Kailua Kona April 13, 2012

We watched the sunrise over Kona as we arrived at 7:00 am. Beautiful. The highs today were again in the mid 70's. Seas are calm, we are both excited about our waterfall adventure.

For Kona we opted to do the Kohala Waterfalls Adventure. Our tour guide Stephanie picked us up in a van for the drive to the remote north end of the island. There were only 5 couples in our group. Unfortunately, there was one couple that were a pair of sourpusses and complained most of the time. Stephanie provided us with a very informative narrative about the rich natural and cultural heritage of the island. Kona is on one side of the Big Island and only receives about 20 inches of rainfall per year so you see a lot of the volcanic rock along the drive. You have mountains on one side and the Pacific on the other, quite an impressive drive.

Mountain in distance with volcanic rock

We arrived in the small town of Kapaau in North Kohala which is the birthplace of King Kamehameha and where his original statue resides in front of the Civic Center.

In Kapaau we made a brief stop to use the facilities and to change vehicles. We will continue on to the falls in a rugged Pinzgauer. It was quite a bumpy ride but we saw some beautiful scenery. The further north we got the more the scenery changes from the volcanic rock to rich vegetation. Once we arrive at our destination, Stephanie leads us on a 1.5 mile hike with an abundance of waterfalls, some bridges and idyllic streams. We saw some traditional Hawaiian taro terraces and irrigation flumes.

Taro Terrace

We saw some truly spectacular waterfalls. The area was rich and lush with foliage and vegetation. At one waterfall we even had the opportunity to swim. Rusty was the only adventurous soul as the water was ice cold.

As Rusty and I both love waterfalls, this was a wonderful choice for us. We could have spent more times there exploring and hiking.

 

After the waterfalls we took the German truck to a picnic area to have our lunch. What views of the Pacific we had from this spot.

The Kohala waterfalls were truly spectacular.







We departed Kona at 6:00 pm. We were scheduled to be around the Mount Kilauea Volcano around midnight to see if we could see activity on the volcano. Unfortunately we were unable to view Kilauea as it was just too overcast. We continued on our way to Hilo.

Lahaina, Maui April 12, 2012

Arrived in Lahaina at 8:00 am to overcast skies. The high was in the mid 70's. We tendered in to the port. A lot of interesting shops along the pier with beautiful mountain scenery all around.

Celebrity Century in port

We boarded our bus for the trip to the crater. The highway followed along the ocean with spectacular scenery and beautiful foliage. Along the way we passed through the town of Hana - where a lot of celebrities have homes.

The shore excursion we opted to take was the Haleakala Crater - House of the Rising Sun. The crater is the highest point on Maui at 10,032 feet above sea level. All of Manhattan Island with room to spare and the Empire State Building could be vertically stacked four times in the crater without reaching the top.

Park Diagram

Since the crater is so high up the mountain you never know if you will be able to see anything or whether the clouds will move in and block your view. We were very fortunate.

Haleakala Crater

When we reached the peak it was a clear beautiful day. However, as we began to make our descent, the clouds moved in and you could no longer see the crater.

Clouds move in as we ascend

Clouds begin to cover the Crater

 

Haleakala Crater and National Park and the island of Maui were spectacular.

Rusty sitting on ocean wall near the pier

Honolulu April 11, 2012

We arrived in Honolulu at 9:00 am. Beautiful blue skies, in the low 80's.

Aloha Honolulu

Honolulu from bow of ship

We opted to do the Arizona Memorial & Sightseeing Tour. We boarded our bus at the Harbor and proceeded to downtown Honolulu where we saw a tour of the city, the King's Palace and various State, Federal and County buildings. We had the opportunity to get off the bus and explore the area. Some of the side streets were blocked off and closed as they were going to be doing some filming for Hawaii Five-O. Got a good picture of the Headquarters, some crew and the car from the show.

King Kamehameha

Eternal Flame

Hawaii Five-O crew member

From downtown we continued on our tour to the Punchbowl Crater. This is the National Cemetery for the Pacific Fleet. All the remains that were found from Pearl Harbor are buried at this Crater as well as any others that die from the Pacific Fleet. It is an impressive site with beautiful views of downtown.

National Cemetery of Pacific Fleet

Flag flies at half mast

Memorial

Honolulu view from Punchbowl Crater

From the Punchbowl we continued our journey to Pearl Harbor. The whole experience was very impressive and awe inspiring. We saw very moving and touching footage of the actual attack on Pearl Harbor. From this short footage we proceeded to board a boat to take us to the USS Arizona Memorial. Words can't describe how you feel standing on the Memorial. When we returned to the mainland, we explored Pearl Harbor. It is very impressive. If you ever have the opportunity to visit Pearl Harbor, I would highly recommend.

