Adventures of Beth and Dan: January 2019

Monday, January 14, 2019

Black sand beaches, tropical rainforests and volcanic mountains!

December 27th found us docked at Hilo on the big island of Hawaii from 8-4:30. We had a ships excursion scheduled here for Maunakea to venture up to the Keck Observatory at 13,796 ft! We were dressed for the cold and ready for our excursion at 7:45. Once we disembarked the ship they herded us into a few small groups and told us that it had snowed the night before onthe observatory road so we might not be able to get to the summit!! They gave folks the opportunity to opt out if the tour but did say it might open up by the time we got to the visitor center. Half the folks opted out but we stayed with it since we knew it would be too late to book anything else. It was advertised as a four wheel drive trek but it was really a 12 passenger van with four wheel drive... not what we expected. The day was cool and cloudy and looked like it would rain on us and snow at higher elevation. Our guide was a 12 year transplant to Hawaii and a carpenter. He pretty much talked non stop all the way up and back and took few questions. He told us about the astronomy center and how controversial it is for the natives... we learned about the economy, the volcano, the history, flora and fauna and just about all you ever wanted to know and then some! By about 10 we were at the visitor center which was very small and rather nondescript. It did have bathrooms and a few picnic tables set up. The view at 9000 ft was foggy. The ride up the mountain held little vegetation but was more rocky and rough. I think several folks were asleep. We were fortunate to be almost first on line to board so we chose seats right behind the first big window. The road up to the observatory was blocked with police when we turned into the center. Our drive/guide told us we would be here about 30 minutes to see if it warmed up enough to open the road. Fortunately for ya and many others about 10:40 they removed the block so we piled in and started the gravelly four wheel portion of the drive. It was extremely bumped and washboarded. He said their vans need shocks and tires way more often then regular drivers and rigs need them andxwe could tell why. When we got to the top (which took about 45 minutes for the 10 miles!) it was very very cold and windy. The guide told us to get out cautiously because we might be affected by the altitude which was almost 14,000 ft! Neither of us have ever had those issues but immediately open getting out I felt light headed and almost sick. Dan too felt the affects. We kind of held on to each other and walked to all the vista points. There are several telescopes there but they wouldn’t let us enter any! That was a big part of the tour so another disappointment :(. We stayed about 30 minutes and then the fog rolled in and the driver said it was time to go. I slept most of the way down the hill and we both felt odd. At the visitor center we stopped for a boxed lunch of stake chips, cookies and a small wrap. When we finally got back to Hilo the group asked the driver if he would take us one of the black sand beaches and he agreed. They are close to town but as you can imagine over Christmas break, they were overfilled to capacity. He dropped us off for about 30 minutes and then we piled back in to get hauled off to the ship. Much of Hilo is an old sleepy city and since the volcano eruptions many have left and lost jobs. They get 127 inches of rain a year which makes Hilo one of the wettest cities on the world. It’s temps range constantly from 60-80 degrees. More birds have become extinct in Hawaii than in any other part of the world due to changes in habitat, forest destruction, rats, mongooses and man. 26 species have disappeared and 27 more are endangered. Kilauea Volcano is one of the most active in the world- it’s also the longest continuously erupting volcano on the planet. There are lots of other things to do here like the botanical gardens, Volcano National Park, a one of a kind zip line that traverses rainforests, river gorges, rapids and waterfalls on a dual track zip! You can bike ride here, snorkel, dive, paddle board, look for dolphins in a zodiac , hike or just hang out on a beach.

It was all aboard at 4:30 and we were there. We said good by to cell service as we would be at sea for five days with our next stop being Ensenada on January 2nd. We celebrated our 47th anniversary on New Year’s Eve and helped bring in the new year with a little fan fare. We enjoyed reading, visiting new friends, cards, me reading two selections of the Princess book club, and practicing my Uke for the little concert to be held on our last sea day. There were lots of movies and activities. They have the Voice of the Ocean that is like The Voice on TV with chairs that swivel for the judges and buttons for the audience to weigh in on their favorite performer. So there was a lot to keep us busy along with working out at the gym every day for at least 45 minutes. We had a lot of stair climbing too to keep us in shape!!

Old Hilo town.

We stopped here before heading up to the observatory.

Photos from the top. It was so cold and windy.

Snow!!

Soon the clouds rolled in

Dan is just too cold!

Black sand beach and our guide.

Not a comfortable place to put your towel but a beautiful site

Everyone was here and enjoying vacation

Rocky and rough!

The offices and toilets at the beach

Lush ponds and grass

I’m playing my Uke top right corner in the shadows! Ha ha

The Uke players and the hula dancers that took lessons over the course of the cruise.

A big group of us on the Princess theater stage!!

