Unforgettable Day in Kauai

    

      Oh my goodness, what a wonderful day we had in Kauai.

We booked a helicopter tour around the island, and this was a first for Ron.

The airport is close to the ship so up and away we went.

Kauai has seven rivers and the valleys were so lush.

We flew so close to the steep mountains, it was exciting.

 I am sorry about all the pictures, I could not decide which to show you

 So many waterfalls that our helicopter got right up close to.

 The Na Pali Coast which is inaccessible except by boat or flight

 Waimea Canyon

 This one was spectacular we dropped right down into it.

 Sea Caves

 Then he took us over the North Shore and later that day we would come to this beach for a picnic.

 Over some of the farmlands

 Ron in front of our helicopter

 Then it was off for a tour up the coast to the North Shore.  This is the Kilauea Lighthouse, where we saw some Red Legged Boobies (Birds) and I asked our driver if we would see an Albatross and he said, lunch now or Albatross, ( I knew some were hungry but had to say Albatross)

 Oh even the hungry people were excited about my decision, our driver first found us a baby, the parents were off getting food. 

 Then we found an adult, now I know he looks like an oversized seagull but when he spreads his wings he is over 7 feet across.  Oh we were so lucky.

Now we stopped for a picnic lunch on the beach and were befriended by some lovely looking cardinal type birds.

There were only 10 of us and the driver brought out his guitar and we sang Hawaiian songs and then he taught us a hula dance, it was a great time.

Domi, our tour guide, we know alot about Kauai after a ride with him. Fantastic Day.

Honolulu

 Our ship arrived into Honolulu this morning  but our original plans of going snorkeling at Hanauma Bay was cancelled as the park was closed for cleaning on Tuesdays.

So here we go with Plan B

The ship docks right at the Aloha Tower and so we went to the top to have a view.

Here is a picture of our complete ship.

 Ron was of course was attracked to the first Hawaiian woman he could find, he felt she was a little cool.

 More beautiful flowers.

 We decided to learn more about the Hawaiian heritage and went to see the Iolani Palace.

 It was a very well worth tour and the palace is very beautiful, look at Rons pretty slippers.

 The statue of King Kamehameha I

After this we did a little shopping and went back to the ship for a rest.  Back out to wander and came across Honolulu's oldest bar, Smittys, so had a nice relaxing drink.

Got back to the ship for a late dinner and a movie.

Hilo

 Hawaii at last..... First views of the big island of Hawaii, we are landing in Hilo.

 Looks lovely and green but it should it is the rainy side of the island.

 A look back at our Golden Princess as we disembark.

Now everyone was busy taking excursions to the Volcano or waterfalls but Elaine got it in her mind that she wanted to find the Green Sea Turtle.  The naturalist on board said if we were lucky we could go down to Richardson beach and search.  To get there we stood at the stop sign and picked up a city bus that cost us a dollar each to go the three miles down to the beach.

And yes after a little searching she found them.  Six in total, stuck in a pool waiting for high tide to escape.

 Ron had bought a cheap little underwater camera and he just stuck in under the water and shot, wasn't he lucky.

Two of the turtles were very big and old and then there were four smaller ones.

There were some people snorkeling at Richardson Beach but it was to rough for us so we walked the three miles back along the road stopping at every beach we could find.  We had just a wonderful day.

 Lovely flowers blooming everywhere.

 The waves were starting to get very large and we loved watching them breaking on the rocks.

 This lady was from Oahu, over on holiday, I watched her paint for awhile.

Another great day in Paradise.

Days at sea and our ship

 Our first day at sea was cool but smooth and we got to check out the ship, they have just about everything you could want to do and of course the food is amazing. This ship has at least five pools and some are designated no children and due to spring break we have a few children on board.

Second day at sea was still very warm but oh so rough, so many people with sea sickness but not Ron and I, we found a bar called the Skywalk bar at the top back of the ship and you really swayed up there so no one wanted to be up there and it was so quiet we enjoyed watching the sea, read books and listened to music just about all by ourselves.

The Skywalk bar, look how quiet it is with 3500 people on board.

 This is the walkway up the Skywalk, just beautiful anyway.

Lots of evening entertainment and we were kept very busy, just loving it.

Third day cooler but then on the fourth we finally found some warmth.