Hawaiian Cruise

 We took a break from our mission this past week and visited the neighbor Hawaiian Islands on a cruise ship. We've spent our entire time on Oahu, and really wanted to see for ourselves what the other islands and their culture was like.  Of course we could have taken a plane to each of the islands of Hawaii, but we felt like going on a cruise would be the most fun and interesting way to accomplish that goal. There's a Norwegian cruise ship called "The Pride of America" that leaves Honolulu every Saturday and returns one week later, stopping at Maui, Hawaii and Kauai each for two days, so we made plans to take the cruise right after New Year's without letting too many people know why we wouldn't be around for that week.

The Pride of America

Our first stop was at Kahului on the island of Maui, and the LDS stake center was only about a half-mile from the port so we walked to Church. We met two other couples from the cruise ship that did the same thing. Later that day we took a boat from the other side of the island and spent the next 90 minutes scanning the horizon for humpback whales. We were not disappointed! It's the peak time of the year for the whales to migrate from Alaska to Maui for mating and birthing babies. Newborn whale calves weigh more than one ton at birth! We were able to see all kinds of whale activity - surfacing for air, jumping out of the water (breaching), flashing the tail fin in the air prior to a deep dive (fluking), mothers swimming with their calf, and a mating ritual between a female and two competing suitors seeking her attention. We tried to take pictures but it requires being reasonably close and perfect timing to get a great photo of what we saw with our eyes, and unfortunately that didn't happen.

The next day in Maui we rented a car and drove the entire length of the infamous "road to Hana" which is one of the twistiest winding narrow roads in the world with more than 50 single lane bridges built before World War One. It was a gorgeous sunny day, very picturesque - which made for a wonderful memorable experience. Hana is a very small town, yet there's a senior missionary couple assigned to the branch there in addition to a pair of elders. We visited their small meetinghouse on our way back. 

Hana, Maui LDS church building

Next we sailed to Hilo on the "big island" of Hawaii and took an excursion to the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Hilo is known as one of the rainiest places in the US, so we expected to see steep mountainous terrain with lots of plants like we have back in Kaneohe, but that wasn't the case. There are two large volcanoes that rise gradually in the distance, Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa. These are very different from the volcanic peaks in the Cascades on the west coast. In the Nat'l Park we walked past dozens of steam vents and saw the simmering cauldron of Kilauea volcano far off in the distance.

Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

We were supposed to stop on the other side of the island at the Kona coast, but the sea conditions were too rough for the tender ships to take us safely ashore, so our captain decided to bypass Kona and steer us past the smaller islands of Lanai and Molokai as we did some more whale watching. The high steep cliffs of Molokai were absolutely stunning in the late afternoon, very impressive. We also passed the remote part of the island that used to be a leper colony for more than 100 years. It was fascinating to see parts of the Hawaiian Islands that are only accessible by boat or helicopter.

The last two days of our cruise were on Kauai. We took a bus tour around the northeast part of the island to Kilauea, Princeville and Hanalei Bay. It's a very beautiful place, and it costs way too much to purchase a house there. Our driver showed us a run down older house in need of repair - he said was standing only because the termites were holding hands - that was on the market for $4.5 million! We could only guess what the newer homes in the nice neighborhoods were selling for. Kauai is a great place to visit, but we wouldn't want to live there.

Opaeka'a Falls, Kauai

Our return to Kaneohe on Oahu made us appreciate once again how fortunate we are to be living where we are, and doing what we are. Of all the islands we visited, we still like Oahu the best, because there is such a variety of places to go and things to do here than on the neighbor islands. But we thoroughly enjoyed our week away from home visiting the rest of Hawaii. We're so thankful we took the opportunity to have a vacation in the middle of our mission!