Suggestions for Kauai

[SkipsMom]

We will be on Kauai on 10/8/08 and plan on doing the 3 hour Big Kahuna Air & Fern Grotto tour with AirVentures. The tour will be from 8:30 – 11:30 a.m. I’d like to rent a car for the afternoon…We are scheduled to sail at 5:00 p.m. and would have to have the car returned and back on the ship by 4:30. Any suggestions on what to see in this short time?

[CC Help Michell]

We will be on Kauai on 10/8/08 and plan on doing the 3 hour Big Kahuna Air & Fern Grotto tour with AirVentures. The tour will be from 8:30 – 11:30 a.m. I’d like to rent a car for the afternoon…We are scheduled to sail at 5:00 p.m. and would have to have the car returned and back on the ship by 4:30. Any suggestions on what to see in this short time?

 

I keep starting to type, then erasing and thinking "no, not enough time!" Thinking out loud a bit here, if you land from your flight on time, then get transportation to the car rental offices and have good luck with a speedy processing, you could be on the road by 12:15- 12:30. To return the car and be back onboard by 4:30, you'd have to allow for the possibility of some kind of delay/line at rental car return, so you should probably be back there by 3:45 PM, 4:00 PM at the latest (our van from car rental back to the ship encountered traffic delays in Lihue and took about 25 minutes all by itself).

 

That gives you at most 3 hrs, 30 minutes or so? So the furthest you could go from the Lihue area with no stops at all is a 1 hour, 45 minute drive before you'd have to return. So I think (if my math's correct) to be realistic you'll have about one hour to drive away, one hour to get back, and about 90 minutes for stops and sight seeing.

 

Let me link for you a site I think is ideal for your situation -- http://www.alternative-hawaii.com/byotgdxk.htm. This link, and the ones that follow, are to the "be your own tour guide" site we used to plan our rental car day on Kauai. The guides give extremely detailed directions, drive times, mileages to tenths of a mile, photos, hours, entrance fees, landmarks to watch for so you don't get lost, and a lot more. We followed their East Coast (Coconut Coast) drive, and found it very helpful. We combined it with the North Shore of Kauai and made a full day of it, but I don't think you have time to get to the North Shore and back with any margin of safety at all, time wise. If you look at the guide, you can check out the stops they list and see if any interest you; this drive is about 1:15 of driving time (not including stops and looking time) -- http://www.alternative-hawaii.com/drives/kauai/east.htm

 

They also have a South Shore drive -- http://www.alternative-hawaii.com/drives/kauai/south.htm -- which they list as 1:30 driving time in total and might be doable depending on traffic and construction conditions (some of the areas this takes you are under construction). We didn't self-drive this route, but did take a tour that followed it, and it's quite lovely. There's also a drive with recommended sites for the Lihue-Kalapaki area itself -- http://www.alternative-hawaii.com/drives/kauai/lihue.htm -- very close to the ship/airport/car rental, and that might meet your needs as well.

 

Another non-car option might be just walking next door to the ship (or taking a shopping shuttle) and enjoy a beach day at Kalapaki Beach in front of the Marriott, go shopping at Anchor Cove, maybe have a meal at Duke's, and relax.

 

Hope that helps you get started, and have a great time! :)

[SkipsMom]

Thanks! this is great :)