Trip to Hawaii - Day 11 Sat Dec 11

This started out not so great. Apparently the taxi to the airport was going to cost us 28. Ouch! And the airport was a ½ hour in the opposite direction of where we wanted to go. My bad. I’ll have to work out better transportation for next time.

But we finally arrive at the place of refuge. We paid 5 so we could park the car in the refuge parking area. The attendant told us how to get to 2 steps. Basically walk past the park entrance and then there’s a one way street. Take that street and you’ll see all the people on the rocks. But watch for the sea urchins in the notches in the rocks. I wouldn’t walk around with bare feet around here.

Note: there’s also an area on the left hand side of the two steps that might be helpful for getting in and out. But it is a little closer to the park so I’m not sure if they’d frown on using it as an entry way or not.

Back to snorkelling:
This was the BEST snorkelling we’ve done the whole trip. The water was clear and there was a multitude of fish. Steve spotted some dolphins to the far right of us. In deeper less clear water but we headed over there and did get some shots. Towards the edge of this area I believe I saw a small spotted eagle ray. But we had camera issues (again) so I’ll never know for sure.

And then, as I’m zooming in on some smaller fish underneath me, to my surprise, a group of dolphins swims just under me! I don’t think I’ve ever backed off the zoom that fast. And were they curious. I’m pretty sure that I could have just reached out and touch them.

But that’s not all.

I’m cruising around a little bit more and I see a turtle resting near some coral at the bottom. I show it to Steve and we watch it for awhile. But the turtle wasn’t moving around too much. And just as we’d both given up on him, he decides to come up for some air. Steve’s camera got some great shots with his camera (thank goodness).

By this time I’m getting cold so I suggest we head for shore. We clean up a bit and then use the restrooms at the park. We do a quick look around the place of refuge. Take a couple of pics – including one of a turtle up on the beach and decide we should head back.

I wanted to check out a little marketplace I saw when we were coming back from the airport. I even managed to find the Quilt shop that Karen and I visited the last time we were in Kona. I got some material for my future grandbaby – boy style and girl style. I'll sew something up when I find out which it will be.

It’s too bad we didn’t explore more, but we had to be back on board by 5.

Time really does fly when you’re in Hawaii.

Trip to Hawaii - Day 10 Fri Dec 10

WOW! Once again we did the car rental thing and discovered that we have the rapid sign in. Too bad we didn’t know that in Maui. So we were in the car in no time.

And it was a fabulous drive. We did the North end of the island.

First stop was the Hanalei Valley lookout. Great scenery, nice lighthouse - didn't go in it thought.

We stopped at Annini beach which looked like a great possibility for snorkelling. But, I thought we’d wait to see what Tunnels beach offered. Unfortunately the water was pretty rough by the time we arrived at Tunnels beach and it was pouring rain. So no snorkeling…

In fact it rained off and on for most of the day. But we still had a great time, exploring. We stopped at farmers market and then at a local festival - Waipa Kalo Festival. The people were so friendly! This is definitely the way to see the islands.

This is a very beautiful island with lots of great little beaches on the North shore. We'll definitely have to come back and explore even more of the island.

Trip to Hawaii - Day 9 Thurs Dec 9

We managed to be off the ship by 9:00 am! A pretty good feat considering the ship wasn’t to start docking until 9:00.

We had no trouble finding our pickup spot. Partly because I’d done it before and partly because they were a little more specific as to which hula girl statue they were meeting us. The van was full so we had to crawl to the back of the van. Unfortunately, that also meant we had a crowd with us. And there were more at the harbour. Oh well, it’ll still be fun.

The experience was a bit difference this time. It seemed more stressed. They seemed so concentrated on finding the dolphins that the opportunities to snorkel were short. They’d tell us to get in the water and then change their minds. It seemed we spent a lot more time getting on and off the raft, then we did actually in the water.

But we did see some dolphins. Not as many as the last time, and the visibility was reduced, but I did get some good shots. Even saw a turtle down deep. He was a bit hard to see so I’m not sure how the pics will turn out.

It's too bad the visibility was so poor - must be the time of year.

I even got to spend some time in the water with the dolphins by myself! I guess I was the only one who wanted to go back into the water when a pod of dolphins came around. They served us lunch and then drove us back to the cruise ship by 4:00.

So we headed back to the room and got cleaned up for our trek to Waikiki beach. Problem was I didn’t have a bus schedule because I didn’t think Steve would do the bus. But we tried it. And it did take a while. But we finally made it down to the strip.

