Ovation Vancouver to Hawaii Sept, 20, 2019 - Recap

[twangster]

Excursion on this day was the Haleakalā Summit Sunset Experience booked through Royal.

 

Since it was 2pm departure our excursion met at the pier on land and we boarded a small shuttle type bus where we met our driver and guide.  We drove around 45 minutes to their business where we could get a coffee, snack, use the restroom and get a jacket for the summit.  

 

 

The summit is around 10,000 feet in elevation and the weather is very cool up there.  Today it was 41°F.  Jackets were highly recommended due to the strong winds and wind chill.

 

Menus were passed around for a post-summit dinner.  We picked our entree which was called into the restaurant prior to our arrival later in the evening.

 

 

Our bus ride continued up through changing weather and ecology.  Entering the Haleakalā National Park we stopped at the visitor's center for a restroom break and interesting talk about the type of plants in this area.   At this point we were above the clouds at around 7,000 feet.

 

 

We learned that many plants found here are endemic to Hawaii - they only exist here and nowhere else in the world.  Some are unique to each island and are not even found on other Hawaiian islands.

 

 

The Silversword is an example of one unique and exclusive to Maui.

 

 

We continue our drive towards the summit first stopping at a viewing area halfway there.

 

 

The sun was getting lower on the horizon.

 

 

Our guide tells us the story of Pele and Maui, both gods in Hawaiian culture.  Pele is the goddess of volcanoes and fire and the creator of the Hawaiian Islands.  Maui was responsible for the mountains rising from the ocean floor.  

 

 

This area includes a viewing platform for a view into the crater behind the summit.

 

 

 

Cinder cones were easy to spot on the crater floor.  These are from past eruptions.  Scientists believe Haleakalā has erupted at least 7 times over the past 1,000 years and they predict she will erupt again at some point.

 

 

From here we proceeded to the summit.

 

 

Another view of the crater from the visitor's center at the summit.

 

 

Not quite sunset yet the sun popped behind a cloud.  Looking closely you can see the shoreline of Maui before us.

 

[twangster]

Finally it was time for the main event.

 

 

As the sun dropped lower it reappeared from behind the clouds.

 

 

 

 

 

It was pretty magical and soulful.  

 

 

With that it was time to regain feeling in my frozen fingers so we boarded our bus for the drive to our restaurant just over an hour away. 

[twangster]

The magical views weren't done with us.  The drive back down from the summit was pretty special as well.

 

 

 

We re-entered the cloud layer and continued our descent towards sea level.

[twangster]

Dinner was included as part of the Haleakalā Summit Sunset excursion but we were all pretty tired by the time we reached the restaurant around 8pm.  We powered through dinner and reboarded the bus for a 35 minute drive back to the port.  

 

Arriving at 9:45pm there was quite a line for the tender back to the ship.  Other excursions were also returning.  This was approaching 10pm when service went to hourly so it was an undesirable delay getting back to the ship.  This is really my only complaint for the cruise.  Knowing several excursions come back at this time of night it was poor timing to reduce the frequency of tender boats at this small peak in demand. 

 

They were super focused on getting people to shore between 6am and 7am when we first arrived but perhaps they should have held some crew in reserve and had them work later when they knew excursions would be returning.  

[twangster]

Day 9 - Lahaina, Maui

 

Still in Lahaina with nothing but a few hours sleep between excursions it was soon time to meet my excursions.  This time with an early morning excursion we met in the theater on board and were escorted down as a group to a tender.

 

There is a narrow channel through the reef with surfers on both sides.  Here they are waiting to ride the next good swell as our tender made its way through the reef.  

 

 

 

Today's excursion is Molokini Zodiak Snorkeling.  Our group of 51 boarded a bus for a 25 minute drive to a marina where we were divided into two groups. Our boat held 30 while the other boat could only hold 21. 

 

 

The other boat.

 

 

Our Captain's plan was to head down the coast towards the Southern part of the island but a late summer South swell was causing rough surf so the waters were too rough to snorkel. 

