Aloha! Live from the Radiance 9.8.17 Cruise to Hawaii

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Another place we stopped was the Ke'anae Peninsula.

 

 

 

It was very rocky, but did not have the black sand.

 

 

This old church has had services since the 1800's

 

 

This area used to be a baseball field, but it kept getting flooded so they stopped using it. I took the picture to show the Norfolk Pines. They were introduced during the whaling industry days to use for masts because they grow very tall and straight.

 

[DELTABLUE]

Loads of especially beautiful pictures today! You know my love for flowers so I really appreciated seeing your native arrangement. I can identify the birds of paradise and the ginger but am not familiar with the others. Thanx for the picture of the breadfruit! I've often read about it but never seen it. Did you get to taste it? I also remember how in the islands they use the little cymbidium orchids to decorate food, as we would use parsley. That was truly heavenly.:D

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Thanx for the picture of the breadfruit! I've often read about it but never seen it. Did you get to taste it? I also remember how in the islands they use the little cymbidium orchids to decorate food, as we would use parsley. That was truly heavenly.:D

 

They did not offer a taste of the breadfruit. They had a red fruit that looked like a red sweet gum ball. [all red and spikes] That tasted like a lychee [sp?] nut.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Welcome to day 8 of our cruise. I will finish my pictures of the road to Hana a little later in the day. I just have time for one more post before we take the tender back to the island.

 

 

Here is a picture of the tender this morning. they ran all night. After 1 am the had one an hour. We found that even before that the trip to quite

 

 

We had breakfast at the Park Cafe. This is the emptiest you will ever see the solarium loungers. LOL

 

This is Lahaina. It is a small community on the west coast of the island. that is the dry side.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

I am going to finish up the road to Hana before I get to today's visit to Lahaina.

 

We finally made it to Hana.

 

 

 

On the way back we stopped to take pictures of the Wailua waterfall.

 

You can see how dry the river bed that leads to the falls is. Our guide told us Maui has been in a 3 year drought.

 

 

 

 

Our last stop was back at Hookipa Beach where we had watched the surfers yesterday morning. It was a stretch and restroom break,

 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Today we decided we would not book a tour and just tour the town of Lahaina and see what comes up.

 

First we hit the popular attractions. The court house and Banyan tree.

 

This is a little difficult to see. But, the Bunyan tree take in a whole city block. The tree sends down roots to the ground and a new branch grows up.

 

This is all one tree. It was much bigger before, but they cut it back to fit in this park. There was a homeless man in the park that wanted us to know the history.

 

 

There is the remains of a fort. I was bummed, because this is a reproduction. This is the site of the fort.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Courthouse:

 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

We had been approached by a number of tour guides offering tours. The cheapest was $65 pp. I think this was much less than they quoted passengers the day before. Many said it was a 50% discount.

 

Then a woman stopped and suggested $20 PP for a 1 hr tour. We decided we wanted to see a little more of Lahaina. So we agreed and were off.

 

We saw lots of points of interest on the western side of the island. We saw Lanai and Molokai. [2 other Hawaiian islands]

 

 

 

There are lots of timeshares on this side of the island because it has little rain.

 

 

There were lots or beautiful golf courses. Tiger Woods has a place on this area of Hawaii.

 

 

 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Our taxi driver suggested a restaurant for lunch on Front Street, Kimo's.

 

 

It is a great place right on the waterfront.

 

 

 

It has been here for many years.

 

 

You could not beat the view.

 

 

 

 

 

It was delicious food and it was very affordable. The entrees were from $12-$19. That is not bad for Hawaii.

 

We ate in the upstairs lanai.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

After some shopping we decided to have some shave ice at "Local Boys." It had been recommended to us. It did not disappoint.

 

Here are the various flavors:

 

 

They start with ice cream on the bottom. Next is the shave ice. Then comes a topping. We picked Kauai Cream, which is free. YUM!!!

 

The picture below is a medium for $6.50.

 

DH and I shared one and we were both full.

 

Pouring on the topping:

 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

There was no sunset tonight. I will post again tomorrow from Hilo.

[hihilo]

I'm really enjoying your reports. Our family was on the Radiance last summer / Alaska cruise. Nice ship. I'm really pleased to see you have a lovely plan for Hilo--- HVNP. Good choice. Having lived in Hilo for 25 + yrs, I am always S O sad to see cruise visitors only getting on the Wal*Mart bus that is available at dock-side. ( free--- gag gag what a deal !!) , and now theres a Target bus, too~~~~ to go shopping. Pathetic. There are so many beautiful things to do/ see & enjoy in East Hawaii.

[DELTABLUE]

Dragon...just loving your exquisite photography! Chuckled at the note on the top of the flavor board about snow cones.:eek:

[podsnel]

Thanks so much for your report! I love all of your photos, Hawaii is without question my favorite place. When you visit Kauai, and go to see Waimea Canyon, please keep driving up if you can, and the weather is clear. Kokee State Park has beautiful views of Kalalau Valley, on the Napali Coast- it is heaven on earth. [emoji177]

 

 

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[travelgoddess1]

Love love LOVE your photos -- so sharp and detailed. Would you mind sharing what camera you are using? Apologies if you already mentioned it, I missed it if you did.:o

 

Kimo's is one of my favorite restaurants. They serve a pretty mean version of Hula Pie (Duke's is more well-known). I think I remember Rachael Ray recommending Kimo's on one of her Food Network shoes.

