Hawaii


USS Arizona Memorial

 
We spent 6 days in Hawaii where we visited 5 islands. First stop is Honolulu which has the city feel but with a Hawaiian attitude. We visited pearl harbor and it’s just so hard to imagine an attack by another country. We do a city tour and get a feeling for the neighborhoods and of course many interesting facts. Like the Iolani Palace, the residence of the rulers of Hawaii, is the only royal palace on US soil. The next day we do the hop on hop off bus to diamond head and back through the city.


Iolani Palace


West Side Beach


Next we go to Kahului on Maui where we do a hike through the rainforest to a stream with 5 breathtaking waterfalls from 10 to 40 feet high. We swim under a waterfall with a large pool, then climb volcanic shelves at 3 of the falls to look over 10 to 15 feet of rock ledges. Some of the more adventurous members of our group jump off the ledge into the pool. It was a good feeling after COVID lock down. We are stopping in each of the islands for one day and sail overnight to the next stop.


Waterfall Swim

Our next stop is Nawiliwili on the island of Kauai, the garden island due to the tropical rainforest. We take a tour of the Kilohana Estate dating back to 1896, when plantation manager Albert Spencer Wilcox, one of the original missionary families, first developed it as a working cattle ranch. His nephew, Gaylord Parke Wilcox, took over in 1936, building Kauai's first mansion which is now a restaurant. The plantation in 1864 became a sugar plantation on the island during the US civil war during which Hawaii couldn’t get US sugar. We take the plantation railway on the conductor-narrated tour. Prior to the plantation we make a few stops including Opaekaa Falls and the Wailua River.


Hikinaakala Heiau


Plantation House

The next day we were on the other side of Maui at Lahaina. It is a charming little town, which we explore by walking around and having lunch at a local seafood place. We booked a whale watching tour that did not disappoint. Maui is one of the world's top whale watching destinations, and it's no wonder when an estimated 10,000 humpback whales migrate to Maui waters each winter so it’s easy to view these frolicking, 45 ton leviathans.


Mama and Baby Whale

Our last stop is the island of Hawaii at Kailua-Kona. We take an interesting tour around the island, which of course includes Kona coffee. We also visited the National Park site of Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau. Imagine you had just broken the sacred laws, the kapu, and the only punishment was death. Your only chance of survival is to elude your pursuers and reach the Puʻuhonua, a place of refuge. It’s protected the kapu breaker, defeated warriors, as well as civilians during the time of battle. No physical harm could come to those who reached the boundaries of the Puʻuhonua.


Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau.



Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau.

We are off with a four day sail to our first stop in French Polynesia.



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