Hawaii

Because of the storm and our detour around it, we arrived in Honolulu about 6 hours later than scheduled.  The sail-in was a spectacular perspective as we slowly cruised by Oahu from the eastern end, perfect for us since our suite is on the starboard side.  We watched from our balcony as we slowly approached Diamond Head and sailed by Waikiki Beach with all the hotels and high-rise condos.  The diminutive all-pink Royal Hawaiian Hotel was easy to pick out from among the bigger buildings.  It was just beautiful seeing it that way.  Every other time we have flown in. Tour departures had to be adjusted and some canceled, including all the trips to Pearl Harbor (many disappointed guests), but luckily we had been to the Memorial on prior trips and our trip just left in the afternoon instead of in the morning.  .

Diamond Head and Honolulu

Diamond Head

Pink Royal Hawaiian Hotel  

We went east from the harbor right down Kalakaua Avenue, the main drive along Waikiki Beach, passing the Zoo and through the expensive residential neighborhood of Kahala where many celebrities have homes.   We also saw the large compound (home and guest house) where Magnum P.I. was filmed.  First stop was in the Diamond Head crater, which is pretty big but mostly just a bowl-shaped valley with a lot of grasses and trees in it, a small military station, and a trail head for hiking up to the top of Diamond Head - a very nice boardwalk - type trail, definitely USA-style as opposed to Nicaraguan take-your-life-in-your-hands style.

In Diamond Head Crater

Next, we stopped at Hanauma Bay, the best snorkeling spot on the island.  When I worked at Maritz Travel I enjoyed some time there, but not this time.  It's a beautiful photo stop, though.

Hanauma Bay

Further on we looked out at a blowhole, but the ocean was quiet (now it's quiet!)and there wasn't much of a 'blow'.  But at that same spot is the beach where the famous kiss at the edge of the surf in From Here to Eternity was filmed.  It's a pretty small cove between some really big lava boulders and cliffs. There were a few people in the water and on the beach, but it just looked downright dangerous to us. And, if you will remember, we've probably had enough of dangerous for quite a while!

This is a game - find the Blow Hole

Entrance to cove of Here to Eternity beach

Here to Eternity Beach

Al at Here to Eternity Beach 

Along our route we visited the archaelogical site of a former temple which is sacred to the Hawaiians. It consists of thousands and thousands of lava rocks of all sizes piled up, ending in flat altar-type top. It's really huge when viewed from the far side of the small valley in which it is situated.  The grounds around it are perfectly kept with beautiful specimens of Hawaiian trees and flowering shrubs.  It was quite beautiful and really seemed serene. We enjoyed it very much.

Front side of Heiau (Altar)

Back of Heiau

Grounds at Heiau

They treat it as very sacred

Grounds of the Heiau

More grounds

We drove through some very small towns in an agricultural valley, then started climbing up into the Koolau Mountains, all fin-shaped and luscious green, to get to the Pali Lookout for views out to the ocean.  Just what you think of when you think of Hawaii.  Well, it's what we think anyway.

Views from Pali Lookout

Valley views

Mountain Views

Unknown meaning of this, but glad it wasn't windy

Hawaiian Velociraptors

Driving down Pali to Honolulu

We anchored off Lahaina on Maui and went for a drive around the western side of the island.  We had a lot of stops for viewpoints of the coastline, beautiful bays and coves, and a much better blow hole than the one we saw on Oahu.  This one was really blowing out a tall fount of water.  There are signs all around telling people not to get close to it, but there were some really silly people standing right next to it and getting swamped each time.  Our driver said people have died doing that because sometimes it blows out even more water and then sucks anything near it back down into the hole. Our view was from a safe distance - yeah, we're no fun, right?  When we rounded the northwest tip of the island, the road narrowed, becoming one lane in places, and began to do tight curves and zigzags.  We climbed and dipped down and saw gorgeous water on one side and mountains on the other.  Not much population out here, but every now and then a small house or a big house.  We had a picnic lunch at a really big house which was also a gallery of Hawaiian crafts - nice stuff but not for us.  We eventually descended and straightened and flattened out in the isthmus which connects the Haleakala Volcano side(eastern) with the western mountains where we had been.  There used to be sugar cane fields here to the far edges of the isthmus, but the last sugar cane factory has closed permanently about a month ago, so there is no more sugar production in the state of Hawaii anymore.  There is some wild cane growing up in the fields but nothing is done with it.  Pineapple is the same - only a few patches here and there, but nothing is grown for exportation anymore.  Last time we were here we still saw both cane and pineapple all over, but not anymore. Kind of sad.