 

I am guilty of occasionally taking the WalMart bus in Hilo and shopping at Prince Kuhio Mall across the street. (I always loved Liberty House, which is now, sadly, a Macy's.) Having been to Hawaii more times than I can remember, I have done a lot of the tours on the Big Island. Sometimes a little retail therapy is in order. :D :D Last time I was there, in September, 2016, I took the fairly new HOHO bus around the Hilo area and enjoyed seeing things I had not noticed before.:)

[DragonOfTheSeas]

I'm really pleased to see you have a lovely plan for Hilo--- HVNP. Good choice. Having lived in Hilo for 25 + yrs, I am always S O sad to see cruise visitors only getting on the Wal*Mart bus that is available at dock-side. ( free--- gag gag what a deal !!) , and now theres a Target bus, too~~~~ to go shopping. Pathetic. There are so many beautiful things to do/ see & enjoy in East Hawaii.

 

VNP was actually one of the things on my do not miss list. DH says I have a thing for the National Park Service. :D

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Thanks so much for your report! I love all of your photos, Hawaii is without question my favorite place. When you visit Kauai, and go to see Waimea Canyon, please keep driving up if you can, and the weather is clear. Kokee State Park has beautiful views of Kalalau Valley, on the Napali Coast- it is heaven on earth. [emoji177]

 

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That is our plan. I printed off a driving guide that gives me good information on the roads and distances. I got it on CC. I can not remember who posted it.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Love love LOVE your photos -- so sharp and detailed. Would you mind sharing what camera you are using? Apologies if you already mentioned it, I missed it if you did.:o

 

I am using my Samsung 7 phone camera. I brought along a point and shot Olympus. But, I forgot the cord to transfer the pics to my laptop. That would not be a problem at home and I may using it in Honolulu. But, it does not do me any good for this thread. I have been surprised that the pics are turning out well.

Kimo's is one of my favorite restaurants. They serve a pretty mean version of Hula Pie (Duke's is more well-known). I think I remember Rachael Ray recommending Kimo's on one of her Food Network shoes.

 

We loved Kimo's. I was suggested by our taxi driver. We would not have know to go there. We are Hawaii newbies.

 

I am guilty of occasionally taking the WalMart.

 

We plan to visit Walmart if here is time. We forgot a couple of items we would like to pick up.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

I have a couple of last pictures of Lahaina.

 

The clouds were hanging on the mountains as we left. Our tour guide on the first day told us this is how they get their rain. The mountains catch the clouds. He pointed out a small nearby island the US used for target practice during WWII. He said it has little vegetation. [even before the bombing] It is too low and does not catch any clouds. I am not sure if that is the reason--just passing along information. :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was not much of a sunset. The locals told us people come from miles around to watch the sunset in Lahaina.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Welcome to day 9 of our cruise. Today were are in Hilo on the big island. The weather forecast was mostly cloudy and 82 degrees.

 

It was raining when we got of the ship. we had periods of rain and sun all morning. this afternoon it was mostly sunny. We were glad we had our rain jackets.

 

Here are some views from the port.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We got off the ship around 8:30 am and waited about 10 minutes from a shuttle to the airport with Alamo.

 

The shuttle area is right across from the gangway. Once we got to the airport we were the only one in line and had our car in 10 minutes. It was very easy. I would do that again.

 

Then we were off to Volcano National Park.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

The trip to VNP is 28 miles. We made it in around 40 minutes. From the airport you only make 2 turns and one of those is into the park. Easy! :D

 

 

 

While we did not see any flowing lava today we had plenty of steam vents and lava fields. [it would have been dangerous if we had.]

 

 

 

This view is from the Jagger Visitor Center.

 

 

 

 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

These views are from the Chain of Craters Road. that is a 20 mile road that goes from near the Visitor Center to the ocean. It goes down over 3000 ft.

 

 

It was difficult to get the lighting right on these pictures. Since it was raining everything was dark. If I lightened them they were washed out. . . . just saying. ;p

 

 

 

 

These pictures do not show the rich colors of blue in the sky and ocean. You can see the sun came out by this time.

 

 

 

 

 

By then we were at the bottom of the road and we saw the Holei Sea Arch.

 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

The coast line was very rugged.

 

 

 

When we headed up again we could see the previous shelf built by the volcano.

 

 

We stopped at the historic Volcano House to eat lunch. It is the only hotel in the park. We ate at the Rim restaurant. The food was pretty good. the view was better.

 

 

 

 

 

They told me rooms run between $289 and $389 per night.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Our last stop was the Thurston Lava Tube. This is a type of long cave that is made as the lava cools.

 

 

 

 

It was pretty cool to see. the lights had been knock out by a slide and you had to use flashlights. But, the lights were back on.

 

 

 

The lava tube s in a rainforest setting. I saw that the rainforest is dwindling.

 

 

 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Last night the Captain did a close sail by Volcano National Park so we could see the glowing lave. these pictures are all terrible. But, it was an amazing experience.

 

We could see where the Chain of Craters road was because there were some car headlights. You could see those at the bottom of this picture. When we had traveled that road during the day we could not tell any of the lava was glowing. But, you can see that it was not far from the road.

 

 

 

Before the film they show at the Visitor Center they show a short video about the danger of geting off the paths and that lava that looks harmless can actually be just a cool out shell that hides molten lava.

 

The suggest that you have on long pants and gloves and carry 3 liters of water pp.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[travelgoddess1]

It is difficult to get good photos of the lava flow at night. Goodness knows, I've tried! :D They look much the same as yours., which are perfectly fine and probably what most people were able to get. Some cameras do better than others, depending on the lens quality and the ability to zoom. I'm glad you got to see the flow -- as recently as 3 years ago, there wasn't much to see. :)

 

(One year, I gave up and bought a stock photo from the photo gallery.)