Hawaii - Day Eight (The Recovery)

Needless to say, after the kayaking trip earlier in the day we were in desperate need of some rest and relaxation. After taking long hot showers and changing into some not-so-muddy clothes we headed off to Pink's Champagne Bar. We met up with friends and ended up playing a music and movie trivia game that was going on. (photo by Noreen Petty)
We tried some of the infused vodka's the bar made. We loved the bartender there who would make any combination of drink we asked for! (photo by Noreen Petty)
Here we are playing the trivia game. It was really hard! The guy would play some music from a movie and we'd have to answer all sorts of questions about it. The cool thing is, we won!!!
Later that evening we had reservations for the Teppanyaki restaurant. We were thrilled to see almost everyone in the room was a consultant! It was like a big party! (photo by Michelle Nist)
While you waited for them to start you could make origami objects! (photo by Michelle Nist)
You can tell we were so happy just to be someplace warm and dry! (photo by Michelle Nist)
At Teppanyaki, you get your own chef who does all sorts of tricks and entertaining while making your meal. (photo by Michelle Nist)
One of the things we had to do was to try and catch cooked egg in our mouths. I'm happy to report I was able to do it! Despite the surprises of the day, it was my favorite day of the trip. (photo by Michelle Nist)

Hawaii - Day Eight

Kauai is definitely the island (that I visited) that seemed most like "Hawaii" to me. As we came into port I took pictures and, you can see, it's nothing but green everywhere.

This was the day we'd been looking for, a kayak excursion with a little stroll through the rainforest to see a beautiful "forbidden" waterfall. We were prepared with our sunscreen and old shoes and excitement! I believe there were more than 60 Close to my Heart people who signed up for this excursion. (photo by Noreen Petty)

So, we were brought to the excursion by a bus, we gathered out lunches, waterproof packs and we were given a few kayaking instructions and we were off! (photo by Rachel Ventura)

The scenery was gorgeous the whole way but it took a lot of concentration to stay balanced in the boat and to row upstream against a very strong wind. We were told it was 2 1/4 miles and it felt like it! (photo by Rachel Ventura)

Once we got to the rainforest we were given the news that it had rained over 30 inches in one day before we got there and it would be muddy and we might not actually be able to go all the way to the waterfall depending on the conditions. (photo by Michelle Nist)

So off we went, still happy and excited for the adventure. Then we came to the river. It was pretty much overflowing it's banks and moving very fast. (photo by Noreen Petty)

Here we are, crossing the river using a rope they'd strung across it. I'm about to reach for a friend's hand and I slipped, having nothing but roots and vines to steady me up the muddy bank.
(photo by Michelle Nist)
And here is what I looked like immediately afterwards, wet to the waist and muddy everywhere.
(photo by Michelle Nist)
The actual hike was through deep mud and along what I felt were dangerous banks where one slip would result in someone going down into the rushing river. (photo by Noreen Petty)

We were knee deep in mud. You could try to go around it but we found that going right through resulted in less falling. (photo by Noreen Petty)

We tried to keep a good attitude but it wasn't easy. Our guide was not forthcoming with any information on how long the hike would be. (photo by Noreen Petty)

Some people used makeshift walking sticks to try and stay up while tromping through mud that tried to suck your shoes off your feet. Some people gave up and walked barefoot through the rainforest. (photo by Noreen Petty)

This was the waterfall we waited to see but, honestly, we were too irritated and tired to really enjoy it plus we weren't supposed to go into it because it was so strong from all the rain. Our hike which our guide eventually claimed took only 15 minutes actually took over an hour. (photo by Noreen Petty)

Another thing that kind of ruined the beauty of the waterfall was that we knew we now had to go back the same way. Right before this picture was taken, what I feel was inevitable happened. One of the consultants had someone's foot slip onto her and she dislocated her elbow. She had to be carried down the slippery bank to a kayak and taken to the hospital. Once we were finally back to the kayaks we were hoping for an easy paddle back to the bus but the wind had changed and was blowing against us the whole way. Near the end of the kayak route I was in near tears (and I consider myself pretty adventurous).

Despite everything most of the consultants agree this was the most interesting day of the cruise. We will talk about it for years and we hear they are even making a ribbon for us "survivors" for convention!

What????

