March Break - Week 2 (The Cruise)

FOR PICTURES OF THIS VACATION SEE THE WEBSHOTS at THE CRUISE!

It is wonderful to be back, but it’d be wonderfuller if we were still on the boat. To say the very least about our trip would be too little and it would be something like, it was fun. However, it was absolutely unbelievable. Our trip began from Oahu at around 8pm. We got on the boat around 7:30ish and had about enough time to get into our room and get our life jackets on. We made it to the muster station and had some time to relax after that.

We walked around the boat for a few hours, stopping to admire Aloha Tower and the skyline of Oahu from Honolulu to Waikiki. The first night we went to have dinner and got to watch the boat back away from the dock. The rest of the night involved us wandering about the ship and eventually stopping at the nightclub to watch the assistant cruise director do line dances with high school kids.

Day 1

The next day, we arrived at Kaua’i. To see everything in Kaua’i, you need about 4 to 5 days to see it and spend as much time as you need everywhere. We began, though, by getting a rental car and getting as far west as we could. First, we drove all the way to Polihale beach. Polihale is a 15-mile stretch of white sand beach, which has a view of the Na Pali coast at one end and a military base at the other. Kaua’i is a most interesting island as it is the first island that the Tahitians landed on. It was a gorgeous place, and this beach exemplifies that exactly. However, just to get to one of these beaches, you have to drive down a 5-mile road that is not only unpaved, but also built like moguls for skiing. Our Pontiac sedan did not fair so well on it, but it did make for a very exciting time going from side to side on the road, trying our hardest to bypass some of the dips and bumps.

After Polihale, we made our way up the side of Waimea and drove out to Waimea canyon. It was a fun little ride up the hill, not quite as bad as Hana, but twisty and turny none-the-less. The views were spectacular! We saw the “Grand Canyon of the Pacific” as they say. The canyon is 3600 feet deep and has so many waterfalls that you can’t see them all from the road. The one we did see, as you can see here, is almost two. Half-way down, the falls are blown sideways and continue down again. So amazing!! On the way back down we stopped for more pictures and saw the runoff of the rivers through the canyon. The runoff is entirely red, hence the name which means, “red waters” The red is a mixture of sediment, water creatures, shells and dirt that make up almost the entire southern half of Kaua’i.

After the canyon, we drove down to south Kaua’i and tried to find the little plate-lunch snack shop discussed in our book, but the book neglected to mention the fact that the shop was only open from 9am-2pm from Tuesday to Saturday and is closed Sundays and Mondays. So, instead we grabbed some turkey and cheese and ate some roll ups as we tried to find some beaches and blowholes farther south. The blowhole, called a water horn is actually the smaller of the two that were there, but because the first was shooting water thousands of feet into the air and it was stunting the growth of some farmer’s crops, he had a worker drop dynamite down into it. Now, it is a great big hole in the reef that shoots water out the side and sounds like a jet engine just before a good spout. We ended our first day at Shipwreck Beach and saw a wedding on the beach beginning. Then we hurried to drop the rental off before we had to keep it an extra day. Also, if we were seven minutes earlier we could have saved 30 dollars…(nice of the agency to mention that one, huh?)

Day 2

We got up early to go kayaking before the boat left at 1pm. We didn’t get ourselves into a kayak and into the bay until around 8:15. We kayaked out of the bay, through the port and then down a small river on our way to see the Menehune Fishpond and we kayaked out and back passing a few tours. Because to get to the fishpond, you had to go through some Mangrove trees and through a little tunnel, the tours didn’t go in it, but we did! It was a blast. In fact, we heard a legend on the way back as we passed a tour guide.

The legend goes that the Tahitian king was impressed at the native Menehunes and their masonry. He asked them to teach the Tahitians how to build with stone so they could have a perfect fishpond. The Menehune chief told him that he would not teach anyone, but he would construct the pond for the Tahitians, knowing that if he taught Menehune masonry, the Tahitians would have no use for them and perhaps turn on them. The Menehune chief proposed to build the pond under a moonless night, with no Tahitians around and under the terms that for every fish the Tahitians caught, the Menehunes would get one, too. The Tahitian king agreed to the proposal and on the next moonless night, the Menehunes lined up for six miles and passed volcanic rock from Waimea canyon hand to hand to the spot of the fishpond. As the Menehunes were working, the chief heard giggling in the hills and sent a scout to find out what it was. Upon his return, the scout said that the kings 2 children were up in the hills; hearing this, the chief clapped his hands and the Menehunes disappeared into the night. He turned to the kids and cast a spell turning them to stone spires that remain in the hills today. The Moral of the Story: Don’t let your kids out in Hawaii at night, or they’ll just go and get stoned!