We stopped for a break at the Maui Tropical Plantation which has a few fields showing typical crops growing (fruit trees and probably a few stands of cane and pineapple plants).  There were several attractive shops with some nicer quality goods and some really good coffee (the ship's coffee is terrible, as usual).  The grounds here are beautifully landscaped so we enjoyed this stop before continuing back to Lahaina.  We walked up and down Front Street in Lahaina before tendering back to the ship.

Molokai in the background

Coastline

Bay in the coastline

Now that's a blowhole

Silly people at the blowhole

Another Bay

Lunch at this house

Our visit to Kauai had to be canceled because the seas were too rough for the ship to risk entering the narrow mouth of the port, evidently tricky even in calm seas.  So we missed our helicopter trip there. We were disappointed and felt bad for some guests who have never been.  We think it is the most beautiful of the Hawaiian islands and were looking forward to the visit.  Missing Kauai meant another day at sea to get to the Big Island, and everybody was disappointed about that!

Volcanoes National Park was the pay off on Hawaii. The 11-mile Crater Rim Drive is partly closed because lava has flowed across it in places and they haven't cleared it off yet.  Might not happen for a while since Kilauea is still erupting.  But we walked through a lava tube, visited the crater of a recent explosive event, walked through a lava field (it was flat, thank goodness), and ended at the Jaggar Museum situated near the rim of the Kilauea Caldera.  From there we could see the smaller but extremely active crater which is steaming and actively spurting lava up.  That was really an amazing sight!

We took advantage of a stop at the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Factory to pick up several bags of nuts with various coatings, (like we don't have enough to eat on the ship!), and they are so fresh and delicious.  We were able to watch them process the nuts through the automated production line. There were thousands of acres planted with hundreds of macadamia nut trees all along the road to the factory.  At least that's one crop that is surviving in Hawaii!

Lava Tube

Wonder how many they had before this sign went up - a lot I bet!

Lava spurting up

Kilauea Crater within its larger Caldera

Gardens near the ship

Macadamia Nut

So we sailed away pretty much on time but the Captain said he could not take the ship past the lava hose currently pouring into the sea from Kilauea - too far west of our route.  Disappointed!  You all should go online and see it  -  looks spectacular.

Anyway, we are at sea now.  We crossed the equator yesterday (our 8th time on a ship) and there were the usual festivities with King Neptune (His Royal Wetness) and his queen, some mermaids and a judge to prosecute the 'polliwogs' who have never made the crossing.  It was packed on the pool deck as everyone watched them take their punishment for having disturbed His Royal Wetness in his deep ocean kingdom. The polliwogs were insulted and slimed and dunked in the pool, and were then forgiven and declared 'shellbacks'.  The only thing missing was kissing the fish!  We were disappointed they weren't required to do that, as that has been part of all the other crossing parties we've seen!  It was all fun though.

Prosecuting Judge

His Royal Wetness and his Queen

Polliwog (!)

Motley Crew

Last night we were invited by some new acquaintances to a dinner party in their Master suite.   It's quite large, with an entrance foyer, dining room, living room, 2 bathrooms and large bedroom.  Their butler served the dinner and several others were also called up to assist, and our butler was one of them.  It was Indian food and very tasty.  It was a very nice experience  - loved seeing the biggest guest room on the ship!