Hawaii Cont.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

We were in Kona kinda. There was no place for the ship to dock so they dropped a couple of life boats and ferried (tethered) us into shore.

Saturday was the Iron Man Triathlon on Kona so as we were arriving at shore you could see hundred of swimmers in the water practicing for the event . I'm sure you can't see them but those little dots are swimmers.

Today we had signed up for another snorkel adventure. This one was called "Body Glove Snorkel". This was one of my favorite days. I think I have said that about almost everyday.

Body Glove Snorkel Boat

This one we literally swam with the turtles. At one time it seemed you could reach out and touch them, they were that close. These were not little turtles but Hugh. As the turtles swam they were amazing to watch. All the other sea life we saw this time was much more vibrant and beautiful than the first snorkeling adventure.

Wade Snorkeling

This one we actually also saw tons of Dolphins playing in the water. They were not as close as the turtle so we watched from a distance. Sometimes we wondered if they had been trained because of the tricks and maneuvers they were performing. They were great to watch.

The family from Australia I had talked about earlier were also on this snorkel trip. They were one of the last people to get on this boat and they had been split up. Some on the upper deck and two of them at our table on the lower deck. Eventually they all ended up at our table which made for a very crowded table. We had a great time getting to know their family better.

This boat had a slide and a diving platform that Wade and Dennis seemed to enjoy. It was a great morning and Wade and I spent the rest of the day relaxing on the cruise ship.

Wade Going down slide

That evening the cruise shipped passed by Kilauea, which is an active volcano. It was quite the sight to see.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Today we were in Kauai and had signed up for "Mudbug & Waterfall Safari".

The description said that is was the ultimate off-road experience that takes you through lush tropical paradise and beautiful mountains on a fully automatic ATV. It did not lie. It was a blast. They provided the clothing for us to wear. As you can see by the pictures nothing fancy but by the time we were done we were glad we did not have to take the dirty clothing back to the ship with us. We were so dusty and dirty but it was so much fun.

We would be driving through an open area with the mountains in the distance and then in a blink of an eye we would be in what felt like a jungle with branches hitting us as we drove. The part of area we were in is where they filmed Jurassic Park and it looked like it.

We stopped to eat lunch at a waterfall and pond. The water was great and Wade did a cannon ball into the water.

When we returned back to the ship, after the mudbug adventure, we were so dirty we decided to walk to the beach and play in the ocean to try and clean off before we got back on the ship. No matter what we did it was enjoyable and relaxing, even swimming in the ocean to clean off. It did help to swim in the ocean clean us up but, even after a shower the towel still wiped off dirt.

Friday, October 9, 2009

I almost skipped a whole day. This was a very relaxing day. We hoped on a shuttle bus that took us to Costco. Yes, Costco. This is where we were told by several people to get macadamia nuts. After our excursion to Costco we did a little shopping at the mall that was there and then back to the ship. Teena and I headed back to the shopping area that was by the beach and the guys said they would follow. They did not to much later. We did not have much time that day because we had to be back on board by 1:30 p.m. Then all we could do was hang out on the ship the rest of the day. It was a good day to be on board because it rained pretty hard that afternoon.

Saturday, October 10

All good things unfortunately must come to an end. Our trip was fast approaching its end. For the final day we again decided to rent a car to see the sights on Oahu. As soon as we departed the cruise ship we headed to the airport to check in our luggage and then rent a car and be on our way. This time mine and Teena's luggage did not weight under 50 lbs. Luckily they had scales around the airport before you checked your bags so we could do some quick rearranging and shuffling. It worked, we got all the bags under 50lbs and checked in. Rental car here we come.

We were headed to the Dole Plantation first. After some terrible back seat directions, and some good front passenger directions we were headed the right way.

After the Dole plantation and some great pineapple, we headed to Sunset Beach. We watched surfers and other on the beach. We continued on around the island until we made it to the La'ie Hawaii Temple. They have a great visitors center. The temple is closed for renovations and will be for another year plus. One of the couples serving there was from West Jordan and the temple will be closed the entire time they are on their mission. They were a little sad about that. They will just have to go back some day and go through it.

We continued on our way stopping other places like the Halano Blow Holes. Ending out trip back where we began it at the Honolulu Airport. It was a great trip, with great company. I would certainly do it again. Long and tiring trip home.