Imagine: the Beach walk didn’t have anything to do with the beach. It’s actually just a strip of stores. But eventually we found our way down to the beach. It was dark by then, so the pics aren’t the greatest.

Our supper ended up being a shared slice of Upside Down Pineapple Cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory! Very Very Very Yummy.

We jumped in a taxi to get back. I think it ran us around 16. We again got asked if we were on our honeymoon. I wonder if that’s a new line they use on the tourists.

Trip to Hawaii - Day 8 Thurs Dec 8

We’re up bright and early 6:50 am while on vacation…

We get off the boat around 8:15. But we wait 45 minutes to get on the shuttle. We were making good time until the shuttle shows up. And then proceeds to drive away! Not impressed as we had to wait another 20 mins for another shuttle. But we finally make it to the car rental agency. Only to end up waiting another 45 minutes just to get a car. Steve was not at all impressed. But we got into our ford fusion around 9:15.

(note: After our trip Budget asked us to fill out a survey about our experience. When i told them our experience, they apologized and sent us coupons for our next car rental. We thought that was pretty good as we really hadn't expected to hear from them again.)

So snorkeling is now out of the question. But we make it to the skyline eco-adventure with 15 minutes to spare. After a bit of a bumpy ride to the site thru lots of red dirt we’re ready to zipline. 8 ziplines! What a blast! We were the only Canadians and they poked a bit of fun over that. But we had an awesome time.

Back in the car and we’re off to Island Paperie which seems to have changed hands since 2007. It’s much smaller, but the selection of Hawaii good is still pretty good. The store appears to be ½ the size, and the penalty box for the guys was gone. Still managed to spend some money there though. Can’t wait to show it off.

Then we tried to get to see the Black rock (near the Sheraton). But we couldn’t find any parking. So instead we stopped at the first public beach area and walked the beach for a bit. The sun was setting behind an island so no sunset pics. Gorgeous beach, but I still haven’t seen the famous ‘Black rock’ snorkelling spot. Guess we’ll have to come back for that…

After watching the sunset, we headed back to Lahaina and checked out all the little shops there. A lot of fun. We even found a gelato shop that had raspberry and mango flavours. Yummmmmm.

We’re back on the boat around 9:30 and pretty wiped out.

Time to get ready for our dolphin swim tomorrow! I’m Soooooo excited.

Trip to Hawaii - Day 7 Wed Dec 7

Wow, where has the time gone. Let’s see There’s eating… then napping… then eating… Oh, and a little bit of reading too.

But today we arrive in Hilo. Found our shuttle. Not the easiest thing to do but we managed.
And, once again we received an ‘upgrade’. And I lose the term loosely. It was a White grand caravan! The caravan was bad enough, but did it have to be white??? I wonder if there's some way of indicating that some customers wouldn't consider a van an upgrade. Hmmm.

We headed straight for Richardson beach. Missed it by one road, but we could have walked to it. Actually, I did while Steve moved the "car".

But before that: There’s an old ramp cut out of the rock and just to the right of that we saw a good sized turtle. (thanks to the Hawaiian gentleman who let us know it was a good place for turtle sitings). It was a little rough, but we did manage to see a turtle, he was hard to see and as soon as I pointed him out to Steve, the turtle decided to take off. But at least he saw it before it left.

Note to self: I'm going to have to buy a pair of polarized sun glasses before our next trip. Steve's sunglasses were much better for seeing the turtles from above the water.

Richardson beach looked like a pretty good place to snorkel if the waves weren’t so rough we would have.

There’s a lot of little beaches on the way to Richardson. We did a little beach hopping around here. We had some really great sitings of turtles at a place called Keaukaha. Just a little down the road from Richardson beach, but this would be a good place for shallow snorkelling. There would be good odds you’d encounter a sea turtle.

(After seeing the pics from the gopro camera that Steve stuck in the water, we should have snorkelled! There were lots of fish down there. We didn't see it until we got home, but there was a small eel in the water, swimming along the rocks)

Once again, someone told us where there were 3 turtles. 1 large one and a couple of smaller ones. Another large one showed up too. Steve got some really great video with the gopro. We had just walked by the life guard tower when the gal told us.

We then walked a bit further to the right, there was a ladder for easy access to the water. The kids there were complaining that there weren’t any turtles. I would have told them about our find, except that they were very whiney.
But then a large turtle showed up at the ladder and the kids were afraid to get into the water. Steve got some really good video of this turtle.

It started raining a few times, so we jumped in the car and did some more driving. We even took the ‘scenic route’ which took us by the botanical gardens. We didn’t stop there, but it gives an idea of where we were. The route really was scenic. We saw lots of rain forest type foliage. And lots of awesome views of the ocean.