The day we got underway and sat by the pool heading for Hilo, on the Big Island. We went the long way in order to see the Na Pali coast. It was amazing. The cliffs went up forever and it was a long rippling wall that showcased some gorgeous inaccessible beaches. Along for the ride were about 7 whales swimming alongside and ahead of us. They were beautiful and we really didn’t expect to see any that far away from Maui. We also got our closest view of Ni’ihau and Lehua, the two forbidden isles of Hawaii. Ni’ihau was purchased by a man named Robinson when he married a local woman and moved there. Now, to reach the island, you have to be full blood Hawaiian and invited by a resident.

This was also the day we decided to have some cocktails and it made for a fun afternoon. (If you’ve ever been on a cruise, you’d know that one day of drinking is about all the change purse can handle.) The dinners continued to be fantastic and we also had our pictures professionally taken that night all dressed up. The pictures came up so good, that we bought them and are going to use them as our engagement pictures!! Tuesday was also the night we ate with two British ladies, Lynn and her mom, Betty. The four of us talked until around 10 and then we stopped by the nightclub again and it was boring, again.

Day 3

We woke up in Hilo and decided we wanted to go biking around the crater at Volcano National Park. The two guys took us to the park through Hilo past the famous Banyan Trees planted by famous people like Babe Ruth. The trip was crazy and we found out that Hilo town has been built three times and because they built it in the same place after it got destroyed by a tsunami, it got destroyed again years later by another tsunami and now that area is all green area like golf courses and gardens….who says they don’t learn? On the drive, we saw the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut fields and we got all the way up to the national park.

We got our bikes and helmets in the parking lot and did a few practice laps. First thing, we headed down the hill and then up a hill to the Thurston Lava Tube. The tube actually is an incredible thing to see. It’s crazy to think that so much hot rock could be moving at once, but here we are standing in the opening. We walked through and left with about another 1000 or so feet to go, but we had to go with the group so we didn’t get a chance to keep going.

We rode downhill to the next stop, which was a big fissure in the ground, caused by steam vents erupting underground. We could see the steam vents from far away here, but we would get closer later. The next stop was a lava flow from September 1982, my BIRTHDAY LAVA! The tour buses were insane everywhere, but we had fun here. The next stop was at the house of Pele, Halema’uma’u (Literally house of the red fern, after a fern that has a red plume that unrolls into a leaf which looks a lot like lava flares.) Here the steam was incredibly hot. The rocks all around were hot to the touch. You could smell the sulfur fumes from the fissures. As you looked down into Halema’uma’u crater, the steam was still coming out and it is clearly still alive. The legend says that although the Pele visits the Pu’u O’o vents, where the active lava flows, Pele takes up permanent residence in Halema’uma’u crater.

So, we finished the bike ride with Challenge Hill. It was an eighth of a mile but a pretty tough little hill for such a short ride. We saw a neat rift in the ground and finished with a trip to the museum. As soon as we stopped riding, we got a cold peppermint towel to wipe our face with. It was deliciously refreshing and a great way to end a day of exploring.

Ok, so, how do you end a day when you had a bike ride around a volcano? Answer: By sailing by the vents and watching the lava flow into the sea and the steam rise. It was incredible to watch that steam rise, and hear the Hawaiian prayer over the PA. I gotta tell you…if I were sailing from Tahiti and I saw those two vents pouring into the ocean like that, I’d be pretty sure there was a giant woman with flaming hair there, too. It was frightening a little. The two flows entered the water on the same level and looked like eyes in the darkness.

Day 4

On Thursday, we went to Kona and relaxed mostly. We went to three historical sites and then spent the day by the pool. When you go to Kona, you’ve basically gone to Waikiki, but with less lights. The first thing we did was see the He’au where King Kamehameha I spent his days and was interred when he died. It was a really amazing sight to see and the carvings are said to be the most beautiful in Polynesia. After, we went to the first Christian church in Hawaii. The doors were solid Koa Wood and they were beautifully carved and polished. It was sad to see the view some early Christians to the islands had regarding the beliefs of the locals. They wrote that the ugly carved totems were removed and the people were leaving the He’au and forts. The last thing we did was see the summer palace of the Hawaiian Ali’I (Royalty). It was sad to see the house as it was after the earthquakes in October. The royal family sold the property and auctioned off all the furniture. If it weren’t for the fact that one of the Daughters of Hawaii was the princess when the furniture was auctioned, they may not have been able to use the register to regain all of the original pieces.

