Kona

The next morning I was still up in time to see the ship pull into Kona, Hawaii.  The second week of our vacation would be spent in Kona, so we just elected to walk around town for a bit.

I dressed up in my 'new' Hawaiian shirt and Ron wore the closest thing he had.

This was the only stop where there was no dock so they brought out the tender/lifeboats.  Hey!  We get to ride in a lifeboat without the ship sinking.

Notice that the lifeboat holds 150, but as a tender, only 97.  Let me tell you, we were packed in there even with 97 or less.

Here's our captain steering the boat with his knees.

There was a craft fair close to where we docked.  I don't think it's a coincidence that it's the same day 2100 passengers arrive on a boat.  They had very nice things and I even bought a pair of earrings  breaking my rule that I wouldn't buy any more until I started wearing them.

We saw the Moku'aikaua Church which is the oldest Christian church in the Hawaiian Islands.

And the Hulihe'e Palace which is the former vacation home of Hawaiian royalty and now a museum.

But mostly, I was just so thankful that Diana had the foresight to suggest renting cars at the longer stops.  I can't imagine being stuck in the port towns, visiting tourist shops.

We headed back to the ship and enjoyed a rare lunch on board instead of at McDonald's.

Then Diana and I attended the daily lei making class.  This one was an interesting ribbon weave.

Here's a close up.   Funny thing:  I got to the end and had quite a bit of green left.  The teacher said they must have been cut wrong, but I'm guessing user error.

For the evening's entertainment, we attended Dancing with the America Stars.  Volunteers (or would that be victims) pair up with one of the production staff for a 'wildly silly' competition.  Phil was a good sport and participated.  If it had been an actual contest, I'm sure he would have won, but we should have known it wasn't by the 'wildly silly' description.

The nightly animal was a Brontosaurus.

Hilo

The third morning on the ship, I made it to 6am.  At this rate, I figure I'll be sleeping in until 8 by the end of the week.  As the sun was coming up, we cruised into Hilo on the island of Hawaii.

I believe that's Mauna Kea peeking out of the clouds.  At 13,796 feet above sea level, it's the tallest in Hawaii, but if measured from its base on the ocean floor, it's 32,000 feet high!

We only had one day in Hilo, so we thought it would be most efficient if we took one of the bus tours.  (Also we had a $250 credit from when we booked, so we had to use it.)  Due to Ron's problem with buses, we got the front seat.  Yeah!

First we drove Banyan Drive lined with banyan trees planted by various celebrities, mostly in the 1930s.

We caught a glimpse of Lili'uokalani Gardens.

And when one of the passengers couldn't wait for a pit stop, we got to watch workers climb the palm trees with just spikes on their shoes and a rope around their waist.  They risk their lives to trim branches and cut down coconuts so no tourists will be harmed.  You couldn't pay me enough.

But our first scheduled stop was at picturesque Rainbow Falls.

Then it was on to Volcano National Park and a view of Kilauea Caldera.  This is the view from the visitors center.  It was pretty calm the day we were there, but depending on the activity and wind direction, it can be hard to see or the lookout closed because of the sulfur fumes.

The Crater Rim Drive is now closed so this was as close as we could get.

Watch out for those fumes, Ron.

Next stop was the Thurston Lava Tube through which you can walk where lava previously flowed.  Along the path to the tube, someone had left a gift for Pele, the Hawaiian goddess of volcanoes.  Good idea to keep her happy.

The lava tube is conveniently lighted.

I really liked the vegetation along the trail back to the parking lot.

Next we stopped at a lava flow from the 1970's where I was amazed by the blue and gold colors.

On the way back to Hilo, we enjoyed the gorgeous Akatsuka Orchid Gardens.

It just doesn't get any more beautiful.

And speaking of orchids, our bus tour ended just in time for Diana and I to attend the orchid lei making class.  They had brought in 20,000 orchids for the class, but surprisingly, it was not well attended.  So instead of having us make a 'single' lei, we used a lot more flowers to make a 'double.'

