We Do the Hawaiian Islands

After touring Honolulu and Pearl Harbor, we were to start our cruise the following day. We got up early to have breakfast with some of the group members, then lounged around the room until our ground transportation picked us up at noon. Being among the first of the group to be picked up, we considered ourselves lucky to breeze through the check-in process and not have extensive waiting in line like some did.

Dinner with the "group"

We were in our stateroom, unpacked, and enjoying a late lunch as some of our group were just boarding the ship. The ship set sail as we were enjoying a sailing away party on the lido deck, and all 7 couples enjoyed a late seating together for dinner.

Our first destination was Maui which we arrived at early the next morning. The itinerary noted that we would be here almost two full days. For us, this port would allow us to visit one of Hawaii’s two national parks (after all, that’s why we’re here!), specifically Haleakala National Park.

At Haleakala

Normally we would walk off the ship and find a local vendor to show us the park and perhaps some other sites, but Capt. Larry panicked at the last minute, fearful that we wouldn’t easily find a local vendor, and bought a tour through the ship. We reassured ourselves that we had done the right thing, because as we disembarked we did not find a bevy of tour operators offering their services.

View from the summit

We boarded our tour bus and headed for the park. The main feature of this park, and Maui’s main natural attraction, is viewing the crater of the world’s largest dormant volcano (even though the volcano is still considered active but has not erupted since 1790).

A silversword plant

On our ride to the summit, we stopped at one of the park’s visitor’s centers and collected the stamp. Here we saw some splendid beds of silversword plants that are unique to this area, along with some other interesting foliage.

The Haleakala "caldera"

The summit of this volcano is at 10,023 feet, which you climb from sea level over a distance of 37 miles in 2 hours time. This rapid ascent often causes motion sickness due to the switchbacks on the road, and fortunately, everyone on our bus endured the trip well (it was a different matter coming down!). After we arrived we were informed that it is not actually a crater, but an erosional depression that resulted when one side of the mountain washed away.

At the summit

At that altitude it was cold and very windy, so we spent most of our time inside the visitor’s center looking at the exhibits and photographing the surroundings. After about 1 hour on the summit, our group headed down, and the weaving and descent caused some to become sick. We returned to our ship and gathered with the other group members for drinks and dinner. Everyone had done something slightly different, but we accomplished one of our Hawaii goals and were happy. We remained in port at Maui the next day, but decided not to venture off the ship, as none of the nearby offerings sounded very appealing.

Our next stop was Hilo on the big island of Hawaii where we were hoping to see the active Kilauea volcano in Volcanoes National Park.

At the museum

The big island is also home to Mauna Loa which is the largest mountain on Earth, standing 56,000 feet above the depressed sea floor and making it more than 27,000 feet higher than Mt. Everest. After our ship docked, we headed out for another ship’s tour of the park, having learned our lesson from the previous port. After a bus ride into the park, we stopped at the Thomas A. Jaggar Museum where we collected the park stamp, viewed the center’s exhibits, and learned that Pele, the goddess of volcanoes lives here.

Pele lives here!

We also saw the rim of the Kilauea caldera. The views were spectacular, but we could not view any lava flows which could only be seen from a helicopter tour.

The Kilauea caldera

Leaving the caldera, we came to a couple of fields of steam vents where we got to see another side of volcanic activity.

At the steam vents

This we thoroughly enjoyed as we witnessed the ferocity of the vents and the delicate vegetation that grows in this inhospitable environment.

Steam ventw

Our bus tour then took us to Lua Manu which was a gigantic lava flow that crossed the main highway a few years ago.

Lua Manu

We also saw the Nikki Kilauea caldera which was part of the main system. We returned to the ship where Jane and group member Gail Sanders had time to attend a lei making class to round out the day’s activities.

Gail and Jane at lei class

We enjoyed dinner with some of the group members and retired while the ship repositioned to the western side of the island at the port of Kailua-Kona.

We awoke the next morning just as the ship was preparing to dock.

The Kona post office

After breakfast, we thought we would go ashore and walk and walk around the town to explore and exercise. We had not planned any excursions for this port, as we had already accomplished what we came here for, seeing Hawaii’s two national parks, found the offerings here to not be very appealing. After we tendered to shore, Jane wanted to find the post office to mail some postcards.

By the tender docks

The post office wasn’t too far from the tender docks, but it was a steep climb that left us puffing by the time we arrived. With the cards mailed, we started to head for  shopping mall we had spotted that was further up the hill, but after climbing a couple hundred yards more, we realized that street we were on would not take us directly to where we wanted to go.

Along the harbor shore

We would have to travel a much longer distance to get around to the mall’s entrance, and this was something we decided against. After all, we rationalized that the stores were probably the same ones we could shop at home. Heading back down the way we came, we thought that it would be fun to explore the historical area next to the tender docks which. This turned out to be a good choice as there were lots of older businesses and places of interest, and they were all provided a splendid view of the Kona Harbor.