 

 

 

 

We did see some turtles though.  

 

 

 

With snorkeling prospects low we headed over to the Molokini crater.

 

Approaching from the back side the crater walls with waves breaking against them were quite breathtaking.

 

 

 

 

 

Coming around to the front side of the crater you can see that the wall of the crater on this side is low into the ocean so you boat right into the crater itself.

 

 

It was a popular spot for boat trips today.

 

 

 

 

The walls of the crater really show the layers that formed it over time.

 

 

 

This would be our snorkel spot today, well sheltered from the wind.

[twangster]

Beautiful water with depths around 17' that slope up to the walls teaming with fish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Very different reef with more brain coral and fewer sea fans or tubes compared to Caribbean snorkeling.

 

 

 

 

 

The water was an amazing blue color.  

[twangster]

After 45 minutes in the water we were given some turkey wraps, chips and water or local fruit juices.  We were getting ready to leave when a pair of dolphins visited.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the ride back to Maui more dolphins came by.

 

 

 

 

Pretty cool seeing them up close like this.

[twangster]

Back to the marina for our waiting bus and the ride back to Lahaina.  We were all glad to see short tender lines this time.

 

 

More local surfers out looking for that perfect wave as our tender made its way out through the channel into deeper water.

 

 

[twangster]

Day 9 - Sunset

 

With our departure getting closer, the clouds are retreating.

 

 

We've been very fortunate with our sunsets on this cruise.

 

 

 

[twangster]

Day 10 - Kailua-Kona

 

Up early for arrival at our final port of call on this cruise.  I've never been to the big island of Hawaii before.

 

 

 

Also a tender port and our excursion met again in the theater before being escorted to a tender shortly after 7:30am.  Today's excursion is a full day tour called Hawaii Volcanoes National Park - Kahuku Unit booked through Royal.

 

 

The harbor area for tenders is a short ride without the narrow channel that Lahaina has.  This made for a faster tender process.

 

 

 

Our group had around 9 in our bus and there were 5 smaller shuttle like buses used for all participants.  On the way to our first stop we had a 25 minute drive.  As we got closer the roads went from highways to smaller two lane roads.  Interesting tree along the way that has grown in a full loop.

 

 

The big island clearly shows that this island is a volcano.  While all of the Hawaiian islands are born from volcanoes you feel it more on the big island.  As our guide and driver put it, you were on an active volcano the moment you stepped off the tender.  Lush and tropical in places contrasted with areas that have been wiped clean of any vegetation by a lava flow at some point in the last several hundred or thousands of years.

[twangster]

Our first stop is at The Painted Church.

 

In the early days of missionaries coming to Hawaii they were faced with either local native Hawaiian or immigrant workers few if any of which spoke english.  To get the message across this church resorted to paintings to help convey the message they were spreading.

 

 

 

 

It has been observed that the palm fronds on the ceiling are painted brown in one direction and green in the other.  The message being follow Christ forward where there is life but if you don't the other direction is death.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[twangster]

Our next stop was at Bay View Farms where among other things they have 10 acres of coffee trees.  If anyone is a die hard coffee lover they've probably heard of Kona coffee.

 

 

Our driver and guide Dastan talking about the process of picking coffee cherries and the tree itself.  They have to be picked by hand and it's a lot of work for little pay.

 

 

The farm has other crops also planted.

 

 

 

 

 

While the Papaya and Pineapple are nice, this stop is all about coffee.

 

 

 

 

 

Coffee cherries have to be picked when they are red, not before and not long after they have turned color.

 

 

We were welcomed to sample a medium and dark roast variety of their coffee.

 

 

 

 

 

The farm has beautiful grounds with plenty to see.

 

 

 

We were warned when buying Kona coffee to avoid anything that said "blend" but insist on 100% Kona coffee.  A blend could have just 1 or 2 Kona beans and the rest something else where as 100% Kona coffee is just that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Very interesting stop and of course I had to buy some Kona coffee right from the source.