Which we then wore to dinner.

We were told that around 10pm we would be cruising within sight of where the lava is actively flowing into the ocean.  I was hoping it would look something like this:


But it actually looked like this - still thrilling, but not quite as spectacular.

The nightly entertainment was Oh, What A Night! - a tribute to Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons and was out of this world.  I didn't get any video to show, but Diana probably did.

And here's the nightly towel animal.

Maui (part 3)

On our second morning of the cruise, I woke up at 5:30.  Once again Ron had no problem sleeping in until 7 when I woke him.  After all, we have places to go, things to see.

After breakfast, the four of us climbed back in the rental car for the drive up to Haleakala National Park.

You can see the reddish cinder cones and the black of the latest lava flow.

At 10,000 ft. elevation, it was considerably colder than at sea level, but we came prepared with extra clothing.

It was a weird feeling to be above the clouds and watching them roll in.

The native silversword (āhinahina in Hawaiian) is a life lesson that beauty is fleeting.  It goes from the gorgeous plant in the foreground to the shriveled up remains in the background after blooming.

We also drove into the lush  ʻĪao State Park.  I loved the tropical feel of this valley.  This, to me, is Hawaii.

Isn't this a house plant?

The surrounding sheer valley walls were spectacular.

Just like any good tourist, we had to do a little shopping.  Oh, great!  A Savers!  (For the uninitiated, Savers is a thrift store selling used treasures.)  I figured this would be a great place to buy those Hawaiian shirts that we'll never wear at home.

Ron pretended to be interested, but actually refused to participate in the impulse buy.

On the other hand, I bought two!  Cool!

After returning the rental car, we still made it back to the ship in time for the lei making class.

For dinner we went to the Italian restaurant on board to celebrate Diana's birthday with her favorite food.  Here she and Phil model the Kukui nut leis that we made.

That evening the main entertainment (there are always choices) was a tribute to Hollywood Musicals.  My favorite was the guy who preformed the classic Singing in the Rain number.  It takes guts to imitate the incomparable Gene Kelly, but he did a great job.

Maui (part 2)

In Lahaina, Diana, Phil, and I went on a whale watching tour.  It was fabulous and I was sorry Ron missed it because of his seasickness handicap   The humpback whales congregate around Hawaii during the winter to breed and give birth (hopefully not at the same time.)  This creates quite a show as the males vie for the females' attentions.

We took off with much excitement and anticipation.  I had been on a couple of whale watching trips and saw orcas off Vancouver Island and assorted kinds off the coast of Maine.  However I had never seen humpbacks and wanted to get an iconic 'tail' shot.  And we were off!

I was lucky enough to grab the front seat and I say that for two reasons.  One, I never get seasick and two, it's farther away from the diesel fumes, which do bother me.  I was a happy boater.

(The best was when she really floored it coming back in and I actually levitated off the seat.)

Our method was to watch for spouts, then just aim the camera somewhere in the vicinity.  After all you didn't want to actually look through it and miss seeing anything.  This made for lots of pictures of nothing.

But later when cropping the heck out of them on the computer, sometimes we were surprised. I had no idea that I had captured a 'double tail.'

(You might have to click on these.)

There they go - synchronized diving.

Here one of the group was waving at us.

And another cooperated with a closer dive.

There he goes.

(We had our cameras set on continuous shoot if you're wondering.)

There were lots of groups which we were told consisted of one female (with or without a calf) and multiple males with high hopes.

One more.

It was a long day, but we still had the energy to attend the Aloha Polynesia show on the ship.   First we had a lesson on how to open a coconut - in short, it's not easy.

Then the dancers demonstrated dances from various islands of Polynesia.  It was highly entertaining, but I don't remember where any were from.

Here are a couple of short clips.




Every day, the housekeeping staff created creatures out of towels.  Our steward was big on accessories.  Here he used Ron's sunglasses.