Zaandam Feb 4th Hawaii review 2

[RedmondCruiser]

We had not been to Hawaii since 1972 and some things have not changed and some have. Our first stop was Hilo, on the big island. We took a shuttle into town and walked around for a few hours. Hilo is an older town that is on the windward side of the island. This means that it gets rained on more than the Kona side. We docked in Hilo and took and extended ride back to see the surroundings. I will always want to bring a banion tree back home with me but its would be too hard to get it into my suit case.

The next day we were in Maui. We tendered and the water was rough enough to make getting on the tenders a bit tricky for some. The town is a tourist delight. There are many great shops in Lahaina. Peter Max has his own personal store there where they sell only originals. What impressed me was the diversity of the stores. They were not all selling the same tourist junk. I do want to own the restaurant named “Cheese Burgers in Paradise” they had a line up to get in the whole time we were there.

We then spent two days in Honolulu. In 1972 I thought it was a concrete jungle with hotels encroaching on most of the beach. Well, its got worse. Now all the hotels are literally buried with more stores. We went through a literal maze to get into the “Royal Hawaiian”. A drink under the banion tree at the Muana Hotel is mandatory. We walked through the Reef Hotel and though it has been remodeled several times it is still a dump. What surprised me was that the international market was still there. I thought that it would have been turned into a hotel years ago. The second day we lay in the sun by the pool and enjoyed the great weather.

Now it was on to Kona. This is a tender port and we had a great time there. You have to have a lunch or a drink at the Kona Inn (may have this name wrong). It had a beautiful view of the ocean across a palm studded lawn. (best Mai Tai in Hawaii). All too soon it was back on board for the grand finale. At 10:15 we sailed by the longest active volcano in the world. At night you could see the lava that flowed all the way down the volcano. It pored into the sea with great clouds of steam It was a memorable sight.

Now it was five days at sea, with a Jones Act stop at Ensenada. All too soon we were back at San Diego and back to the world of “do your own cooking and make your own bed. Now it is time to plan our next HAL adventure.

All in all it was nine colder days at sea followed by beautiful weather in Hawaii. Would I do it again ? NO. I like more warm weather and less sea days. Our next cruise will either be another Panama Canal trip or two 10 day Caribbean back to backs.