[twangster]

The tour continues with our first sightings of old lava flows.  Not the frozen variety found on the ship.

 

Driving along the highway everything looks normal then you come across a barren section of land where it looks like someone has tilled the land but really it's a lava flow from decades or hundreds of years ago.  In some cases plant life is starting to make roots.

 

 

The brown area may look like dirt but it isn't.  It's more lava rock.

 

 

There are three predominant types of lava found on Hawaii.  Most of this is an example of aa lava, a very fast moving form that causes the flow to crack and break into pieces.

 

 

This is the big island.  The whole island was like this once but in areas that haven't received new flows a soil has formed over hundreds or thousands of years.  The isn't soil very deep though and lava rock like you see here is never far from the surface.  That makes it hard for trees to take root or to plant electric poles like this one.   This is an example of pahoehoe lava and it moves slower allowing a skin to form that protects the molten lava within so it doesn't crack in the same manner as aa lava.

 

 

The side of the lava exposed to air oxidized and became the porous lava rock we use in our BBQ grills while the lava flow further from the surface cools at a different rate that often causes it to crack and splinter.  

 

 

Note the brown lava rock versus the black lava rock.  More on that later.

 

 

The Southernmost point in the US in the distance.

 

 

 

To give you an idea how slowly plant growth comes back there are three lava flows in this area.  The oldest flow is brown in color now because of the high iron content.  It basically rusts over time turning the lava rock into a color that looks like soil.  It's not soil though, just more lava rock.  

 

 

The brown lava rock is believed to be from a flow between 750 and 1,500 years ago.  The darker "newer" lava flow is from 1907.

 

 

Note there are no trees on the darker flow, only the 1,000 year old lava has plant life.

 

 

 

 

This one species of tree has adapted to life on lava and it produces an enzyme that can break down the lava rock and allow its root to penetrate the rock.  The tree and the red flower that blooms on them have a storied beginning in Hawaiian folklore.  More on that later.

 

 

This lava flow rock is very sharp.  If you fell down it would hurt and probably cut you.  This is what the native population had to deal with prior to modern times.  No roads, no cars but to navigate Hawaii the native population had to deal with navigating across these types of flows all over the island for hundreds of years.  

[twangster]

Next stop was at one of many National Parks on the island, this one is the Kahuku Unit.  

 

 

Just to set expectations, there are no active eruptions or lava flows currently.  This isn't a site where you will look down into an active volcano or walk near hot, red molten lava flows.  Much of the Volcano National Park remains closed after the 2018 eruption of Kīlauea caldera.  The Kahuku unit is far enough South of the area that erupted that it can remain open.

 

Knowing how the island is entirely volcanic in origin and how long it takes plant life to grow it's amazing to see an abundance of plant life anywhere on the island.

 

 

Our bus takes us to the site of am 1868 lava flow that produced tubes.  Lava tubes are produced when slow moving flows begin to cool on the surface while the molten lava continues to flow below the surface.    

 

 

This results in a skin or tube like structure that hardens and becomes solid while the molten lava continues to flow eventually draining out of the tube leaving large cave like cavities.  

 

 

In some cases these can be large enough to walk into or in this area to live in.  Historically the native Hawaiian tribes were somewhat a hostile people often at war with other tribes.  Small battles resulted in some winners and some losers.  Warriors defeated in battle would take refuge in these tubes in shame of losing a battle.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a marker setup by natives that sometime ago came in search of their ancestors.  Finding tubes that displayed signs of life these markers were a means to come back year after year to pay tribute to ancestors in a constantly changing island topography.  Hawaii is home to an average of 84 earthquakes annually since it resides on fault lines.  Between new lava flows and earthquakes areas like this can change overtime so the markers help them to return to places that have special meaning to them. 

 

 

There is one tree that is critical in the lifecycle of plant growth on lava.  The Ohia tree has special enzymes that can break down lava and allow it's root to penetrate.  Over time (hundreds of years) and with enough trees an area can develop a soil that allows other plants to begin their life cycle.  

