Hawaiian Eyes

Aloha from the Ocean! I managed to see a lot of the Pacific in the past couple of weeks, and let me tell you- it is HUGE! It also contains some of the most beautiful islands on the planet. And I was lucky enough to see 4 of them.

My cousin Sue and I sailed for Hawaii from Vancouver -don't ask why Vancouver- that's a whole other blog entry- on Sept 20th and spent 5 days on the Pacific doing the usual cruising things- namely eating, walking the decks, drinking coffee, talking to other passengers and just plain relaxing. I think we slept for an average of 9 hours a night. We both needed it.

When we got the the first island- Maui- we rented a car [a convertible no less] and drove around the island for a couple of days. The ship stayed in Maui for two days and we managed to get to Lahaina [a lovely little village on the coast - of course, most of "civilisation" is on the coast. "Civilisation" meaning shops and other conveniences...This means we did some serious shopping. At most of the islands most everyone from the ship wanted to shop- and where did these happy travellers want to shop? Why Walmart! [not for us- we picked local places]. For the life of me, I cannot understand why anyone would bother to sail all the way to Hawaii to shop at Walmart. We found some groovey little shops along the way in our journeys and of course indulged. So much for my mantra "experiences not shopping".

The first night on Maui we went to a Luau...a Hawaiian dinner where they roast a pig in the ground and offer many other Hawaiian delights, like Poi. [more on Poi later]. The luau was OK except there were 400 other people there- or rather 398- and we got stuck at a table with a motor mouth from New York, [I think he had Turrets] who told us everything about himself, including the details of the pre-nup agreement he had to sign with his new wife, and how he drank out of a glass on the ship that was chipped and cut his lip and now he was scarred for life and was going to sue the shipping lines. I have never seen such a brilliant display of non-verbal communication as other people at the table leaned way back away from him and stopped making eye contact in the hopes that he would shut up. No such luck. But the dancing was pretty spectacular ranging from Hawaiian hula to Maori war dances.

There were lots of other things to do too....We went snorkelling one day [on Kauai] with this great company [all the islands that people visit have a giga-billion tourist companies who cater to all sorts of fancies from diving to sailing to golfing to hiking etc etc]. The company we went with had two guys on surf boards where people snorkelling could hang on and not be battered by the surf and another guy on a board who pulled in those of us who strayed into dangerous waters. Some of us got so enamoured with the fish that we had to be pulled away from the lava rocks we were about to crash into. The sea life was wonderful....exotic fish of all colours and sizes and shapes, an octopus, sea turtles and lots of other things like anenomies and sea slugs. And of course coral. The surf was wild and we were on a beach that had the best restaurant on the island where we ate for my cousin Sue's birthday. I didn't take the camera snorkelling, so you just have to take my word for it.

The other exciting thing I did was to take a helicopter ride over a live volcano! At Hilo [Hawaii - the "big" island] there is a volcano that is still erupting. In the morning we went on a bus tour that took us to the crater [among other places like an orchid farm] where we got to walk on cold lava [called frozen fire] and look into the mouth of the crater, but from that vantage point, you can't see the live lava. We didn't expect to go on a tour in the morning, so I didn't bring my camera. The morning tour got me to the dock just in time for the helicopter ride in the afternoon - so I didn't have my camera then either. But I do have a video of the whole helicopter ride. It was amazing! Little fingers of red fire [called worms] sliding down the hillside into the ocean. When it hits the water, billows of steam fill the air. It was pretty spectacular. And of course I loved the helicopter ride!

Our last day was in Honolulu [on Oahu]- the least interesting and most crowded island of them all. This snap might give you an idea of how big the ship is. Behind is Honolulu- no other town/city on any other island looks like this- with all the skyscrapers. Most of the other islands had small villages on them. You could drive down the main streeet of Lahaina [Maui] or Lihue [Kauai] or Hilo [Hawaii] in about 1-2 minutes. But Honolulu is crowded and dense and busy. We did not spend much time there. When we disembarked we flew to Kauai and spent a wonderful 3 days in the best "hotel". It was really an apartment with a lounge room, kitchen and bedroom. It overlooked the gardens which were filled with Plenaria [frangipani] trees and coconut palms and right across from the beach. Plenaria is what they make the Hawaiian leis from. In the old days when you arrived on any island you used to get greeted by someone who would throw a real flower lei around your neck and say Aloha. They don't do that any more. We got a few shell necklaces [it's not the same, believe me] or an I [heart] Maui/Kauai/Hawaii badge. It loses something in the translation. I guess I am sounding like an oldie comparing the present to another time.

The beaches, of course, are slowly disappearing. I remember when I was 15 and my grandmother took my cousin Bob and I to Hawaii. [where we got the real flower leis put around our necks on arrival]. The beaches were beautiful long, wide and sandy. Today they are narrow and there is not much room between the top of the sand and the waves of the ocean. It is sad to see the beaches disappearing as the Pacific islands start sinking into the sea. Global warming at its best.

On Kauai we went on a tour of Weimea Canyon and up to the Fern Grotto on the Weilea River. The canyon is amazing. You can see all the geological formations from over the ages in the rocks [like the Kimberlys and the Grand Canyon]. The day was beautiful. The shot on the left is of the canyon and the right of the fern grotto. I really thought I could live on Kauai, except for the humidity. We were lucky on the tour through the canyon and the fern grotto- it was dry and a little windy. But as soon as we got back, the clouds came over and the humidity must have peaked to about 90%. Too much for this old bod!

The best things about Hawaii are the sunrise and sunsets. The air is beautiful in the morning and at night. This shot is not an unusual one. This is what happens every night in the islands. No wonder the Hawaiians are so relaxed. In Hawaii there is only Hawaiian time, which may or may not correspond with the time frame you have in mind for completing a task. It is very refreshing. I can really see why people sell the farm [as one of our tour guides expressed it] and come to live in paradise.

Aloha from the South Pacific.....next stop- South America! I am getting ready to roll on to Machu Pichu and the Galapagos Islands.

Sue and I in Maui.....and me on board the beautiful [definitely not] Carnival Spirit Cruise Ship.