We did make it to Big Island Candies and bought tons of goodies for everyone back home. (And this time we actually brought it home - didn't leave it in the fridge THIS time).

And the Island Scrapbooking store wasn't bad either. Lot's of Hawaii related stuff. And a fair selection of Stamps. There were a couple snorkeller type stamps that I wish I had picked up. I don't think they do orders though. So I'll have to plan another trip to Hawaii...

Trip to Hawaii - Day 4 Sun Dec 4

Finally got out on deck!

It actually wasn’t too bad. Not as warm as you might hope for, but I didn’t have to get a jacket.

(this is all that was in my journal - guess we were really busy relaxing)

Trip to Hawaii - Day 3 Sat Dec 3

Scrapbooking is at 12. Kind of a strange time, but ok, I’m game. I arrive and there isn’t a cutter in site. Some scissors, some paper – heavy stuff, some corner punches and 2 glue sticks. I wish over and over again that I had brought my basics. There wasn't even a ruler and I couldn't find a pair of straight scissors either. I couldn't even show some of the gals there how to get the basics of scrapbooking. It's a good thing I brought my computer. At least i can get some electronic scrapbooking done.

I have to remember to send a letter to Carnival about their "scrapbooking". The lady teaching it didn't seem the least bit interested in scrapbooking.

I have some shopping to do when we get to Maui. Look out Island Paperie!

Ok, so scrapbooking was a complete flop. I wonder if I could get a job teaching scrapbooking on cruise ships. And maybe spark up the arts and crafts as well. That plastic canvas stuff is getting a little old.

It’s pretty rough out on the seas. Didn’t even bother to try to go out on deck.
I’m so tired I had to leave the show. Can’t keep my eyes open anymore. This relaxing stuff takes a lot out of you. Or maybe it's just the time change.

Trip to Hawaii - Day 2 Fri Dec 2

We stayed at the Doubletree by Hilton St Pedro. Very nice hotel and the in house restaurant food was actually quite good. We found the prices reasonable. And the service was wonderful. We arrived late last night. Around 8:00 pm. The waiters made us feel very comfortable.

This morning we are still feeling the time change. We’re up bright and early and we don’t have to check out until 12. But we’re supposed to meet the shuttle at 11:45.

The view from our room is just as awesome as it was last night.

We took a bit of a walk before breakfast. The marina is awesome. We spot sea stars in lot’s of places and a couple of herons.

Then there’s this
little bird that’s swimming in the water. It dives down below the surface of the water and swims like a frog. Probably looking for food. I think it's a baby grebe.

After a quick bite of breakfast, again, very good, it’s time to head off to the port. Where we stand in line again and again. This time, we didn’t have to stay out in the sun.

When we finally get on board we find that they hit rough seas on the previous cruise and weren’t able to get into port on schedule. So everything is behind. But we do get into our room right away.

Pretty soon it’s time for dinner and we meet some of the other people who booked thru ‘Reggie’. Turns out to be a pretty good bunch of people.

Trip to Hawaii - Day 1 Thurs Dec 1

We head for the airport around 10 am. We have no delays and make it to the airport in tons of time. We make our connecting flight but it’s a little close for comfort. Just what is the protocol when you have a number in the A row and they’ve started boarding B? We jumped in at the beginning of the B line. Hope we didn’t tick too many people off.

The plane’s still on the ground ½ hour past take off time. Apparently they picked up some ice coming in from Ft. Lauderdale. So they have to de-ice.

We arrive in Los Angeles about a ½ hour later than expected. Our car arrives pretty quickly and we’re on the road.

The Doubletree by Hilton St Pedro is gorgeous. The rooms are clean and comfortable. We have dinner in the hotel and although a tad pricey, the food was good, the service excellent and everyone was friendly. They even hand delivered cookies that were still warm! (I know… I’m a cheap date…)

The view from our room is awesome. We can see most of the marina. Some of the boats are decorated with lights for Christmas.

Although it’s only 9 pm here, we’re beat. It’s about midnight our time so we hit the sack.

Dolphin Excursions is Booked!

I signed up for the Dolphin Excursions! Can't wait. It was SUCH a good time last time. And they are picking us up - so no rental car required. I think we'll just taxi or bus it to Waikiki Beach. We have to at least walk on it.

Rental cars are also booked. If you're going to Hawaii, make sure that you book rental cars BEFORE you go. The last time we went we heard the rental car agencies complaining about the tourists who assumed you could just get off the ship and a rental car would be available. Lots of people had to go without.

