Visiting Hawii

Our first island stop was Honolulu, Oahu. We arrived at the Aloha Tower at seven am and proceeded ashore. Bill and David went to the airport and got a van. They came back and picked us up and we drove through Waikiki up past Diamond Head and watch the wind surfers making it looks so easy! We went out to Sandy Beach and then started back to see the Arizona Memorial. The traffic was at a standstill so it took us a long time to go a short ways. We finally got to the Memorial and visited the new museum and then went in to see the film and took the shuttle out to the Memorial. This is always a very moving experience! After our visit we found a siamin shop for a great lunch and then went to the national cemetery at Punchbowl. It too is a very impressive experience! Bill needed to check on his old haunts in Kailua and its surrounding areas. We had a snack at Zippy's in Kaneohe, a very local place. The ship did not leave Honolulu until 11pm, but we were back a little earlier than that.
We sailed to Maui. We arrived at 8am and on this island they don't have a dock so they use the life boats that are called tenders to take us in to the dock. We had decided to visit the small island of Lanai and so we boarded the ferry. It was a beautiful ride and we got to see so many humpback whales. There are many mothers and babies. Lanai is small and use to be Dole Pineapple's main plantation. Now pineapples are grown as landscaping plants to show how pineapples are grown. Tourism is the main industry now with a Four Seasons down by the beach, a golf course and then another Four Seasons up past Lanai City called the Lodge. It is very beautiful and we went for a walk and visited their orchid house and through a bamboo forest and back to the Lodge for a great lunch. We headed down the hill to catch our ferry back to Lahaina. The ferry was very full because they were having a Jazz Festival for the weekend! We finally got on and the ride back was very rough so no whale watching on the return. We really enjoyed Lanai and look forward to going back again.
Our next port was Nawiliwili, Kauai. We again rented a van and went to the north-west part of the island. Stopped at a local grocery store Ishigawa's for Hawaiian Plate Lunches to eat at the beach. David took us to a beautiful state park near the end of the island and we took a dirt road out to the beach. Kauai use to grow sugar cane and the people in Kauai are growing it again as well as coffee. We loved the beach and the plate lunches. Our adventure for the day was helping three cars who got stuck in the deep sand get out of where they park.
Our final day was in Hilo, Hawaii where we got another van. We decided to have breakfast at Ken's a local restaurant ( they served 10 different types of Loco Moco ) before we went to visit waterfalls! The first two were in Hilo and then we went to Akuaka Falls and walked the path through all the lush greenery. The main falls is 442 ft. There were many visitors there. We took in Hilo Hattie's and then went back to the ship.
Bill and I decided to throw leis as we left Hilo. We threw them in loving memory of his sister Patti, then one for all that have lost their breast cancer fight and finally one for Michelle. Michelle's birthday is Saturday, March 9th and this would be her 39th year. We sent the leis with all our love, they will never be forgotten!
We are now on our trip back and we have a new captain because the contract package was up for the former captain, we hope he knows the way home!
Aloha
Bill and Marilyn





- Marilyn
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