Hawaii Cruise Part II: Four Days in the Islands

Sun. March 10, 2013

I woke up before our wakeup call, probably around 5:30, because I was paranoid that we’d oversleep. I took my shower and got ready. We managed to run down for breakfast before disembarking the ship. Before that, though, we went topside and watched as our ship docked the last few feet. Hawaii at last! We gazed out at Honolulu, observing what appeared to be a marathon running by on the coastal road. The city appeared quite pretty, and we admired the architecturally unusual skyscrapers not far from our dock. It was extremely cloudy and was raining on and off, but that didn’t detract from the beauty of this place. Coming from the land of endless sun, if anything the rain made it all the more beautiful. I called my mom to make sure things were going ok back home, and they were, much to my relief. I was worried about her and the snow they’d been getting back in Illinois, but it sounded like things were just fine.

After breakfast, we found it was no trouble to get off the ship. We waited around for our tour bus (# 420, which would be a source of amusement for stoner types in attendance) and took that through the streets of Honolulu to Pearl Harbor. We were allotted about 5 hours there, and at first I wondered what we’d do with all that time. It turned out those 5 hours weren’t nearly enough! We started out looking at the museums and other sites around the memorial’s center. Then we watched a movie on the bombing before getting on a boat (after a slight hesitation created by the rainy weather) which shuttled us out to the Arizona Memorial site. The ride was awful! The rain was torrential, the ship had no windows and was open to the elements, and it was cold with a relentless wind. We had to sit in puddles, and I was soaked to the marrow. Luckily, once we stopped, it was warm enough to tolerate. The memorial site was interesting – you could see the ship below the surface of the water and see the oil plumes escaping from it. We spent about 20 minutes or so there before being shuttled back under better conditions. From there, we had to catch the bus for the USS Missouri. We took a guided tour which only covered a fraction of the massive ship, and then we were free to explore it at will. It just went on forever, and just when you thought you’d seen every nook and cranny, a whole other section would seem to appear out of nowhere. It was fascinating! We definitely needed more time to see things below deck in their entirety.

Once back at the Pearl Harbor Memorial, we had just enough time to visit the gift shop where I bought my obligatory patch. Throughout our excursion, I spent lots of time trying to spot a bird I’d seen as we were pulling up the first time in our tour bus – a gray and white cardinal-shaped bird with a scarlet head. It turned out to be a red crested cardinal, and I’d see more elsewhere on the island. I loved all the birds we saw, though. There were lots of unusual pigeons, in particular. We also saw some gigantic snails which were cool. Leave it to me to be more interested in the wildlife than the history. It was all so interesting, though.

After our excursion, we returned to the cruise ship for lunch. We were absolutely soaked, so we took this opportunity to grab some rain gear before heading back out again. We wandered around the neighborhoods surrounding our port. Due to the rain and the fact that it was Sunday, we didn’t get to see as much as we’d have liked, but we had a great time anyway. It felt very safe, though somewhat deserted. Our first plan of attack was to seek out a mailbox, and in doing so, we finally ran across those cardinals! It was meant to be! Then we went down and saw Iolani Palace, the only royal palace found in the United States of America. We also saw a number of famous statues including King Kamehamea and Queen Lili Uokalani. Then we walked around the state capitol, which is one of the few that strays from the typical state capitol design most states adopted. Instead of having a rotunda, it’s basically a simple, rectangular building, rather humble and unobtrusive. It’s surrounded by water filled with all sorts of tropical fish, which, of course, held my extreme interest.

We also managed to find time to geocache, finding two, explored a cathedral, and walked down to the botanic garden. We managed to find some shelter from the rain while there, and in doing so missed out on actually touring the garden as they closed shortly thereafter. From there, we walked down through College Walk, over through Chinatown which was impressive, and then through the Fort Street Mall. Nothing was open, being Sunday, but what we did see reminded me a lot of Australia. We eventually found ourselves at the Aloha Tower Marketplace, which was also mostly closed but did have a smattering of things that were open. We wandered around here for a bit, and Nate got an authentic Hawaiian shirt. We also picked up some souvenirs before stopping at Gordon Biersch’s for beer (for Nate, of course), and an appetizer/dessert platter we shared. It was great! Oh, before we ate, Nate wasn’t feeling that great, so we stopped for a MINUTE only to be approached by some unsavory character that could have very well been on drugs. I swear, wherever we go, people always approach us, no matter how unapproachable I try to look. (Which is apparently not unapproachable at all!) Oh well, at least no trouble came from that.