It's Official!

I just finished booking the Hawaii cruise. Carnival Spirit Dec 2, 2011 for 15 heavenly days. Only problem is the wait now.

I found a great deal with all fees in for just under 3000. For a 4K interior room (obstructed view). Thanks to Reggie!

Now time to get into the heavy duty research.

Scrapbook updates

Sad news: Kona Scrapbooks has closed.

Good news: Island Paperie is open. Google maps is showing 2 addresses for Island Paperie. I confirmed with the store that the correct address is 395 Dairy Road, Unit A Kahului.

The store in Hilo is called Island Scrapbooking (and they seem to carry stamps.) Their location is at 223A kilauea Ave in Hilo, Hi.

A must do for Sue

Carnival had a sale last week, but I wasn't quite ready to book yet. However, the price has risen a little bit. 3261.86 for 2 people when you've cruised before with Carnival. Or 3381.86 if you haven't.


Still not bad for a 15 night cruise. At 113 per person per night, it's not too far from our usual under 100 per night. I'm hoping that we'll see it fall a bit more. It's still a year away.

Also found the link from the dolphin encounter I experienced last time in Honolulu:

http://www.dolphinexcursions.com/learn.html


Hotel pickups between 8:45 and 9 am. (the boat is scheduled to get in at 9) Last time we qualified for this and were able to meet up with them by the Hawaiian girl statue - but there were several, so we found the one closest to the debark point and that turned out to be the right spot.


Limited to 20 people and lasts about 3 hours. They provide bottled water and juice, cheese, yogurt and granola bars. All included in the 115 per adult, 85 for child (4-12 yrs). There's a 10% discount if we meet them at the Waianae Boat Harbor located on the west shore of Oahu, off Hwy 93. But we'd have to get there by 10:15 am. And according to google it's a 45 minute drive.


A little pricy, but well worth it. One of the most amazing experiences of my life. And winter (November to March) means we'll also get to see humpback whales with calves. We didn't get to see this last time as we were there in October.

WANTED! Fun Loving People for Cruise to Hawaii

I've finally found a cruise that will do a round trip from Los Angeles to Hawaii and back! And I know it's early, but we'd like to try to get at least a few people to go before we book it. At this point we'll wait until closer to June/July before actually booking it unless Carnival offers a sale. So right now we're trying to find out who might like to come along.

Why cruise? Why not just fly?
Have you looked at the cost and the logistics of getting to and/or from Hawaii! (minimum 12 hr flight) Personally, I'd rather spend 5 days at sea - where there's a bed, food and entertainment, then spend 12+ hours on an airplane and airport! The cost...around $900 return. Plus then you've got to pay for your accomodations and food. The cruise throws in some entertainment to keep you occupied too. Plus flying from island to island, it appears you'd lose a day just moving to the next island.

But, if you've never cruised before, this cruise may not be for you. There's 5 days at sea, 5 days on the islands and another 5 days at sea.

We're looking for some people who'd like to join us. The last time we did this cruise with 6 couples, and that helped pass the time on the 5 days at sea. We didn't always hang out with each other, but we often bumped into each other and joined in on some of the ships competitions, played cards, played mini golf, or some of us did the rock wall.

Carnival is currently offering a cruise from Los Angeles to Hawaii and back on the Carnival Spirit. There's 2 cost structures that are applicable until 5 months before the cruise date.

Option 1. Early Saver:

1. Cost: 3162 with taxes for 2 people


2. This price will apply if you book more than 5 months in advance (before July 2). This is the current list price for Early saver, it could vary depending on when we book it.


3. Rooms are midship on the 4th level


4. The deposit is NON-REFUNDABLE - so you have to be sure if you're going to book this way


5. There's a price guarantee - if the price drops, we fill out some paperwork and get a refund for the difference!

Option 2. Fun Select:

1. 3222 with taxes for 2 people - gratuities and alcohol not included.


2. This is the current price and may vary up until you book it.


3. Rooms are on the lowest level (2) cost to upgrade to the 4th is 4.40 per person per day. ( add 132 to get you to the 4th level.) - you can go higher but the cost per person will be higher as well.


4. The deposit IS refundable up to 76 days before the cruise.


5. No price guarantee on this one.

These prices are for inside cabins. There's also ocean view and balconies, but, again the prices are higher.

The itinerary and things to do at each island can be seen at the top of this blog.

Send me an email if you're interested. The address is suzcruz@hotmail.ca

Wow, It's been over a year since I posted on this. Sigh. We had a blast on the girls cruise in Feb.

here's a couple of shots from Prickley Pear island taken in Feb 2009.