Thursday was a chill day after the three history lessons. We sat by the pool and I played some volleyball against the (ten times defeated) crew and staff of the boat. Going along with the aviator sunglasses I’ve been wearing since I left my good sunglasses (yup 5 bucks) on an airplane, the assistant cruise director referred to me as Iceman the entire time. All in all, a good day.

Day 5

From Kona we motored over to Maui. Since we’d already been there twice, the trip to Maui was more or less booked with the one thing we had yet to do…snorkel at Molokini. But, that wasn’t until Saturday, so we decided Friday would be a “Lay by the pool” day. BUT…being impatient and a worrier, I decided to get the film developed from Kaua’i. To do that, we had to walk to Walmart (a trip I was SURE would take about 15 minutes from the boat). As it turned out, it was closer to a 30 minute walk, without the detour we took to check Kmart and then Costco, just to find out that Kmart didn’t have a one hour photo, and Costco did, but being only GoldStar Customers, we had to wait until 11:00 (it was already 10am at this point). So we left and went to Walmart. Then we had to wait about 1 and a half hours to get our hour photos done, just to see that they were all fine. So, we were good to use the underwater camera at Molokini. You see…we had to check the film in my defense, even thought it took about 3 and a half hours…we accidently put the 800 speed film through the x-ray getting onto the boat. We were afraid that the film would be exposed (more me than we). Amy was not all that happy with that turn of events, but a quick purchase of a Lavaflow by the pool changed her mind and got her back on my side! The rest of the day was relaxed and we chilled, got dinner went to a show and then we were good to go. And it would have been that chill, too, if we hadn’t had dinner with a drunk 70 year old man. He was hilarious, spouting racial jokes, pretending he was wearing bifocals with two different pairs of glasses and generally annoying his wife, but they were both very cute.

Day 6

Saturday was the snorkel trip. We woke up at 5:30 and got ready for the day. We were outside waiting for the bus at 6:15 as directed and at 7:15 the bus was nowhere to be found. Eventually, we were given another bus and we headed out to Wa’alea where we boarded the Prince Kuhio and got ready for an AMAZING morning of whales, fishes and turtles!!!

We got underway at around 8:15 and we saw so many whales on the way out to Molokini, at one point the boat stopped when a whale was within 10 feet of us. That’s not even the best part, we saw three whales do full breaches one after another, and then two at the same time breached, it was amazing.

We got to Molokini and followed a pair of whales around it as we traveled along the back edge of the crater and then tied off in the middle. Then we got to go snorkeling and the fish were so amazing. We used up 3 rolls of film on Saturday. Two at Molokini crater and one at Turtle Town. The fish were so many and so diverse it was incredible. On the way to Turtle town, at like 10:30, Amy and I started drinking the free Mai Tais…they were fabulous! (POG juice, rum and dark rum). The turtles were everywhere at the next stop. There were at least 7 turtles swimming around, laying on the coral and getting cleaned by little boxfish and other tiny fish. There was also a neat underwater bridge that Amy took her picture with, it was a fun shot and she’s all posing (although she claims she was just trying to stay underwater). The turtles were the fun part and we both got to swim with them. In fact, while I was swimming, I almost collided with one! Luckily, my head was above water and I saw someone pointing to it. PHEW! We also saw some really cool unicorn fish and some GIANT trumpet fish. The trumpet fish was so big that it looked like a dinosaur! RAWR!!

Days 7-9

The day we got back into port, Amy and I woke up and hit the breakfast and then headed back with Megan to the new apartment. The whole day, the three of us and John unloaded our whole apartment and moved into the new apartment in Ko Olina. For the past couple of days, we put up pictures, cleaned, shopped and got settled. We now…OFFICIALLY! Live in Ko Olina and our address is:

92-1083 B Ko’io Drive

Kapolei, HI 96707

And here we are and all set as set goes for us thus far…So until we get another amazing vacation in paradise…