 

The legend of the Ohia tree is founded in Hawaiian folklore.  It is said the Pele, the goddess and fire and volcanoes met a warrior named Ohia that she wanted to marry.  Ohia had already pledged his love to Lehua.  Pele was so enraged by his refusal she turned the warrior into a tree and stuck him into the lava.  Lehue was so distraught that other gods took pity on her and turned her into a flower on the Ohia tree so that the lovers could eternally be joined together.     

 

 

It is said that if anyone plucks the red flower from the Ohia tree it will rain that day as you are separating the lovers, Lehue and Ohia.

 

 

The flower is loaded with seeds that winds will spread allowing more Ohia trees to seed and take root.

 

 

 

It's not hard to imagine this back in 1868 as molten laving slow flowing down off this hilltop towards the sea.

 

 

 

High in iron the lava is literally rusting turning a rust brown color in the process.

 

 

This wall was built to separate and define the boundary between two native tribes in the late 1800's.   

 

[twangster]

The next significant feature of the park we visited was the Pu’u o Lokuana Cinder Cone. 

 

Standing on the rim along the highest point looking back into the bowl of the cone.

 

 

A trail leads down into the cinder cone itself.  

 

 

My fellow guests help to define the scale of the cone.  

 

 

It's pretty amazing to think think was at one time a volcanic vent spewing lava.

 

 

 

 

During WWII there was a secret radar station located here, the remnants of which are hard to spot now in the growth.

 

 

Looking over the landscape you appreciate how thousands of years have developed these lush and tropical rolling hills.

 

[twangster]

Back into our bus we headed towards the coast. 

 

Lava flows generally flow down hill and our driver tells us of the occasional holes that open up in the roads around Hawaii.  Like sink holes sometimes a cavity is created or a lava tube hidden deeper below the surface opens up resulting in a collapse of the road.  We crossed over a couple such spots where they created a temporary bridge over such an opening while they work to rebuild the main road.

 

 

Another bird unique to Hawaii is the Nēnē.  They are state bird of Hawaii.

 

 

It is believed these are a variation or evolution from the Canadian Goose arriving around 500,000 years ago being blown off course during a migration.  They have evolved by growing small talons on their feet and other adaptations over time  to suit Hawaii.  It's believed in the 1800's there were as many as 25,000 but those numbers dwindled to around 30 in 1952.  Conservation, breeding, protection and re-introduction has brought that number up to around 2,500 today.  

 

[twangster]

Our next stop was Punalu'u Beach or Black Sand Beach as it is sometimes called.

 

 

Molten lava reaching the ocean would explode hitting the cool water breaking into small pieces.  Wave action over time further broke the lava down into black sand. 

 

 

The beach is frequented by Hawksbill and Green Sea Turtles which are protected.  Signs warn people to stay back at least 30' with stiff penalties for anyone who approaches or touches a turtle.  A recent visitor left a trail in the sand when they came up to bask in the sun on the black sand.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The stark contrast of blue sky and water against the black lava and sand made for breathtaking scenery that looks so much better in real life compared to these feeble pictures.

 

 

 

 

Lots of other wildlife is on hand as well resting in the branches.

 

 

It doesn't take very much imagination to picture molten flowing lava flows slowly creeping towards and into the ocean.

 

 

 

 

 

This would also be our lunch stop where they brought out sandwiches, chips and soft drinks for us.

 

We had one more stop on this tour.  A bakery used to be located here at the beach but it became so famous the small beach parking area and roads were overtaken with traffic to the bakery so they moved it closer to a nearby village.

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Our last stop is the Southernmost Bakery in the USA.

 

 

 

Who can resist the smell of freshly baked goods?

 

 

 

 

Our last stop and restroom break before the ~90 minute drive back to Kona.  

[twangster]

This was pretty much a full day excursion arriving back in port 30 minutes prior to the last tender back to the ship.