It's Not a huge place, but the waters great and the snorkeling is pretty good too.

We had lawn chairs, and, of course, rum punch.

for more details see http://www.pricklypearisland.com/

We've got 4 people interested but we're looking for 2 more.

Saturday Oct 13, 2007 - the end

This was a very sad day indeed. I was trying to survive on approximately 4 hours of sleep. Steve M set the alarm for 5 so we could grab a bite to eat, make it through customs and leave the boat by 7:30.

Most of us actually made it off the boat by 8:00 (due to customs not being quite ready) but there was some sort of mixup with the crew as to how we were to get off the boat so we lost one couple for about 15 minutes. But after a tour of various areas of the ship, they made it off in time for us to catch the 8:30 shuttle. And we did make it to the airport in lots of time to meet our flight at 11:25.

I did kind of feal sorry for the guy who was trying to get his family to the airport for a 10 am flight though.

The time change is really getting to me. Thank goodness we had 3 days to try to absorb the first 3 hours of time shift but this day was especially brutal because I had to absorb 3 hours time difference between home and LA. Think of it this way. We boarded our flight somewhere around 11:25 am and we were in Buffalo at 10:30 pm. And we still had the drive home! I think we made it to bed by about 2 am on Sunday and I was wide awake. Sigh.

But we all made it home safe and sound. I don't think there was too much lost - except for a pound and a half of chocolate we left in the stateroom refrigerator... Hopefully the room attendants had a great feast on it!

This will be my last post for a while. We have booked a cruise for next October though. So I may add some general information to the blog about that one. Now I have to start scrapbooking all the pictures that I took on this trip.

See ya soon!

Friday Oct 12, 2007 - last day at sea

It's a pretty sad day around here. We have to say goodbye to all our new friends. And everyone is packing up their things. Luckily we don't have that big of a rush as we carried our luggage off. Which means we didn't have to put the luggage out in the hall on the last night of the cruise.

And yes, I did remind everyone NOT to pack all of their shoes...

We played bingo, and one of our table mates actually one not once but TWICE in a row! Those Scottish people are always so lucky.

And here's our favourite band again. It's a group of Hawaiian guys and they can sing! And I'm not talking about ancient Hawaiian songs either. Steve asked if they had a CD (which the don't - sigh!). We really enjoyed listening to them!

And we had one last visit with Matt Yee. We probably didn't get to bed until around 1:00 am and we had to be up around 5:00 am so we could make our shuttle to the airport.

Thursday Oct 11, 2007 - at sea

It was another lazy day again. Just the usually eating, sleeping, shopping, piano bar visiting and so on.

But it was a formal night so we had to get dressed up too!

Oh, and I how could I forget: this was the night of the gala buffet. Here's a couple of the best pictures:

look at those chocolate covered strawberries!

Believe it or not Steve M and I abstained from eating this time. (Well, it could have something to do with our supper finishing up around 10:00 pm).

And then we were off to the piano bar. That Matt Yee guy is really a character. We'll miss his ancient Hawaiian sing a long songs! We bought one of his CDs to help us remember. The fun times we had staying up late and listening to him.

And dare we forget the cheer:

OI, OI OI, OI OI OI, MMMMMMMM

Wednesday Oct 10, 2007 - at sea

This was the big day for the Slot Tournament and Steve entered! While I was waiting for his turn I dashed out to the centrum and discovered the captain, a chef, and a passenger were making black forest cakes. I don't think the captain should quit his day job.

Back to the slots... After 5 minutes of diligently hitting the button, Steve was almost up to 3000 credits. The unfortunate thing is we didn't know how much 'money' he had actually spent because it the machines were set to just roll over when all the credits were used up. It's an interesting thought though. Next time I think I'll count how many times it rolls over.

Since he didn't make it into the next round we took a walk and found some of our party playing mini-golf. I don't think it was going to well because it was a very windy day and the wind was blowing the golf balls around. Aw well, at least Steve H had something to blame his golf score on!

Oh yeah, there was a scrapbook day so I went in and grabbed the goodies. I wish I had some pictures that I could have scrapbooked with!

Tuesday Oct 9, 2007 - at sea

Today we're a little more active. We earned lots of ship shape dollars!








Here's the Bean bag throw




And while that was going on a pod of dolphins decided to swim by







(ok Cathy I know you won't see them, but they really were there!)

And let's not forget about the ring toss

I think Karen was the only one (of the gals) who managed to get a ring on. That's ok. The guys didn't do so well either.