Cruising Hawaii

2006

In celebration of our 40th anniversary and Pat’s retirement from teaching, we took a cruise of the Hawaiian Islands. We visited 4 islands, including 2 nights at Waikiki Beach and visits to Hilo and Kona on the big island of Hawaii.

Marriott Beach Hotel
Marriott Beach Hotel on Waikiki Beach

Hotel view
The view from our balcony. The church on the right is St. Augustine's where we attended Mass on Sunday morning.

Waikiki beach
Waikiki Beach in front of hotel with Diamond Head in background

Lunch view
Lunch at Lulu's with view of Waikiki Beach.

Arizona Memorial
USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor

Arizona - sunken
USS Arizona as viewed from the memorial

Memorial wall
The memorial wall, listing the men lost on Dec 7, 1941, stirred the same emotions as the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, DC

2 days on Kauai

On the first day, we took a 7 hour jungle trek and zip-line excursion.
The second day we took a 4WD tour through some back country.


Pono singing
We were driven in a tractor pulled wagon to the start of the hike. Here one of our guides, Pono, sings some Hawaiian songs accompanied by his ukeleli. The other guide, Chas, has a better voice.

Feral Hog
There are numerous feral hogs on the islands, this one and others come running to be fed when the guides call them.

Rope swing
A deep pool in a stream, with a rope swing. I went on the rope swing, but Pat was chicken.

Pat at falls
Pat taking a dip at one of the popular falls we visited.

GP falls
Pat and me

Zipline1
Pat jumping off the 40ft high
platform for her zip-line ride.

Zipline2
She looks a lot happier, now that it's over!

Kauai shore
The shore-line of Kauai from the ship as we head for Hilo.

Hilo

At Hilo, on the big island of Hawaii, we first took a helicopter ride for views of the active Kilauea Volcano, then a trip to walk on the lava fields and explore a lava tube.

Helicopter
Circle of fire helicopter passengers

Crater1
Kilauea Volcano

Crater2
Hot lava, boiling and spitting in the crater.

Flow
Molten lava flow coming to the surface on the side of the crater.

Flow1
Steam caused by the hot lava flowing into the ocean.

Flow2
You can see the red-hot lava flowing into the water.

Lava field
Pat and I on the lava field which covers many square miles of the island.

Lava tube
Pat and I in a lava tube, which is said to be at least 40 miles long.

If it's Thursday, we must be in Kona

Our friends, John and Chris Barnett, moved into a beautiful home in Kealakekua, HI (near Kona)  last January. They invited us to spend the day with them and they picked us up in Kona when we arrived. They took us to their house, from which they could see our ship in port. We visited a nearby National Park, then had a nice lunch before it was time to re-board the ship at 5:30. Not enough time, but a nice visit.

House
John and Chris's house on a hillside, overlooking the ocean.

Papaya
Papaya thief, caught in the act!

Park
John, Chris, Pat and me at the Kaloko-Honokohau NP.

Sea turtle
The endangered green sea turtle. We saw many of these turtles during our visit to the islands.

Maui

We spent 2 days on the beautiful island of Maui. On the first day we hiked to a couple of water falls through some jungle and the second day, we went to the beach and a luau in the evening.

Hike1
We had a knowledgeable guide on the hike that explained much about the flora and geology of the island.

Hike2
Some steep terrain

Hike3
Pat with some jungle flowers

Gene falls
One of the swimming holes. Pat and I swam out to the falls and I climbed a rope up about 10 feet on the cliff for a nice jump into the pool.

Lunch falls
The falls at which we had our lunch

GP hike
Pat and I at an ocean view

Pat at beach
Pat at Ka'anapali beach. It was a nice beach. I did some snorkeling also. It's amazing how unafraid the beautiful tropical fish are. I guess they have grown accustomed to all the snorkelers.

Myna
The myna is a common bird on the islands. It reminded me of our robin, due to it's size and actions on the ground.

Pig roast
Uncovering the roasted pig at the luau

Luau call
Hawaiian blowing his shell horn as a call to the luau

hula1
Hula girls

hula2
Tahitian dance

girls
I made a couple of friends at the luau ....

Boys
...so did Pat.

O'ahu

When we got back to Honolulu, we had until 10:00 in the evening before our flight home, so we took a tour around the whole island. We made many stops, including the Dole pinnapple farms, ocean views, and a macadamea nut outlet. The driver was native born and gave us lots of information about life on the island.

Fish
At one of the stops, there were a couple of spear fishermen that caught this parrot fish, an octopus and few other fish.

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