Day 2 of our cruise from Vancouver to Hawaii and the weather was bleak and rough. It was a book and red wine kinda day, nice and relaxing. The ship’s stabilisers were doing their job as there was quite a big ocean swell going on. Visibility was probably 30-50 metres! The show for the night had the ship rocking and we had a fun game of music trivia with some Poms on the cruise. Another super fun thing we did was a “silent disco”. We laughed so much as we watched everyone dancing to different music. Ruthie made me take off my headphones at one point and that was even funnier watching everyone with the only noise being that of the shuffling of feet and an occasional chorus sung aloud! Note that we do have 6 days at sea before land!

I woke up to the Captain over the intercom announcing we had arrived in Hilo, Hawaii. Six days at sea and I think our bodies had gone into travel detox. After 17 weeks, we no longer had to think about how we were getting from one place to another or booking accommodation. Our bags were totally unpacked and our winter gear (including the famous puffer jackets) were tucked away under the bed but we’ve been warned we’ll need them again in Melbourne. We were being well fed and watered. The only decision we had to make was whether to attend trivia, stretch or dance class or decide on the early or late show! We enjoyed the destination talks on board too. So much so that Ruthie walked up to a couple and said to this guy “You know if you were my teacher in school, I would’ve learned so much more!” I looked at her and then doubled over with laughter. She thought he was the marine biologist giving all the onboard information when he was in fact some random guy. The last I heard, he was saying to his wife,” but honey, honestly, I’ve never met that woman before in my life!”

We have been to Hilo before and toured the volcano national park in 2013 so opted not to go and visit Kilauea, an active volcano which recently erupted in 2018. Instead we walked downtown and explored the Bay Area which included the beautiful Japanese lush green botanical Lili’uokalani Gardens.

For old time sakes we visited The Ponds, a bar which overlooks a shimmering pond surrounded by rain forest, which we had visited in 2013. It was nice knowing the ship was staying in port overnight so there was no pressure to get back. Of course, this was also a little dangerous as we got caught up with the people and culture. There were certainly a few shakas displayed on the way back to the ship.

The next day we walked the other way and realised we had been to Richardson Black Sand Beach before. Also Carlsmith Beach & Lagoons but it was nice saying hello to our friends, the green sea turtles (or Honu as they’re known in Hawaii). They had grown since the last time we saw them. They were huge!

It was April 25, ANZAC Day. Even though the Australians and New Zealanders were less than 1% of the guests, the ship put on an ANZAC ceremony. We all felt very humbled and grateful that we were able to commemorate and remember those that sacrificed their lives for our freedom. Out of 2800 guests aboard, there were only about 30 Aussies and Kiwis. So what are the chances we meet a couple from Inverloch! Yes Martin and Karen Coyne are on the same ship as us. We didn’t actually know each other but so many acquaintances in common. That night the ship was doing a sail by of the Kilauea volcano as well as having a 9th birthday party on the pool deck. Unfortunately the volcano hasn’t been active for six months so there was nothing to see (lucky we saw it in 2013) but the party was going off until a sudden downpour dampened everyone’s spirit. We scampered like drowned rats back to our cabin for the night.

The ship sailed overnight to the other side of the island and the next morning we caught tenders to the town of Kona. Again we wandered the streets, taking in the historical landmarks. Captain Cook landed in Kealakekua Bay here in 1779, said to be the first westerner to land here and was killed a month later in a conflict with the Hawaiians. Luckily he didn’t land here first and had discovered Australia 9 years earlier. King Kamehameha loved this area so much that he built Hulile’e palace which is now open to the public. Kona was a popular retreat for Hawaiian royalty. The King lived out his later life here too. We could see why. We learnt that the Hawaiian alphabet only uses 12 letters consisting of 5 vowels and 7 consonants! We now notice all Hawaiian names consist of a combination of hklmnpw and aeiou!

The next morning we were anchored in Maui and took a tender boat to shore. It was very “neat” navigating the waves into the harbour alongside all the surfers. Some of them looked no bigger than our 3 year old grandson Spencer and they could all stand up and cut in and out on their surf boards. Our excursion took us along the pristine coast and out to sea in a rigid hull zodiac. Interestingly we needed to navigate the waves at the Ma’alaea Harbour too and were told that is where the fastest surfable waves in the world are. We snorkelled at the Molokini Crater. One side has eroded and let the ocean in and so is abundant with sea life and coral reefs. The crater had 150 metre drop beneath the ocean. There’s nothing like floating like a cork in the ocean and seeing what’s underneath. Our next stop took us swimming with the green sea turtles. It was a day to remember. Maui is wowie!