. You have to be alert, it's easy to miss on the highway.

Why not Highway 550 from Waimea? There are road signs directing people to use 552, and I would say with good reason. From Waimea up to the junction with 552, Highway 550 is one of the most sadistic roads I have ever driven. It has grades and bends that would do justice to a modern roller coaster, and is especially nasty at the upper end where you hit incredibly steep downgrades whichever way you're going, as the road climbs in and out of several deeply-gouged stream valleys. Highway 552 may take a bit longer, and cover a few more miles, but it's positively civilized by comparison. Certainly, anyone unused to driving mountain highways is better off to do the slightly longer route via Kekaha. 

 

Either way, by all means stop for a few minutes in Waimea to have a look around at the unique historical architecture of the main street, rather than just driving through.

 

As a bonus, if you carry on to Kekaha you get this distant, enticing view, just before entering the town, of the so-called "forbidden island," Ni'ihau, to the southwest of Kaua'i. 

 

Here's a link where you can read something of the fascinating history of Ni'ihau on Wikipedia -- it's quite the eye-opening story.

Ni'ihau

 

After you turn onto Highway 552, another twenty minutes of steady climbing brings you to the first main viewpoint in Waimea Canyon State Park. Here you will purchase admission and parking passes to the park at a ticket machine, which accepts only credit cards. For car and driver, not residents of Hawai'i, the fee is $15, with $5 additional for each further passenger. Similar ticket machines can be found at all major parking areas, and by April 19, 2022 all will be updated to sell both admission and parking tickets.

 

You will also, almost certainly, encounter Kaua'i's dominant form of "wildlife" if you haven't already done so -- the hordes of feral roosters, hens, and chickens. The crowing of roosters is a common background sound all over the island.

These clucking, crowing critters are almost everywhere in Kaua'i, and the song of the roosters runs from before sunrise all throughout the day.

Once you've paid your fee, you are covered for all parking areas in Waimea Canyon State Park and Koke'e State Park, both of which you will certainly visit while you are up on this mountain to begin with. Yes, it's a mountain. You are well over 3,000 feet above sea level, and the temperature -- which was 75F at Waimea -- dropped to somewhere between 60F and 64F, and held that level consistently throughout my visit. The main lookout points all have handicapped-access viewpoints.

With that, here are some choice pictures of the breathtaking Waimea Canyon, which is itself not far short of 3,000 feet deep. No wonder it's called "the Grand Canyon of the Pacific."

Look in the distance at the top left of this next picture. That height of land seen far away is Wai'ale'ale, seen from miles away and, for once, not covered with rain clouds. It's about 2000 feet (600+ metres) higher than the Canyon viewpoint. I think this was the first time I'd ever seen the mountain in the clear in three visits to Kaua'i.

It's a challenge photographing the canyon from the west side. In the morning, you are facing the sun, which explains why some of the pictures can look a bit washed out. Come back in the afternoon, and the canyon might not even be there any more if the rain has moved in.

 

Who knows, you might even encounter this particular "wild" critter, although that's a different story from the poultry.

After visiting the Canyon lookouts, you continue up the road and into Koke'e State Park. But be warned! After you pass Koke'e Lodge, the road has a number of rough spots, with one stretch so bad that matters have gone far beyond the "pothole" stage. I think they should borrow the name of a scenic road on the Big Island, and call that bit of road the "Chain of Craters."

Eventually you arrive at two more lookout points which offer differing views of the Kalalau Valley as it stretches downwards to the north shore of the island, again well over 3000 feet below you. This is the famous Na pali Coast. There is no road access along the Na pali Coast, only a tough hiking trail, and so less athletic visitors have to view it from the edges, as it were, or from a tour boat or helicopter. By the way, "pali" is the Hawaiian word for "cliff." You can see why.

By the way, you mustn't be surprised if you drive all the way up those twisting mountain roads to find one or more (or all) viewpoints socked in with fog, cloud, and rain. It can happen, but I've been lucky on each of my three visits to the Canyon -- or so it seems. It's not all luck. After only a few days in Hawai'i, or any other tropical island, you will soon learn that sunshine is more prevalent in the morning but afternoons often cloud over. I've always driven up to the Canyon as early in the morning as I can go. You should too.

 

More active visitors should certainly check out the opportunities for trail hiking in both parks.

After that set of breathtaking photo calls, I headed back down the mountain, and turned east, then south to the next destination, in the Poipu resort area on the south shore. 

 

 

Doesn't look very exciting? Wait till you see the interior.

 

 

"Restaurant meets Theme Park." Most restaurants look for an exciting or beautiful location to set up shop. Keoki's Paradise built its own. To all appearances a tropical jungle miles from nowhere, what you are actually seeing is an artificial garden which backs directly onto the main road through Poipu. There are a few seats in the bar area from which you can see the odd vehicle through gaps in the trees. Otherwise, the only clue comes when some especially loud motorcycle or hot rod guns its engine in the middle of the forest.

 

So in I went, and was ushered to a table neatly tucked in between two boulders of volcanic rock emerging from the floor. 

 

 

I was there for the Sunday brunch, so I missed out on the fresh fish which is the specialty of the house at dinner time -- as they say in their menu, "The fresh Hawaiian fish we serve are available according to their season in keeping with Hawaiian fishing traditions and respect for the sea (kai)." On the other hand, weekend brunch is one of the times they feature live music, and the singer was a definite asset to the meal.

The setting becomes even more magical at night, when tiki torches are lit and a few carefully placed lights among the trees highlight key features of the gardens. Some people might call it kitschy. I find it a refreshing change from the loud canned music in most restaurants, the endless repetitions of certain basic dishes like wings, fries, ribs, pizza, and the like. Keoki's Paradise is different, and I value that difference -- especially when every meal in this setting feels like an event. It's my one must-visit restaurant destination in Kaua'i and never disappoints.

Just talking about it is enough to make me hungry! I'm going to knock off now to look for some dinner, and post this before I go, because this marks the end of my Kaua'i adventures. Tomorrow, I'm off to Honolulu and the world-famous Waikiki Beach. See you there!