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Nov 30-Dec 10, 2006 - Hawaii - Norwegian Cruise Lines
Thursday Nov. 30th, Debbie and Melvin flew from Birmingham to Atlanta then to Honolulu - a 11.5 hour trip non-stop. When we arrived we rented a car and drove to the eastern side of the island to spend the night at Bellows Air Force Station - just 100 feet from the beach. Last few photo's below Honolulu, Oahu
Friday we drove Oahu's Hwy 83
northern shoreline to Sunset Beach were we watched world class male and female
surfing for a couple of hours. We visited the Dole visitors plantation to
find out that the last harvest on the island of Oahu will be 2007. Saturday we toured Pearl Harbor, downtown Honolulu and Waikiki Beach on our way around Diamond Head inactive volcano. Kalaha Ave and highway 72 along the eastern coast is the most scenic portion of Oahu such as world famous Hanauma Bay and the blow holes. We made our way back across the Pali highway to the Aloha Tower at Dock 10 where the Norwegian Cruise lines awaited our arrival. We arrived about 3pm, boarded, got our 9536 balcony room and headed to eat and await our 8pm departure from the port. Sunday, Dec 3rd we arrived at Hilo- the big island port where we rented a car and drove 35 miles to see Hawaii Volcanos National Park on the eastern side of the island. Kilauea is a dormet volcano about 1/4 mile wide. We drove the Chain of Creaters road to the edge of the Pacific Ocean with nothing but lava fields for this 30 mile drive - amazing to see and walk on. Watching the waves beat against the vertical walls was breathtaking to see. The photo with the two fire balls are the two active lava flows going into the ocean viewed at night from the ship. We drove the northern portion of the island to see Waipio Valley - a much photographed site on the island Hilo, Hawaii
Monday, Dec 4th we arrived at the only port city of Kahului, Maue. We both think this is where we would like to live if we moved to the islands - overall it is very beautiful. We drove about 3/4 of the way to Haleakalae Volcano but didn't actually see the creator. We took some advice from a local. Instead we drove the Waipoli road nearly to the top which had super views of both the eastern and western island bays. Maui has mile after mile of fields of pineapple and sugar cane. Monday afternoon we drove the Kahekili road ( Hwy 340 & 30 ) along the eastern portion of the island, the northern tip and back down the western side. The eastern side road is a narrow single lane unimproved road with 1000 foot cliffs at the edge while hwy 30 on the western side is like our roads. Honokahua is where the rich and famous own property - Oprah Winfrey and others. Along hwy 30 on the western shore is where whale watching takes place from Dec to March each year - unfortunately we didn't see any. Tuesday, Dec 5th we drove the famous Hana highway from Kahului east on hwy 360 to the small city of Hana. This drive has about 50 one lane bridges and about 350 curves - it took us 2 hours to drive 30 miles. To us, the drive around the northern portion of the island of Maui was more scenic and enjoyable than the Hana Highway drive. Hana is a very small town with one gas station - gas was $3.79 a gallon regular. ( gas in Honolulu was $2.79 ) We went back to the port of Kahului, shopped at wal-mart, laid out in the sun at Kihei beach ( eastern side of island ) then boarded the cruise ship. No matter which island you are on - it only takes less than a 15 minute drive to a nice white sand beach - I could get use to that..... We actually came back with an decent tan Kahului, Maui
Wednesday, Dec 6th, we had to tender in to the port of Kailua-Kona, Hawaii - on the western side of the big island. Debbie had been encouraged by her working partners to do the unthinkable - go parasailing - and she did. I was brave enough to ride in the boat but not join her. Kona is a rapidly growing town with all the amenities of a large city - Wal-mart and Home Depot. The beaches are mostly lava as seen in the photo below with Debbie and I. There are small beautiful white sand beaches within walking distance of the port. Kona, Hawaii
Thursday, Dec 7th we arrived at Nawiliwili Bay at Lihue, Kauai. This island is considered the green island or least populated island because the tallest mountain at 5234 ft gets 462 inches of rain each year - so everything is green and lush looking - everyone has banana trees or coconut trees growing wild in their yard and along the roadside. We rented a car and drove to the Waimea Canyon State Park - this is the Grand Canyon of Hawaii then we drove to the end of the road to an overlook to view the Pacific Ocean at a valley in the Napoli State Park. Did I tell you that on Kauai, chickens are everywhere - in the towns, on the roads, in the country, in the state parks - all loose and wild. After viewing the canyon we decided to spend an hour on the beach at Kekaha Beach. The wind was blowing about 25 mph and when you look closely at the photo you will see sand all over everything including us. Luckily they had showers on the beach. On the way back to the boat, we stopped at the Poipu Beach in southern Kauai to view where Harrison Ford filmed the movie 7 nights and 6 days. Later we returned to the boat for a nice dinner in the dining room. Friday, Dec 8th, we got in our rental car and headed north to see the other side of the island. This drive was probably the best of all drives - the cities were much more like American cities and not unincorporated villages. The scenic views all along the way are simply beautiful Lihue, Kauai Photo's taken on a driving tour around Kauai Island
Photo's taken after the cruise ship departed Lihue, Kauai for a visit to the north western shoreline.
Saturday, Dec 9th proved to be another good day for Debbie and I. We packed all our suitcases, ate breakfast and headed off the cruise ship to do a nature tour of the island of Oahu. We left the docks at 9:30 to drive through downtown Honolulu past Waikiki Beach then on to Diamond Head and Hanauma State Park - which has one of the most photographed beaches in Hawaii. The tour guide was very informative and was a native Hawaiian. This tour was just to waste time from debarking the cruise ship until 5:30 when our Delta 767 jet departed. We learned that the roots of the Taro plant are an excellent source of food and locally they plant and harvest vast amounts of Taro. We rode by the Stadium and Pearl Harbor on our way back to the airport. We boarded the Delta 767 jet at 5:30 and landed in Cincinnati, Ohio at 6am Saturday morning. Sunday, Dec 10th we flew from Cincinnati to Birmingham arriving about 9:30. Debbie's parents picked us up and we talked all the way back to Glencoe. Pros about the trip. (1) 75 degrees every night, (2) native people are really friendly, (3) everything is green and beautiful, (4) there is always a beach just around the corner (5) they spoke our language - English. Cons about the trip (1) Everything is expensive motels $150/night and up, Gas was $.75 to $1.50 higher there than in Alabama. (2) Honolulu traffic is worse than Atlanta or Dallas at rush hour. (3) 12 hour flight took 2 days to get re-adjusted. (4) Hellicopter flights were $200/ person and up for one hour (5) except for big cities, food was walk up mom and pop one room shacks with a concern about cleanliness We took about 1500 digital photographs and I narrowed the selection to what you see above - If you want a disk of all the photo's, let me know and I'll send you one. It was well worth our time and money - we both really enjoyed everything we did After we arrived home;
My mother ( age 83) ask me 20 times if I was bringing back a hula skirt for her while on vacation in Hawaii. Well, I did and she was a bundle of joy. I think that made her happier than I've seen her in 10 years. I put on the Hawaiian Christmas song by Bing Crosby, "Mele Kalikimaka" and she danced around as I took photo's. Extra photo's of the Hawaiian Islands
Click on links below Best viewed with DSL or Cable Connections
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