Okay, this is not Survivor but it felt like it. Stay tuned tomorrow to find out what this photo was all about! (photo by Michelle Nist)

Hawaii - The Presents

Every day on the cruise ship gifts were delivered from Close to my Heart, each with a poem! Here's the line up.

Hawaii - Day Seven

Now we come to my favorite place in Hawaii, Kona. This was the Hawaii I'd always seen on television and in movies, no George Clooney wasn't there but a cute little town with local shops, a palace, and lots and lots of plants and greenery were what I had been looking for. We rode from the ship to the island on a life boat because the water around Kona is too shallow for the ship to dock. Living not far from a beach myself, I love anything that reminds me of a beach town and this house caught my eye almost as soon as we got off the ship.

The Hulihe'e Palace is one of the first things you see when you get into Kona. It was home to Governor Kuakini, whom it seems was considered royalty because his wife was actually a princess. We took the tour of the place but you can see the pictures here.
The grounds were the best part, the scene out on the back porch was a beautiful ocean view.
We could see our ship right off the coast, it looked so huge from far away.
The town ran along the coast of Kona, I was so thrilled to be able to see the water from where I was walking.
The orchid gardens weren't the only place to see pretty flowers. They were everywhere in Hawaii.
In every color....
There was a small beach in Kona, obviously man-made but renting an umbrella and two chairs was cheap so we decided to lay out. My husband got quite a burn that bothered him for the rest of the trip. I safely stayed under the umbrella. Just up the street you could rent surfboards!
The water was the most beautiful color, the camera couldn't capture it but I tried.

We couldn't resist getting another shave ice while in Kona. This guy was funny. I know it looks huge here but he works on shaping it to a more reasonable size just like you'd pack a snowball. (photo by Chris Hill)

Shave ice can have ice cream in the middle, we went with macadamia nut ice cream inside. (photo by Chris Hill)

The flavors were awesome and there were so many of them. Over the top you definitely want to order sweetened condensed milk too! (photo by Rachel Ventura)

We had to leave Kona early for an afternoon departure of the ship. I could have stayed there all day.

When we returned to the ship there was another towel sculpture on our bed! What fun!
I also received yet another gift from Close to my Heart!

We headed off to our favorite martini bar, the bartenders were lots of fun and would make any type of drink mixture we chose from their infused vodkas.
It was such a nice relaxing place, they had singers and piano players in this particular bar. We loved it.

Hawaii - Day Six

Overnight the ship sailed to Hilo, Hawaii. Having learned our lesson, we rented a car and the lady at the car rental was so helpful in showing us all the places we should see while in Hilo. She sent us first to the black sand beaches up north so that we could see tons of sea turles. We ended up running into my friend, Michelle and family at the same beach. Here's Michelle trying to catch the brief moment the sea turtles surface.
Michelle told me to take a picture of my feet against the black sand, good idea!

Not the best light that day but here are Mark and I in front of the Pacific Ocean on Hilo.

The sea turtles were everywhere. Michelle's family hadn't seen any while snorkeling so it was great to be able to see so many on this day. They would surface often but so quickly that it was hard to catch them in a photo. I did get this one though!

We left Michelle, Lil and Jennifer to continue on their tour and drove up the coast a little bit more. We came upon this beach which was really pretty.

Volcanic rock is not easy to walk on, it gets slippery when wet and is very uneven when dry too!

Next we headed to the Orchid farm, the flowers were so gorgeous. Nothing more needs to be said, just enjoy these colors!

Our next stop that day was the Mauna Loa macadamia factory. It was pretty cool, the tour was self guided and you could see directly into the factory with huge windows. Afterwards we went to have some macadamia nut ice cream at their store. We ended up bringing three boxes of macadamia nut clusters home, yum! I brought some to my team so they could have a taste of Hawaii.

We saved the best for last, a hike down a long bridge and steps to see two different waterfalls, the walk was a bit hard on the knees because there were a lot of steps to climb but worth it!

This was the Hawaii I was expecting! Greenery everywhere, unusual plants, beautiful rivers.

See all those steps! Those were just a few of the ones we had to climb.

The trees in Hawaii look like they belonged in the jungle and probably, technically, they were.

Here was the highlight of the day, the waterfalls were so tall and because they'd had a ton of rain, very powerful. Beautiful!