 

Looking back it was very informative and I feel like I know so much more about the volcanoes of Hawaii but also how life has evolved here over time.  We covered a lot on this excursion covering the early religion introduced by the missionaries, a stop for some famous Kona coffee,  a lot of lava and volcano knowledge, a beautiful beach with unique black sand and the world famous Southernmost bakery.

 

The people of the big island were very friendly and thankful for our visit.  Even away from Kona the news of the biggest cruise ship to ever visit the state coming to call on Hawai'i was well known across the island.  I could definitely see myself coming back to Hawai'i (the big island, not meaning the state in general). 

 

Back in Kona at the harbor it was time to board a tender and head back to the ship.

 

 

 

 

After a shower and a few happy hour drinks it was time for yet another beautiful Hawaiian sunset as we began to sail away.

 

 

 

Yikes, time for that ugly word.  Packing.  

 

Next stop Honolulu.  

[twangster]

Day 11 - Honolulu

 

Up early the lights of Waikiki tell the story of how the island of Oahu or at least this Southern area is very different compared to the other islands.  It's basically a big city like feeling.

 

 

Amazing sunrise to start my last day on the ship.  

 

 

Up to the Windjammer for a last breakfast before debarking. 

 

A view over to the famous Diamond Head peak and the hotels of Waikiki in the distance to the left.

 

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Our progress back to Oahu somewhat in the middle of the Hawaiian island chain.

 

 

Debarking was super easy.  Just walk off.  They scan your SeaPass card one last time and from there you follow the flow and exit the terminal.  We pre-cleared US customs and immigration in Vancouver so none of that was needed here since all of our stops after that were in the US.

 

The port is a quick ride share away from HNL airport.  Almost as convenient as Port Everglades.  

 

 

 

Signs direct you to the ride share pickup area a short walk past the taxi stand area. 

 

[twangster]

Cruise Summary

 

This was a bucket list cruise for me and I am so glad I did it.  Like my first time to Alaska I suspect this may be repeated in the future.  

 

The newer O3b internet platform worked great over the length of the cruise.  

 

Ovation of the Seas once again did not disappoint.  

 

The sea days flew past and the three port days in a row including an overnight stop made the rest of cruise very enjoyable.  Debarking in Honolulu was a breeze.  I'm glad we had a day in Seattle to visit as a port of call and not simply as an embarkation/debarkation city.

 

Cruising to Hawaii is very different compared to cruising in the Caribbean, in a very good way.  The ports are very interesting with a lot to choose from.

 

I picked my excursions carefully and watched some of them fill up and become unavailable so I'm glad I booked them when I did and saved quite a bit of money by watching for sales as the months went by.  

 

The tendering process was mostly a pretty good experience other than that one night coming back late when there was a wait.  Still it was quite impressive to see them perform such a large tendering operation as efficiently as they did.  I suspect some pain from the first time around in May led to some lesson learned and adjustments made that went a long way to it going as well as it did.

 

I'm torn between picking a smaller ship next time to Hawaii to gain a few more ports that only smaller ships can visit or repeat on Ovation.     

 

I wish I could have stayed on for the next cruise to Sydney but that will have to wait for another year.  

 

I hope you enjoyed following along and I thank you for viewing.

[ShazM]

You should come down to Sydney and visit us here. I enjoy reading your reviews and the photographs are fantastic. Both Radiance and Ovation are on their way. Radiance is nearing New Zealand and they have had 10 metre waves today. Ovation has turned around and is on her way back to Honolulu for a serious medical emergency, think they had somewhere around 8 hours travel time to get back. Apparently they were going to go to the big island but the passenger is too ill and they will get to Honolulu at 1.00am their time. We are doing the transpacific from Sydney in April so can't wait as we haven't done one before.

[TPCRUISER2]

Awesome Pictures and Review! Thanks for taking us along!

[JBSteelerfan]

Great pictures!!  Thanks for taking the time to share.  We won't be on Ovation for another year and a half, but certainly looking forward to it.

 

You should certainly try Radiance, or whatever ship is on the itinerary, between HNL and YVR.  Did Radiance this past May and it was a great cruise!  Certainly a different experience from Ovation size.