We headed back to our boat as darkness started to settle. We really didn’t know what else to do at this hour. We still had about 5 or 6 hours left before departure, but we were soaked and tired. It felt like a full day. We got back to our room and promptly went back down to the theater to see a rather mediocre puppeteer and a pretty decent pianist John Pressler perform. We took the rest of the night easy, eventually going down to have some dessert and sushi. Then we wandered around deck a bit before calling it a night. We were beat!

Mon. March 11, 2013

I heard the 6:15 alarm go off, and I was so not ready to be awake. I am convinced people need to wake naturally to be at their full potential. I showered and got ready, and we went up deck to see if we could find some humpback whales. Were we in for a treat! We saw several, and a few breaching, too! While we were taking in the beauty of the scene, I got an annoying work-related phone call from an insufferably obnoxious person, but I eventually got over that. Somehow that guy always knows how to ruin a moment. We had a quick breakfast before going down to get a number for our tender boat to Maui. We didn’t have high hopes for being on the first boat, but we got it! Off we went, and on the way a retired couple struck up a conversation with us about cameras and travel. They’d been all over and highly recommended Turkey and Chile. I’d never really given Turkey much thought before then, but I always thought Chile sounded amazing. What fascinating people! I feel bad because I rarely remember faces, and I knew the entire time we were talking to them that I’d probably not remember them upon our next meeting. And that’s why I don’t generally make eye contact around the ship! Haha!

Anyway, we docked at Lahaina and started walking through this charming, New England-inspired town to find the Hertz Rental Car facility. It wasn’t a particularly long walk, and once there, we only had to wait for one family ahead of us before we got our vehicle, a Nissan Sentra. In no time, we were off, driving down the coast toward Haleakala National Park. Before long, while looking out at the water, I noticed a whale splashing and breaching 3 times, so we stopped to try to get a picture. That was to no avail, sadly, but it was cool to have seen! We also stopped to play in the surf a bit.

Continuing on, we drove most of the way across the island, passing field upon field of sugarcane, toward Haleakala, climbing higher and higher in elevation. We drove to the highest point on the island, ascending above the clouds in fact. While up there, we saw the observatories and marveled at a seemingly alien landscape, dotted with shiny silversword plants. I made a quick run to the bathrooms which contain signage to not drink the toilet water. Good to know! Haha! From there, we took a small hike to see the crater from above before taking a longer hike down the Shifting Sands trail. It was amazing! It really felt like we were on Mars or something. So alien and beautiful! The only downside was the inevitable sunburn I acquired.

One of the things I desperately wanted to see out here was Hawaii’s endangered state bird, the nene goose. Well, on the drive down the mountain, Nate suddenly pulled off the road because, there, in the grasses, was a pair of them! I was able to get out of the car and get some pictures. How exciting! The drive down was also exciting because we were driving through the clouds and couldn’t see very far ahead of us on this winding, steep road. On top of that, people seem to think bicycling down this road is a good idea, so we had to take care not to hit anyone. Kind of scary! But we made it and no bikers were harmed on the way. We were glad to get down again and experience the more tropical side of Maui.