The Valley Isle: Maui

Maui has been voted the best island by readers of Condé Nast Traveler 20 times! The Polynesians supposedly arrived here in 450 AD and lived a quiet life till Captain Cook came in 1778 and changed her fate. Myths say that the demigod Maui pulled all 123 islands from the oceans depths.They say the god Maui stepped out of the Haleakala crater and captured the sun forcing it to slow its journey across the sky. 75% of the land here is isolated and inaccessible due to extreme terrain and rainforests. Helicopters seem the best way to see this land where views appear to stretch to infinity. If you were here longer you could explore a lavender farm, spend time whale watching, visit the historic Dole pineapple plantation, take a sailboat ride out to nearby islands, try the local cuisine or just explore her beautiful parks and history.

Maui is a tender port so you have to take a small boat off the ship to get to the pier of Lahaina. We had booked a bike trip where the vendor would take us to the top of the mountain and we would bike down e joying the scenery whilst stopping to have lunch... a full day. We had to be ready to get off the ship at 7 am as that was when they started giving out tender tickets. To get the ticket you had to be prepared to go so it was an early morning. We were instructed to meet a white panel van that said Mountain Treks right by the Pioneer Inn which is directly in front of where you get off the tender. We waited patiently there from 7:45 till 8:15. I texted the company to say we were they..they texted back to say there was a car wreck and they were delayed!! We realized another couple was also waiting for this tour so together we began to worry about when they would pick us since it was an all day tour. The other folks called and got no answer. Finally they called back to Florida to the number listed for emergencies. Long story short they never showed for us and by 10:45 we were headed back to the ship to change out of our long pants and coats and get rid of our packs with hats and gloves. We were so disappointed and because it was late there wasn’t much else we could buy in terms of another tour. All the whale watching tours were full. So we had a light lunch on the ship and then took another tender back to the pier. We decided to try the yellow submarine tour so we purchased tickets and waited to board. That was really disappointing too. The waters were murky and the reef looked bleached. We didn’t see much at all. The crew did launch two divers off the front to show you some ocean critters by your viewing window. After a 45 minute tour of the bay we decided to just walk the town area going up to the little mall area and taking in the Lahaina sites.

Disappointed that we weren’t able to do our bike ride :(

Forest Gump bench with his suitcase and shoes!!

Local fisherman right in the middle of town

Our sub ride..

A list of fish species you might see

Dan trying hard to spot something..

Hard to see any pretty coral or colorful fish

Divers show us objects from the ocean floor

Heading back to the cruiseship

We cleaned up and had a nice dinner in the Lido as we left the harbor. The ship had a production show with the singers and dancers called “What a Swell Party”. We opted to watch Karaoke in the Club Fusion. They were showing movies under the stars complete with popcorn showing “Fibding Your Feet”. There was all kinds of music venues happening on the ship but after an hour of Karaoke we were off the bed and preparing ourselves for a day in Hilo and a trip to the Mauna Kea Observatory at 14,000 ft!!

Saturday, January 12, 2019

Nawiliwili!! Merry Christmas All 🎅🏻

Christmas Day found us docked at Nawiliwili. Kauai from 8-4:30. We had planned a riverboat excursion here with Roberts of Hawaii tours. Early that morning I checked my phone and found I had a message from the tour company saying that due to heavy rains during the night they had cancelled our excursion :(. I called them back to see if possibly they had anything else we could get in on but they were totally booked. You could see the beach by the port was muddied from all the rain. One of the downside of booking off ship is this.... and because it happened that morning we couldn’t find another ship tour to take. But we decided to get off and take the hop on hop off tour offered right close to the ship. All in all it worked out just fine and on Christmas Day we had a really good alternate tour visiting the Botanical Garden and the Kilohana Plantation. We spent several hours at the gardens and found them beautiful, serene, and full of hundreds of birds and waterfowl along with lush lovely flowering gardens, ponds and unusual plants. It looked like they were preparing for a musical holiday extravaganza that night along with a buffet and train ride. I could see where it was used for weddings and special get together year round. If I lived there I would find myself spending many days per month just wandering and sitting.

The plantation train ride was ok.... nothing too exciting but we did learn about the history of the plantation. They also had beautiful lush grounds and a historic restaurant that was decked out for the holidays. Lots of little specialty shops lined the driveway and restaurant entrance. Because it was Christmas Day many of those were closed.

Once we got off the hop on we spent a little time at the Anchor Cove Mall which sets beside the resort and beach area.

That night onboard we joined up with some folks we made friends with from New Zealand and Canada. These were folks we met through the Cruise Critic meet and greet. Of course our meal was wonderful and we enjoyed chatting about our day. Most of the entertainment throughout the ship was themed to Christmas. Santa came and passed out gifts to the wee ones right before the ship left the harbor. We have had a violin duo onboard which are excellent. There have been a good variety of movies under the stars too with nice padded loungers and red plaid blankets!! We just haven’t been that brave to brace for the cooler evenings and whatever is presented on the big screen is always on our TVs. The cruise line really has made it a very nice holiday sailing in every way. Our steward gave us a little stocking with candies and candy canes. We have been thoroughly spoiled!!