Back from the Cruise

Hello Dear Family and Friends!

We have so many pictures and stories to share from our vacation, but I am only going to give a summary here. I do not want to keep you reading all day long. Don't get me wrong this will still be a long post... :)

Before I go into the cruise summary though I want to post a quick picture from Amaya's birthday evening. We all went to a restaurant in Honolulu for dinner and at 10:30 it turned into a dance club. We stayed for some dancing after a yummy dinner. Here is a shot of the ladies. It was a black dress affair obviously. :) It was a great evening especially with all the husbands home.

Cruise Time!!

We arrived at the ship in Honolulu on June 10th in the afternoon. Here is Daniel investigating something... The room was an excellent upgrade from our original reservation. We had reserved an inside stateroom, but two weeks before the cruise the travel agency called us and asked if we wanted a room with a balcony for a very small price. We agreed and we are very thankful we did. There was much more space and the private balcony was great!

The first island we hit was Hawaii, or the Big Island. We rented a car and drove straight to Volcano National Park. Here is Daniel in a lava field. There was lava rock for miles and miles. We hiked 4 miles through Kilauea Iki Crater where there was still steam coming from the ground. It was a great day to hike because there was a light drizzle and breeze. It was perfect. We then drove to where the lava was pouring into the ocean. The active lava is underground currently so we did not see any during the day. We did see the steam from the lava pouring in the water at about 2500 degrees farenheit.

My favorite picture of the day was from the most recent activity of the volcanoes. There was a road that was covered by lava and the only thing left was this sign. Thats right NO Parking! Don't even think about parking here! I know you were...

Later that evening the ship sailed by the point where the lava was pouring into the water. It was incredible. You could see the red glow and lava just pouring into the water creating new land and expanding the island. It was amazing.

Our next day was on Maui. We rented a car again and this time splurged on upgrade. We ended up with a 50th Anniversary edition of the Ford Thunderbird. We had so much fun driving that around on the island those two days. We took this incredibly curvy drive to the other side of the island, and we stopped and took some pictures along the way.

We visited a black sand beach on the other side as well as had a nice lunch before we headed back to the boat. As we were driving back we stopped at another beach for some great sunset shots. Here is one of us posing with the lovely Thunderbird.

The next day on Maui we took a boat ride to two different snorkeling sites. I did not get any good pictures with the digital camera that day because I was worried about it getting wet. We were able to see dolphins and huge sea turtles. The boat ride was a little too bumpy on the return trip and both of us got off feeling quite sick. We went back to the ship and rested up before our next big day.

Our two days on Kauai were our absolute favorite. Our first day we drove to the north side of the small island where the Na Pali coastline juts out into the Pacific. The Na Pali coast is too rugged for roads so no roads have ever been built on it. You can only see it by air, boat, or by foot. We opted for all three! Our first day we did a 2 mile hike (and it was a hike) to this beautiful beach, Hanakapi'ai Beach. We stayed only long enough to eat some yummy sandwiches we grabbed on the way and then we got to hiking again. Our ultimate goal was Hanakapi'ai Falls, a 100 foot falls another 2 miles into the jungle. It was a rough hike. There were times where I was holding on with my hands as well as gripping with my boots. It was a challenge for me, but I loved every minute of it, and the goal was well worth it! The falls were amazing. Here we are right before we jumped into the water beneath. It was freezing cold! we couldn't help but yelp when we got in! :)

The hike was our favorite part of the entire cruise. It was such an amazing taste of the beautiful world our Lord has created! It was so untouched by man and civilization it was incredible. We were blessed the entire day!

The second day on Kauai we took a helicopter ride over the island. Seeing the island from the air is amazing! I did not get many good pictures, but Daniel videotaped the entire flight. There was a heavy rain the night before our flight so all of the waterfalls were very visible from the helicopter. There were too many to count. There had to be hundreds. We plan on fixing up the video with some appropriate Hawaiian tunes to make it even more enjoyable to view again. Here is a view of the Na Pali coastline that we hiked a small portion of:
Sorry about the glare. The video is better.

Later that night as the cruise ship was leaving the island we sailed slowly by the Na Pali coast. We were able to view some of it by foot on the first day and then by air and sea the next day. I think we were quite spoiled. It is a truly breath-taking coastline. We just loved Kauai!

All in all, the cruise was the perfect way to get a glimpse of each island before we move. It fulfilled its purpose perfectly. It was the first cruise for both of us. We really enjoyed the ship staff and facilities as well. The food was great and the entertainment was a lot of fun. We would come back tired most of the time so we weren't as active on the ship as some people chose to get. There was very little sailing time and quite a bit of shore time so we don't regret not getting more active on board. We wanted to see the islands.

Thanks for your interest in our vacation. It was a great time for Daniel and I to date for a week straight. We just loved it.

This next week we leave for North Carolina on our house-hunting trip. We will be there for a little over a week and we plan on seeing several houses. We want to make a decision before we head back to Hawaii so we can start the closing process. Buying a house is a big deal and we want to make sure we do it right. We are reading information, talking with our realtor, mortgage advisor and credit union frequently. It has kept us busy in the last few days.

I hope to blog again before we leave for NC, but if I don't please forgive me...

LoveYa'll!