Scary On

Our last day in Hawaii. Part of us wanting to stay in the Aloha State for ever while another side of us wanted to be home! We choose to carry our luggage out and not take part in the ship’s disembarkment schedule. We were off by 8am and on our Thrifty car rental pretty soon.

Our first stop was Honolulu’s famed Chinatown. Teaming with activity and exotic food and fruits this place was a treat. We treated ourselves to some Chinese pastries and Jackfruit smoothies.. yummy! V also got her much wanted floral lei… sweet smelling and really cheap in Chinatown!

We also visited the only royal palace in US. After visiting the pretty and grand ones in India and Europe this was a let down!

Off we went towards Oahu’s North Shore. A quick stop at the over-priced Dole Plantation ended up with a ultra-sized Pineapple Split and a walk through the world’s biggest maze! A fun place and more suited for kids in my opinion! But a sure tourist trap! We were lucky to watch a few minutes from the finals of the Billabong surf competition along the pipeline. The pipeline is the hollowest and biggest of its kind in the world and has surfers from all over trying their best to ride it. For people with no knowledge about surfing it was kind of strange to watch it. It was like watching a foreign movie with no sub-titles! Fun though!

We had to stop for shave ice at Haleiwa. Two of the best places for shave ice in Hawaii are right next to each other. Each with a big line! We stopped at Atikos just coz the line was smaller and it was amazing. The ice melts in your mouth, smooth as silk unlike anything else we had on our trip! For a bit of drama/adventure try adding beans at the bottom of your shave ice. It is just plain beans (like black beans) boiled and added. Yes it is strange to imagine boiled beans in shave ice but the contrast is amazing and yummy!

After a pit stop we were back on the road, a bit tired and ready to head back home! We drove along just oohing and aahing at the beauty! It was a nice drive and by 6pm we were back in Honolulu. We headed to the Ward Center Stores just to spend some time! Window shopping, net browsing and a sub later we were ready to return to the airport and catch our flight home.

Delta flight from Honolulu to LA was a breeze. We were asleep before takeoff! But arriving at LA we realized our Houston flight was delayed by over an hour and they were not able to fit us in an earlier flight! We waited in LA and then reached Houston only to realize, one of our suitcases was missing. Well it really just had dirty laundry and some memorabilia. Afterwards we realized our suitcase (just 1 of the 3) went to Salt Lake City from Honolulu! Don’t ask me how they did it! We got the baggage the next day. So it was fine!

And thus ended our trip. We nursed a fit of coughing and runny nose for nearly a week after that and slowly got into the Christmas and New Year celebrations!

And as they say, what happens in Hawaii stays with you forever! We’ll cherish this trip a lot and have memories and photos to last a lifetime and more!

This morning we sailed into Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii. We had booked a snorkeling excursion with Sea Quest Excursions. This was the only port on this trip where we had to take a tender boat to reach the shore.

Since we were on the first morning excursion we had to be on the first tender from the ship and we were there in no time. The snorkeling excursion began from the Keauhou Bay and we took a free shuttle in a trolley aka matu vandi (as named by baby bro).

We were soon in an inflatable raft slicing through the water. The trip by itself was an adventure. It was like being on a water roller coaster and we were hanging on to our dear lives. The coastline filled with numerous sea caves and amazing beauty. Zipping along the pristine clear waters we were rewarding with sightings of the winter time Hawaii visitors – the humpback whales from the cold Arctic waters. There is a certain amount of awe as we saw these enormous creatures.

We zipped through to the Captain Cook Monument in Kealakekua Bay. The history behind it is intriguing and bloody. It raises more questions than we have answers for. The bay is a marine sanctuary for years and that this is the place where they filmed a scene for “Finding Nemo”.

We also had a chance to snorkel along the Honaunau Bay which is another historic site. Under the clear waters it is a different world. Thriving coral reefs, tropical fishes… to feast our eyes on. This is the area known for the green sea turtles – Honu. Unfortunately we did not see any.

The sea caves and lava tubes doting the coast are really fascinating and the lores and legends associated with them make it more interesting. It was a wonderful trip and another highlight of the trip. And just when we thought the trip was over we spotted the Hawaiian spinner dolphins. These were such adorable creatures and they swam just next to our raft. It took all all I can, to control myself and not try to touch these wild creatures!

It was a four hour trip and we would recommend Sea Quest for anyone who wants to enjoy the Kona Coast whether you snorkel or not. After a great trip we were back in the ship for lunch and some R&R. We enjoyed a wonderful American diner lunch at the Blue Lagoon on the ship, feasting on burgers, fries, mac n cheese… yummy!

There was always something on the ship to keep us entertained, be it lounging by the pool, taking a dip in the hot tub or playing table tennis or learning some Hawaiian crafts! It was so much fun! We were just too lazy to head back to the land and stayed on ship.

We headed to Papas Italian Kitchen for dinner and enjoyed the family style dining at Papas. Lasagnas, Fettuccines and triamisus later we were too stuffed to move out. But we had late night plans too. A visit to the spa for a Hawaiian style lomi-lomi massage for V and a date with the illusionist for the men. Both were really great and wonderful. Memories we will carry with us forever!

Our vacation was coming to an end soon. Our last port of call – Kauai soon up!