Cruising to Hawaii

Settle in and get comfy, like this lizard on a park bench in Hilo.   It was a long cruise, so I have a lot to share.

I was excited, but not totally surprised when, one August day I got a text from George asking what I thought about taking a 15 day cruise to Hawaii.  He is known for radical, awe inspiring travel plans.  I said yes, and went to the library to check out books about the islands.

So now we had a deadline of sorts, from which to make our fall travel plans.  We had to be in San Francisco by November 25th, so that we could get on the Grand Princess.  We traveled quickly up to San Francisco after we left Las Vegas.  We had a couple days to check out the area before we left.  We had to see the Golden Gate Bridge.

And, of course, we had to put our toes in the Pacific Ocean for the first time.  It was very cold!

The day we boarded the ship, we saw sea lions, in the wild, at Pier 39 in San Francisco!  It was an amazing, loud, smelly sight!  We could have stayed there all day. 

 

We also spent some of our waiting time, at the aquarium.

 

 

Mae and Daddy were petting some sting rays and checking out some starfish.

 

 

Do you see Mae in the bubble that's within the octopus' tank?  How much fun is that?

Before we knew it, it was time to board the ship!

 

 

Mae was in the pool, before the ship even left port!

 

                

 

It's such a shame that she doesn't like to swim!

 

There is always something going on, on the ship.  We had 4 days at sea before our first port of call.  One morning we watched a food carving demonstration.

As soon as it was warm enough, we put in a lot of pool time.

 

 

Mae also loved spending time in the kids' room.  Most of the children on the ship spent a lot of time in there, so it was the easiest place to play with your new friends. They taught some great lessons to the kids as well: sharks, space and sea turtles were some of the topics that they covered. 

 

 

Each morning that we were at sea, Mae and I attended a 45 minute Hula class!  Mae was the only child in the class.   The women were all very accepting of her.  Mae made friends with one of them. One of the last days of the cruise, we performed our Hula dance on the ship's main stage!  George took ukulele lessons on board.  He was part of the Hawaiian show.

 

 

There was a lot to remember, but I was very pleased with how much of the information Mae retained.  She learned as much Hawaiian vocabulary as I did!

 

 

We had to skip Maui, the seas were too rough for the tenders to safely take the passengers into port.  We spent the day at sea instead.  It was warm, so Mae swam with Daddy and played in the kids' room.  I was so very sick that day!  I had a fever and the worst sore throat I've every had.  The Dr. on board was able to get me back on my feet after one day in bed.

 

 

The first Hawaiian town that we visited was Hilo.

 

I just have to say, that I did not alter that picture in any way!  Doesn't that green pop? 

We visited the farmer's market.

 

We enjoyed coconut water and the coconut itself.  We should have gotten some papaya.  There was a large group of people digging in, they must have been delish!

 

 

Doesn't she look so worldly, munching fresh coconut ,in the middle of the market, with her backpack on?

 

 

We used the Hoppa Ona, hoppa offa bus to get around town.

 

 

 

All public transportation should have a potty trained scarlet macaw on board. 

 

 

The next day we got to go to Waikiki Beach!

 

 

 

That's me, eating my Hawaiian shaved ice while floating in my raft.  It totally, just had to be done. 

 

 

Mae had been telling everyone that she was going to learn to surf while she was on her trip.  Today was the day that dream came true!

 

 

 

 

Here she is heading out for her private lesson with her teacher and Daddy.    

 

 

It was great!  The teacher stood out where she could catch the waves.  George stood about halfway to the shore, so that when she jumped off or the wave died, he could help her back out to the teacher.

 

 



She did so well!  It was an hour lesson and she loved every minute of it.  She stood up a whole bunch of times.  Let's just say that she was way better than Daddy.  Here's a video of her in action.

 

 

http://youtu.be/X6a6hgDIwCc

 

 

Thank you to her teacher!  It was a wonderful experience, and pretty cool bragging rights to say she first learned to surf on Waikiki Beach.  George says if she wants to go pro, we'll follow her around the world on the surf circuit.  I don't know about that, but I can see a wet suit in her future.

 

There was more fun to be had.

 

 

 

 

We are clearly, beach people.  It was one of the best days of my life.

 

Our next stop was in Kauai.  We did some shopping and put in some more beach time.  Look what we found...

 

 

 

 

 

We found a naturally occurring "lazy river," created by fresh spring water that was flowing into the ocean. We all took turns going for a ride. Needless to say, Mae was best suited for floating down the river. She spent a good portion of the day floating down and then running back upstream.

After lunch, at a very cool, open air spot, right on the beach, we did more swimming.

There was too much sun for a good picture, but it gives you an idea of how cool this place was!

             

Mae and Daddy also played around a little with his new ukulele.

Then we walked back to the ship. It turns out that our amazing beach spot was only a few minutes walk from the port.

We spent our sea days on the way home taking it easy. There was pool time, bingo session, hula, lei making and ukulele classes.  Mae spent plenty of time in the play room with her friends.
 

This is my lei, as I was working on it.

Mae also went down to dance in the piazza most of the nights. She really enjoyed the attention from all the grownups. 

One night, her new friend joined her on the dance floor.
 

Some nights she'd draw pictures for her audience and pass them out.

 

We were very surprised how quickly the temperature dropped as we left Hawaii. Come to find out, the whole US was experiencing very cold temperatures. Mae really likes having "home days." These are days when she doesn't have to leave the house. On the cruise ship, this meant not leaving the room, unless it was to go get food. She did a lot of drawing and watched a lot of movies. She is really enjoying making movies of her stuffed animals with my phone. It's just the right size for her to hold in one hand, and move the toys with the other

The day that we arrived back in San Francisco was a bright, clear day.

Now it's time to go home and get ready for our next adventure!