We decided to drive the scenic Road to Hana, or at least make it as far as we could, before returning to the ship. On the way, we stopped for lunch in Paia’s seafood market restaurant. I would have had a field day trying all sorts of things if I weren’t pregnant, but I was paranoid that everything had mercury in it, so I steered clear and had chicken, I believe. From there, we drove half way down the Road to Hana. Looking on a map, you’d think surely you’d have plenty of time to get there, but the road is so windy and narrow, and you have to go pretty slow to avoid an accident. We did encounter many speed demons, however, but luckily we got through unscathed. The road was gorgeous, snaking through forest and affording some great views of the ocean, too. Waterfalls abounded, as did wildlife. We even saw 2 mongooses crossing the road! We were surrounded by idyllic landscapes. At one point, though, we got to experience one of the harsh realities of the island: the plight of domesticated animals. While we never encountered one of the famous pigs, when we stopped at a rest area to use the washroom, the grassy area and forest surrounding it were teeming with cats and chickens. In fact, there were three people out there feeding them. It turns out one of the ladies comes to this spot three times a week to make sure they’re fed. Thank goodness for her! It is obvious that the people on this island don’t have a clue when it comes to having pets. They just discard them any old place and forget about them. A lot of these animals are quite used to people and would still make great pets. We need someone to come in and educate the populace as well as improve the shelter situation. So sad.

Around 5pm we realized we needed to start heading back if we wanted to return our car and get back to the ship in time. We made it back to Hertz by 6:30, which allowed us time to stroll around Lahaina some more. There used to be a tiki bar in town, and we paced up and down the main street searching for it, but apparently it was gone, or at least closed on Mondays. So sad, even though I couldn’t have properly enjoyed it anyway. We stopped into a few shops, getting some gifts and post cards, wandered some more, and stopped into a shaved ice shop, which seemed to be all the rage in Hawaii. This place was even cooler because it served shaved ice on top of ice cream. Yum! While there, I hurriedly wrote out postcards. We had the shop to ourselves almost until the end, which was nice. After that, we hung out under the gigantic banyan tree. It seemed to have dozens of trunks and vine like appendages all around. It was magical and amazing. We tried to find a geocache that was nestled in one of its many nooks, but someone was camped right at ground zero, so that was a bust. It was awfully dark anyway, so we returned to our ship via one of the lifeboats, which was used to tender. Wow, was it stuffy in there! And loud! Crazy, rowdy retirees. As for me, I was sweaty, smelly, and self-conscious, so it made for an interesting ride. Once we made it to the ship, our boat started experience some severe choppiness. It was bouncing all over the place, and I’m amazed that no one got hurt getting off. I was happy to escape that treacherous lifeboat and be back on our ship.

After we stopped at our room, I ran to guest services to mail the only postcard I wasn’t able to send from Lahaina, and then I ran to the top deck to call my boss about that crazy message from earlier. From there, I got some dessert and chatted briefly with the cafeteria workers. I grabbed Nate a chocolate ice cream cone and had to run back to the room as it dripped all over me, leaving a trail of evidence. Haha! That’s how warm it was. We decided to go up for dinner, where I got some Indian food and avoided the sushi for once. Then we played some ping pong before going up deck to watch a Tahitian dance show. From there, we returned to our room to recover and look forward to a quieter day in Kona tomorrow.

Tues. March 12, 2013

We arrived in Kona, and it was overcast, slightly sunny, and never actually rained all day! What a nice change of pace. It took us forever to get our tender due to choppy water, and it seemed rather unsafe when we did board the lifeboat. One woman fell unceremoniously. I was grateful that it wasn’t me. The boat, as usual, was hot and lacked circulation. I was mighty glad to be off of it. We walked several blocks to find Kona Brewing Company where we had lunch. Nate and I shared a shrimp, artichoke heart, and tomato pizza and were joined by some adorable geckos that frolicked on the bamboo next to us. I was glad to get a lot of pictures and video of their antics. Nate enjoyed the beers and got a pint glass to commemorate our visit. From there, we found a nearby geocache – our last one of the trip. We did try to find one more at a large banyan tree, but there were tons of muggles and we just weren’t finding anything.

Next, we wandered about a mile down the road to find Don the Beachcomber. It was SO hidden! We finally found it on the far side of a hotel, facing the ocean. When we found it, we were treated to outdoor bar seating. I was so excited to see they had a flight of mai tais! We’ve always talked about, if we should ever open a tiki bar, having a flight of drinks to sample, much like brew pubs do with beers. This was the first time we’d ever seen such a thing! And of course I couldn’t have any! (Ok, I had a sip of each, but just a tiny sip.) They also had a good selection of other tiki drinks. Our waitress was great, and she made me a virgin raspberry and passion fruit drink which was delish. And when she found out I was expecting, it was on the house! How great!!

