Five reasons to go to Hawaii

There were five things we wanted to experience in Hawaii.  Taking a cruise on the “Pride of America” seemed a good way to see more than one island and have a taste of the variety Hawaii has to offer.

John wanted to go to legendary Pearl Harbor.  We did this on the second day of our eleven day “vacation”.   Avoiding the tours we caught the local bus to the Arizona Memorial.  The whole complex is free to explore, and includes a moving video, a launch trip to the monument and a short time of contemplation above the Arizona  where most disturbingly, small droplets of oil  bubble to the surface. The ship was full of oil when it went down and is still leaking 69 years later.  We opted to visit the USS Missouri. Entrance cost was $20 each.  We enjoyed a mango smoothie in a World War 2 Nissen Hut Cafeteria before linking up with a tour of the warship.  This took over an hour with a guide and afterwards on we spent time on our own.  We saw the Peace Document signed in Tokyo Bay at the end of the war, the dent in the railing where the Kamakasi Pilot hit the ship while modern day marines practiced their war cries and sang “Anchors Away”.

We both liked the sound of the cycle trip from the top of a volcano to the beach.  This we did on the fourth day of our holiday.  The ship berthed at Maui for two nights.  On the second day we were out of bed at 5.40 and waiting at the port gates at 7.00am where we were picked up by Mountain Riders, taken to their headquarters and given coffee and a muffin.  What lay ahead was a 46 km bike ride down Mt Haleakala, a dormant volcano 3,048 metres high.  It was mostly downhill which sounds easy but it is a winding, twisting road reminiscent of Macquarie Pass. Fortunately we had perfect weather and I lived to tell the tale.  They put the inexperienced riders like me at the front and the bigger, experienced people at the back.  The pressure was on to keep up the pace of 29 to 40 KMH. We arrived at the sea at Pa'ia and sat on the beach to cool down and reflect on the experience.

One of John’s passions has been following in the footsteps of James Cook so a visit to the place where he was killed was a must. Once on the jetty at Kona on Big Island we spoke to the woman at the Information Booth about seeing the Captain Cook Memorial.  She said there was no easy way to get there except by boat.  Road access is a poor option as it involves a long, hot and difficult walk at the end.  There were boat tours with snorkeling in the area but they were expensive.  She suggested we go with a private tour and pointed to a big man in a blue shirt called Ken.  Shortly after his wife MaryLou arrived and between them they said we could go on a kayak ride to the memorial as part of a tour of the area.  They just needed two more people.  We tried to convince a few others from the ship but most of them said they didn’t fancy a kayak ride.  Finally a young couple from Tampa, Florida, agreed to go with us.  Cost was $45 a head plus $20 each for the kayak hire.

The kayaks, owned by a lady called Regina who, when she smiled, showed her missing front teeth, were rather old, as were the lifejackets. We had the seats exchanged for some more comfortable ones (that actually had a seat in them), got changed into our swimmers and soon were on the water of Kealakekua Bay. We both laughed at the bung in the bow made from a piece of rolled up paper.  We were told it would take 45 minutes to reach the memorial so we paddled hard, knowing that the other couple might be waiting for us.  They hired a kayak too but went to an area not far from where we launched to watch the spinning dolphins.

The paddle went well and we arrived in a rocky area near the memorial. We had to scramble through some bushes before we found the path but from then on it was straight forward.  The memorial was erected 100 years after Cook’s demise and is on a small piece of British soil. I stood there and imagined him coming to this spot and the conflict that resulted in his death.

The water was clear and clean and there was time for a short swim in amongst the yellow fish before we started paddling back. 

Ever since I saw Jurassic Park with my children the idea of flying by helicopter over the “Jurassic Waterfall” was an unfulfilled fantasy.  Now we were on the island of Kauaii it became a reality. Once at the airfield we met the other people who were to fly with us.  There was an Englishman from Milton Keynes, newlyweds from Texas and another man from Florida.

It was a small helicopter with no spare room but I had a large window beside me all the way to the floor.  We had uninflated lifejackets around our middles ready for action should something go wrong and were given noise cancelling Bose headphones to wear.  Lift off was quiet and gentle.

As we flew over Hanapepe Valley music played in the headphones and I just sat there with my mouth open in amazement as I looked at the serrated ridges below me.  Jurassic Park Falls came up (correctly known as Mana Waiapuna) and I almost wished I’d paid the extra $100 a head to land there.  Canyon after canyon appeared.  First Olokele and then Waimea Canyon, named the Grand Canyon of the Pacific by Mark Twain.  We were all oohing and aahing but then the  Na’pali Coast appeared. Perfect yellow sand beaches with no access other than by water were occasionally joined by rock tunnels to the next beach.  We could see small flotillas of kayaks gathered near some of the beaches.  We flew over Hanalei Bay where South Pacific was filmed.  By this time I thought the best was over but we had even more spectacular sights to come.  The crowning glory was Mt Waialeale (try to pronounce that!), the wettest spot on earth with 450 to 500 inches of rain a year.  Fortunately it wasn’t raining when we were there.  We hovered in the centre of a crater with 5000 foot walls and 3000 foot waterfalls.  This is a time where the word “awesome” is just right.  It wasn’t all over yet.  We flew over spectacular Wailna Falls which apparently have been used for some recent television production. I didn’t want it to stop but it did after an hour of spellbinding scenery.

 What was the fifth experience you might be asking?  Well we wanted to try another cruise.  The last on we did was on our honeymoon in 1972.  We had a tiny, dark cabin in the bowels of the old Oriana.  The sea was rough, the pools were closed and many passengers were sick.  This cruise could not have been more different.  For one thing, we were able to go ashore every day, but it was almost a pity to do so as the Pride of America was delightful in every way, from our comfortable cabin with balcony, the numerous quality restaurants and the great entertainment each evening.  From our balcony we saw lava pouring into the sea on Big Island and the impressive Na’pali Coast of Kauaii

I haven’t even touched on all our other experiences. You’ll just have to go to Hawaii yourself and find out what else there is to do.  I assure you that you won’t be bored.

Travel Notes

We flew with Jetstar, stayed at the Coconut Wiaikiki Hotel and Waikiki Shore Apartments on Oahu, booked our cruise directly with NCL, rode down the volcano with Mountain Riders, flew over Kauaii with Island Helicopters and found the Captain Cook Memorial with MaryLou Island Tours in Kona.