Well, not really, but that’s how it feels.
As I said yesterday, Kellie and I returned yesterday from a week long cruise honeymoon on the Pride of America, cruising the island’s of America’s 50th state. It was everything you’d expect a cruise through the Hawaiian Islands to be, and more. If you’ve never been to Hawaii before, this is the perfect way to see the islands. In the course of a week, we were able to see the highlights of each of the five main islands, and there was plenty of time to relax as well.
Its hard to know where to start…….
After a long flight last Saturday morning, we arrived in Honolulu in the mid-afternoon, although to us it felt more like late at night. We had a few hours to walk the ship on our own. And when I tell you this is a big ship, that is no understatement. Even by the end of the week, we were finding public areas of the ship that we hadn’t seen yet. If nothing else, its an amazing piece of engineering —- and its sister ship, the Pride of Hawaii scheduled to set sail later this year, will be even bigger. If you’ve never been to Hawaii and want a vacation that lets you see a little bit of each of the islands, this is the way to go. If you’ve never been on a cruise before, or even if you have, I can’t believe there are many better ways to go than the Pride of America.
Without recapping the week day by day, here are a few highlights…..
In addition to being our first day on the seas, Sunday the 5th was also our first wedding anniversary, and I don’t think it could’ve gone any better. We spent the better part of the day on an excursion that took us in and around the north/western part of the “big island” of Hawaii. We spent the most time at Volcanoes National Park where we drove around the rim of, and went part of the way into the main crater of the Kilauea, the world’s most active volcano. For obvious reasons, we were not near the part of the volcano that is currently active, but were treated to scenery that looked more like it was out of Mars than anywhere on Earth. The whole time, we were in the shadows of Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea, both of which stand at over 13,000 feet. At the end of the day, as we left Hilo and headed towards Maui, the ship sailed, slowly, past the area along the coast line where Kilauea’s latest eruption ends at the sea, creating new land every minute. The reds and oranges coming from the lava as it headed into the Pacific Ocean were amazing.
From Hilo, we spent the next two days in Maui where we toured a tropical plantation and went whale watching. During some of our free time between excursions, we rented a car and visited Maui’s Winery at Ulupalakua Ranch, which we had found in a magazine in January. From there, we took the car on a journey that has to be experienced to be believed. We took the famous Road to Hana along Maui’s Route 36. More than 450 turns, several areas where the side of the road drops down into the Pacific, and more one lane bridges than I’ve seen on one road in my lifetime. We had the option of doing this as an organized excursion, but I’m glad that we did it on our own
It was on our departure from Maui that I saw one of the best sights I’ve ever seen. Right there swimming along with the ship as we left the harbor was a group of at least 5-7 dolphins. Though I took about 300 pictures over the past week, this is one that will just have to exist as a really great memory.
From Maui, we went back to the big island, this time to Kona, home of some of the best coffee in the world. And, yes, we did bring coffee home.
After Kona, we took a sometimes rocky journal across the islands to Kauai. I didn’t know it until this trip, but Kauai has been the setting to numerous telvisions shows and movies the feature tropical settings. Going all the way back to the days of Esther Williams, to South Pacific, the Indiana Jones movies, Jurassic Park, and even the opening title sequence of MASH. Our one disappointment was that we were unable to take the helicopter ride that everyone has described as a “must do” due to mechanical difficulties. We did, however, go on a very nice kayaking and hiking adventure up the Huleia River and near the Huleia National Wildlife Refuge. Finally, on our journey away from Kauai we sailed past the Na Pali Coast, home to some of the most amazing sea cliffs in the world. It was the perfect way to end the day.
Sadly all good things must come to an end, and ours did on Saturday in Honolulu as we left the ship. After a tour that took us to Pearl Harbor and downtown Honolulu, we returned to the airport, checked in and then went back downtown by taxi for dinner before departing on a very late flight home. There isn’t very much that I can say about the USS Arizona Memorial that hasn’t already been said, but the visit there was probably one of the most moving experiences I’ve had in quite some time.
Is it hard to focus on the real world after the experiences that we had last week ? Absolutely. I said more than once that its hard to believe that the places we saw exist on the same planet as metropolian Washington, D.C., but knowing that they exist makes me realize that alot of the stupid stuff we worry about on a daily basis doesn’t really matter as much as we think it does. Hawaiians have a different lifestyle than most Americans; more laid back and, it seems, less stressful, even though they live on a daily basis with the possibility that a hurricane or tsunami could come their way. Perhaps we can learn something from that.
Technorati Tags: Hawaii, Travel, Pride Of America
[...] so, when we were looking for someplace nearby to spend our anniversary; well, it may not have been a week-long cruise through the Hawaiian Islands, but it was the logical [...]
[...] and I drove the road to Hana during our trip their last February, and here’s what I wrote about it at the time: During some of our free time between excursions, we rented a car and visited Maui?s Winery at [...]