After Don’s, we wandered around some more, did some shopping, and just made it back to the ship. We’d gotten used to late night departures, but we had to be back by 4:30 this time around. We hadn’t gotten off the boat until a little after noon, so Kona felt a little rushed, but we didn’t have any excursions to worry about, so ultimately it was the most leisurely day yet. While waiting to board our tender boat, they handed out cold cloths – a very nice touch! The tender back to the ship was just as harrowing as the one in the morning, but at least, being seated at the back this time, we enjoyed a cool breeze.

That evening, we ate more, enjoyed the sights of Kona before taking off, and saw more whales! Then we participated in an onboard contest. We had to guess the karat weight on a tanzanite stone, which just happens to be one of my favorite gems. Nate guessed within 1 karat and won the draw! I got a $125 bracelet out of it! Way to go, Nate! We had a great dinner and then headed up to the top decks as the evening progressed to see the active volcanoes on the big island. This was one of the main reasons we chose this particular cruise. We wanted to see the lava in action! We really didn’t get all that close to it, and it appeared mostly like red dots on the horizon, but it was still pretty cool to see. I wish I had brought binoculars, though! Eventually, we’d gone too far to see much, and the cool breeze was telling us to get back inside. It had been a great day!

Wed. March 13, 2013

Hilo! They say it rains 330 days of the year here, and this was no exception. Luckily, no tendering was necessary. We ate a quick breakfast and ran down to the theater to meet with our excursion and head off the ship. We were in a van with 9 other people, led by Shawn, a native Hawaiian. He was a stitch and kept things interesting. We especially enjoyed his commentary on the new Walmart and various fast food establishments in Hilo. He was a wealth of knowledge and often talked of his crazy pregnant girlfriend, which honestly made me look like a saint in comparison. Hehe. (I really think I was one of the lowest maintenance pregnant people around.) The only problem with this excursion was the fact that I needed to use the bathroom ALL the time! As soon as we got off the bus at Volcanoes National Park (the main attraction of this excursion), then as soon as we got back from the lava tube tour. I especially struggled with the 4 mile hike we took down onto the lava fields, as there was NO WHERE to go, bathroom-wise. I tried to not let it detract from the amazing experience.

The tour was really neat – we walked through rainforests, we could see Kilauea steaming in the distance, and then we headed downward into the basin where an eruption had occurred as recently as the 1950s. We walked amongst cooled lava and got some great pictures. Then we hiked back up again. It looked rather daunting from below, but it was a pretty easy switchback trail through the rainforest again. We didn’t see any wildlife while in the basin – there were quite a few steam vents, though, which probably kept them at bay. We were the first to make it back up to the top where we waited for the rest of the crew. Once everyone was accounted for, we went to the Jagger Museum where we had a great view of Kilauea. We toured the museum, got a patch at the gift shop, and enjoyed some turkey wraps provided by the tour guide. It was starting to get drizzly, and we made it to the van just as the rain was starting to pick up.

After leaving Volcanoes National Park, we drove through the torrential rain to Akaka Falls, an amazing waterfall that is twice the height of Niagara. The rainforest here was even more impressive than at Volcanoes. We got absolutely soaked while here, despite having rain gear on this time around. It was really worth it, though. Once everyone had their fill, we headed back to the boat and made it just in time for our 4pm departure. Nate saw some breaching whales as we departed, and I think we both saw dolphins tail slapping, too! We ate (as usual) and stayed in our room reading a while, listening to the Liverpool Knights show thundering in the theater below us. It actually sounded pretty good, featuring songs from the 1960s. We did dinner again, and then went to the cinema to see “The Odd Life of Timothy Green,” which got me weeping because I was in a weepy mood for some reason. Then we read some more and hit the hay. It had been a wonderful 4 days in Hawaii!