Hawaii... our recent vacation!

Tom and I recently took a vacation to Hawaii with no kids!  We have a fabulous time and enjoyed our time in Hawaii.  We took a 7 day Cruise out of Honolulu Hawaii that went to Maui for two days, Hilo, Kona and Kauai for two days! I have 968 photos and here are some...

We flew out of Missoula on Friday the 20th and arrived in Honolulu that afternoon to hang out prior to the boat leaving on Saturday at 7:00 pm.  However, I was sick on Thursday before we left and it lingered for several days into our trip.  PLUS, then Tom kinda picked up a little of the sickness too so we were both moving pretty slow until Sunday night/Monday morning of our trip. After the sickness was gone we sure did have fun...

Our room...

The balcony....

Us in front of the ship in Maui....

Our first port of the cruise was Maui and we were docked for 2 days.  We rented a car during these two days and were able to go to a lot of places around the island of Maui.  The first day we went to Lahina which is the oldest city and we saw the Banyan tree which turned 139 years old the weekend we were there!  They were having a celebration and a huge craft fair under the tree.  We stayed for the morning, had lunch and then headed to Black Rock on the west side of the island.

Tom and I in Lahina at the baynan tree.

At Black Rock we did some snorkeling and we saw a sea turtle from afar.  In the group of photos the sea turtle would be the top on the right..  The water was a little cooler then we expected but it was a great time. 

Our second day in Maui we decided to get up at 3:00 am and drive up to the Hakulua Crater that is 10,000 feet above sea level to see the sunrise..  It was REALLY cold and we actually dressed warm.  Some people were there in shorts and looked miserable!  The drive from our ship was 45 miles however it took 2 hours because of the windy curvy road with 37 switch backs.  We arrived at the top and waited about 45 minutes for the sun to rise and it was amazing... 

Tom and I at the crater.

Clouds moving in and out

Sunrise 

After our trip to the crater we went back down and decided to hit a Plantation tour in the heart of Maui.  It was a fun little tour and we learned a lot about the fruit, plants, and people.  We were very surprised that it takes 2-3 years to grow a pineapple and it sits on top of the plant.  Plus a coconut is perceived differently then what we think they are.  The little round fuzzy ball is inside this large shell that you have to husk off.  There are no machines that can husk coconuts they are all done by hand. Below is a couple of photos of the gal husking a coconut, draining the liquid and then cracking it open..

Some amazing flowers at the plantation

On Tuesday our ship then docked at Hilo on the Big Island!  We took a free shuttle into town and visited the location farmers market.  Here you could buy some amazing flowers for only $5 and some great fruit...We didn't do much in Hilo but walk around and check out the shops.

  

One night on the ship we went to dinner and the chef cooked everything in front of us!  He actually threw rice up into the air and we had to catch it in our mouths.  We had some fun drinks, neat food and it was very entertaining!!

On Wednesday our ship then docked in Kona and we had a shore excursion planned that day.  We went scuba diving and it was very different then we expected.  We had about an 20 minute introduction to scuba and what we should do.  Then we went into the shallow water and practiced.  After about 15 minutes we swam further into the ocean and went down about 30-35 feet.  The most surprising thing about scuba we thought was popping our ears every couple of feet.  I was able to take the camera with us and the instructor took our photo.  Plus taking pictures when doing something that is completely foreign is HARD.  I only got a couple but you get the idea...

Tom with instruction on left, us in the middle and some fish on the right

After our scuba adventure we headed into the town of Kona and check out the local shops and brewery.  It was a fun little town with lots of character.

On Thursday and Friday our shipped docked in Kauai and it was a beautiful island.  We took a helicopter tour for about 50 minutes around the entire island and it was amazing!  Seeing the Nepali coast was beautiful.

Where Pirates of the Caribbean 4 was filmed...

Looking down the coast line the water was amazing...

Looking out towards pilot at wettest spot on earth..

Just some cool shoreline at the coast.

A big waterfall - name?

The grand canyon of Kauai..

More coast line...

Tom and I.......

The second day in Kauai we went zip lining with a group of people from the boat and had so much fun.  There were seven zip lines and I believe the average speed once we were zipping was 30 mph and we were about 30-70 feet off the ground pending the location.  It was a lot of fun!

Zip Lining..

The town of Nawiliwili in Kauai where we hung out.

Finally when our boat left Nawiliwili we cruised around the island so the entire boat could see the Nepali coast.  It was beautiful and while cruising here we got to see some flying fish.  I have some photos but they are so hard to see.

Tom and I in front of the Nepali coast line.

The sunset from Kauai.

Saturday was the day to leave the Cruise at 9:30 am and our plane left at 10:00 pm that night.  So we decided to take a tour bus around the island of Oahu and see the sights.  It went 120 miles and we had a good time and learned a lot about the island.

Hanauma Bay was amazing...  This would be the place to snorkel if we came back..

Some sights around the island. 

Tom and I with a coconut hut dude...

The final stop of our tour bus took us to Dole Pineapple farm..  This was an amazing place and they had the best ice cream! Yes, it was pineapple.  Here are some photos below. They had some pretty cool trees.  We bought the girls some pineapple candy...