Historical area

Walking along the shoreline we came to a touristy mall featuring a variety of specialty shops. Jane shopped for clothes and jewelry, while Capt. Larry found a coconut bra and grass skirt outfit for daughter Milana.

At the church

On our way back to the docks, we stopped at the Mo Kauai Kaua Congregational Church, the first church established in the islands. We went into a convenience store opposite the docks, bought a couple of beers, and sat next to a kayak/outrigger canoe rental shop and people watched while we took the sights in.

The oldest church

We returned to the ship and Jane decided to take some hula lessons while Capt. Larry took a nap. The ship left port around dinnertime and headed for our next stop, the port of Nawiliwili on the island of Kauai. 

Capt. Larry was up early the next morning to a beautiful sunrise and an acrobatic display of ship piloting.

Sunrise over the Pacific

As the ship was coming into port, he saw the channel ahead narrow and couldn’t believe that the pilot was actually going to attempt a passage.

Approaching the narrows

Not only that, but halfway through the narrows the channel formed a tight S-shape with a tight turn to port and immediately followed by a sharp turn to starboard- all in a distance that didn’t seem any longer than the ship’s length.

How'd we get through that?

After getting into the inner harbor, the ship was then eased broadside into her berth at the dock. It was the coolest docking he had ever witnessed.

We're here!

Kauai is the oldest of the larger islands and the least developed with only 3% of the land developed for commercial and residential use. It is also the only island with navigable rivers, and its lush rain forests, majestic mountains and stretches of white sandy beaches have made it a Hollywood setting in over 60 movies and TV productions. After Jane rolled out of bed, we had breakfast and lounged around our stateroom until mid-morning when most of the passengers doing excursions and the bit-chompers had left. We disembarked and caught a trolley that took us to a shopping mall in town. The mall was old, rundown, and had mostly low-rent businesses, so we went across the street to a newer mall and did our shopping there. The mall was next to the Nawiliwili Beach and we wandered over to watch the surfers do their thing. Jane had purchased some postcards so we sauntered into the Nawiliwili Tavern, ordered a couple of beers, and sat and wrote the cards to family and friends. We headed back to the ship around lunchtime. In the afternoon, Jane went to her second hula class and then joined Gail for another class in lei making.

We did not have dinner aboard the ship during our night in Kauai. Instead, we and most of our group opted to go to an authentic luau that was highly rated as one of the best in the islands.

Lawn games

A short bus ride and we were at historic Kilohana Plantation for the Luau Kalamaku. After some picture taking with the local celebrities, we got a couple of complimentary drinks and viewed the plantation grounds which were absolutely beautiful.

At the luau

There were a number of children and adults demonstrating the island’s cultural heritage as well as a bevy of vendors hawking their goods. Jane bought Capt. Larry a baseball cap with a cap bill made of bola wood.

The guys with their "woodies"

When some of the other guys in the group saw it, they had to have one too.

Gail and Jane

After a few more of those complimentary drinks, dinner was served and we staggered over to the buffet line. The offerings were definitely local, cultural, and interesting. Capt. Larry was game, Jane not so much. During dessert, members of the audience were invited to participate in a group hula.

It's what's for dinner

Jane bolted to the stage to show her stuff, and she did quite well and seemed to know the moves without further instruction. When the hula segment was over the luau show began.

Jane shows her hula skills

The story and interpretation by the dancers and musicians was awesome and we thoroughly enjoyed it. When the show was over, we boarded our bus and headed back to the ship. We spent the next day aboard doing a number of ship activities and just chilling out.

Too much luau fun!

The luau show

Around dinnertime we were eased out of our berth and wrestled through the harbor’s entrance on our way back to Honolulu.

The last supper

Our last group dinner aboard was rather raucous and boisterous and we’re not sure the dining room staff appreciated our rowdiness. But that’s what party people from the south do. We said our goodbyes and turned in for the night.

We arrived at our Honolulu port as the sun was rising. We had another red-eye (2330) flight out of Honolulu and nothing to do but sit with our luggage, so we were in no hurry to leave the ship. We had a late, leisurely breakfast and disembarked around 1100. We didn’t have transportation to the airport already arranged, so we waited in the crowd for the bus that brought us in to get us back. After waiting for over an hour, Capt. Larry contacted another vendor who had immediate availability. We headed over to that line and were at the airport about an hour later. We still had a long wait, but by the time we checked our bags and pass through security, it was down to a few hours. Jane did some last minute shopping, we had a light supper, and it was time to be at the gate for boarding. The overnight flight seemed interminable, but we arrived back in Baton Rouge via Houston and were home in time to see the New Orleans Saints in their first playoff game against the Philadelphia Eagles. They won and we had had a great vacation “out west.”