Entrance to Pearl Harbor Memorial

View as we approach in boat

View as we get off boat to walk on USS Arizona

Flag on USS Arizona

Parts of USS Arizona still above water

Rusty on USS Arizona

Memorial Wall on USS Arizona

From Pearl Harbor we returned to Honolulu Harbor. Since we still had time in Honolulu, we took the Metro Bus (only cost us $2.50 including our return transfer) to Waikiki Beach. While waiting for our bus, we met a homeless man who claimed to be God - an interesting experience. Loved the Waikiki Beach area. All kinds of restaurants, shops, hotels, etc. Great place for people watching. From the Beach, we had a nice view of Diamond Head.  In order to get our return bus to Honolulu Harbor, we had to wander through the International Market Place - a very unique place. We later saw an episode of Hawaii Five-O that was shot in the Market Place - very cool to know we had been there.

Sheryl - Waikiki Beach (Diamond Head in background)

Waikiki Beach - Diamond Head

After we returned to Honolulu Harbor we just explored the area on foot. Had a wonderful day in Honolulu.

Rusty with Hula Girl statue in Harbor area

Ocean Voyage Hawaii April 2012

April 5th early evening we boarded the Celebrity Century for our cruise to Hawaii. We departed San Diego at midnight for the voyage.

Taken from bow of ship, San Diego Harbor

Downtown San Diego from ship

April 6th we experienced very rough seas. It was too cold and windy to be outside much. According to the Captain, we experienced 14-17 ft waves. A lot of passengers reported to sick bay. Saturday the 7th we had calm seas - thank goodness as I wasn't sure how I was going to handle 5 days of rough seas. We have not seen another ship nor any planes as we continue our cruise. We felt like we were all alone in the world. We did spot a school of dolphins playing around in the wake of the ship as we stood at the rail looking out and enjoying the ocean.

Easter Sunday was a beautiful day. We were able to lay out in the sun on the back deck. Beautiful blue seas. The wind did pick up as the day progressed.

King of the World

Enjoying a beverage on the back deck

So far the food has been excellent and we have some interesting dinner companions - 3 other couples. One couple in their 70's was from central CA; one couple about our age was from Columbus, OH; and the other couple, a little younger than us was from Ontario, Canada.

We had excellent service in the dining room. Mudiana was from Indonesia and his assistant, Marina was from Russia. They were both very friendly and had a great sense of humor. Marina was on the first six months of her first time at sea, she was very homesick but having a great time.

Marina from Russia

Mudiana from Indonesia

April 9th and 10th were great days at sea, we were again able to lay out on the back deck. It wasn't nearly as crowded on the back deck and it was far less windy than in other locations. We just enjoyed the relaxation of doing nothing. While on board we experienced three time changes as we crossed the ocean - all back an hour.

The morning of the 11th dawned bright and beautiful with a temperature of 81F in Honolulu - more later on Honolulu.

The 12th was a bit of an overcast day with a temperature of 72F for our arrival in Lahaina, Maui - more later on Lahaina.

The 13th was another overcast day with a temperature of 75F for our arrival in Kailua Kona - more later on Kona.

Our last port on the 14th was again overcast with a temperature of 79F on Hilo - more later on Hilo.

Please note that although several days were overcast and threatened rain, it never rained and we had beautiful days in Hawaii. The vegetation and flowers on Hawaii are spectacular - hundreds of varieties and the people are very friendly.

After our visit to Hilo we departed in early evening for Ensenada, Mexico. The next 5 days at sea were more of the same. Some days you could lay out and others it was just too windy or cold. On this return trip we also had to give back the 3 hours we got on our trip to Hawaii. Due to rough seas we didn't arrive in Ensenada until around 8 pm on the night of April 19th. We chose not to get off the ship. We departed for San Diego around midnight.

Ensenada, Mexico

The crew provided many entertaining activities throughout our voyage to keep us busy. They had tons of seminars you could attend: jewelry, health, fitness, art, etc. They also had the casino and bingo if you were so inclined. We did do a few seminars, I attempted to learn to hula but it was a 3-day process and I just wasn't that interested. We mostly loafed around the ship, either on deck or near a window where we could read and look out. We did attend several of the Captain's Club events like special cocktail parties and luncheons - it was always a lot of fun.

Pool Deck

Afternoon brunch one day

The entertainment was OK, but not great. We did find this one group we loved. They were the A Capella Group - On Point. Four young men with great voices. We found every opportunity to sit and listen to them sing. Jerome has family in Murfreesboro, TN and visits often. We gave him and Dennis our contact info and next time they are in town we are going to meet them for lunch.

Cory and Shawn (lead singer)

Jerome, Cory, Shawn and Dennis

We arrived back in San Diego early AM on April 20th.

Our cabin was located on Deck 4 and we experienced several noisy nights - the kitchen staff was moving (dragging) tables. We spoke to guest relations and they handled the situation. They also provided us with complimentary chocolates. One day on the return voyage, we were invited on a tour of the Navigational Bridge - this was very impressive and exciting. All in all we had a spectacular trip to Hawaii. I am thrilled that I was finally able to get there.