Cruise to Hawaii - Our Final Stop: Oahu (Part 1)

We made it to our 4th and final Hawaiian island stop - Oahu!

We had a nice view of Diamond Head and the big city of Honolulu from the ship.

First on the agenda was, once again, walking to the rental car shop to pick up our ride. We walked past this neat old building. I think may have been a fire station at one point in time.

Once we had our mini-van, we headed over to do the one thing we planned for the day: a visit to Pearl Harbor.  

In actuality, the official name is the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument.  

And we only saw a small portion of all there was to see.

Our first tour was of the USS Bowfin submarine.

I am always amazed at how men lived in these tiny quarters. I would have lost my mind with claustrophobia.

The view from the front of the Bowfin with the bridge to Ford Island to the right.  We never even made it to Ford Island to see the USS Oklahoma or the USS Missouri.

A view of the Arizona Memorial from the bow of the sub.

The museum was amazing and the audio tour really enhanced the experience.

As much as I enjoyed the hour or so we spent reading and looking at the displays, it was watching the kids' reactions and listening to the comments and questions they had that was really great.  

We work hard to make sure they understand that nothing in life is guaranteed or free, especially the freedoms that we enjoy in this country.  

It was an honor and a gift to be able to experience and share this part of our nation's history with them.

 

The entire national park/monument is done so well and is very well organized.

As expected, the most heart wrenching site we visited was the USS Arizona Memorial.

The distinct level of quiet and respect displayed by those on our tour was appreciated and allowed us to quietly pay our respects.

The fact that we were literally standing over the final resting place of so many who sacrificed their lives for our futures was beyond humbling.

As expected, it was a fairly emotionally charged day and we were all a little spent by the time we left.

Our next activity was to find a place to park our rental for the night.  Unfortunately, this was more difficult than we expected. We were unable to find a public lot or deck that allowed overnight parking without charging an exorbitant fee.

In the end, after driving around hot, muggy and crowded downtown Honolulu for over an hour, we decided to park along a side street at the advice of our rental car agency. The only thing that made us a little nervous about doing that was that we had been driving around city block after city block of homeless tents. 

We'd never seen anything like it, outside of a refugee or natural disaster type situation.  

This is not something they mention in the Hawaii visitor guide and it took us by surprise.  The homeless village stretched for blocks and seemed to surround the University Medical School buildings.

The car rental place assured us that, as long as we didn't leave anything in the van, the car would be fine.  So in the end, we parked overnight for free near the tent city.

We then walked a couple of blocks back to the pier where we would spend our last night on the Disney Wonder.

We were happy to be back on the ship, with the beautiful decor and the Disney tunes softly playing in all the hallways. It really does make you feel like you are away from it all.  

We were looking forward to our final night of Disney fun and then we heard an overhead announcement that went something like this:
"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, this is your Captain speaking.  I'd like to make you aware of a situation that we are monitoring regarding the Tsunami watch that has been issued for the Hawaiian Islands."

Um, WHAT?

Because of course. The one time the Hughes go to Hawaii, earthquakes and tsunamis.

It seemed that while we toured Pearl Harbor, an earthquake occurred in South America that caused a concern for the Pacific islands.

But, hey, at least it was sunny!  

Thankfully, the watch was canceled but it did provide some interesting discussion about potentially taking the ship back out to sea instead of staying docked for the night.

In the end, we had a lovely last evening on the ship and Will got so very close to his goal of 50 ice cream cones in 10 days. This was his final cone: #44!

It's important to set goals in life!

Up next: our final 36 hours on Oahu!

Cruise to Hawaii -We're in Maui

Maui greeted us with an amazing double rainbow, which told us that this island would be little different from the others - there would be rain.  Oh yes, there would be rain.

I know you can't have a tropical environment without some significant wetness, but we were not really expecting rain every single day, at any given minute, even as - and especially when - the sun is shining. We looked forward to getting on the ship at the end of every port day so we could feel dry.  Irony.

I grabbed a quick shot of the kids in front of the ship as we began our adventures on Maui.  Hawaiian haze of mist per the usual.

We grabbed our rental and headed to the west side of the island. 

While nearly everyone else was winding along the road to Hana and Haleakala National Park, we chose to go the opposite direction and visit the historic whaling town of Lahaina.

If you looked east, you could not see the tops of the mountains due to the clouds and rain.

But looking west, it was blue skies and sunshine - thank goodness!

We were pretty sure that island out there was Lanai.

Lahaina was a typical touristy kind of town and, since we're not big shoppers, we didn't stay long.

We did do, however, the two most important things we wanted to do while there.

First, the kids finally got to have some shave ice!

Needless to say, it was well received.

Next we visited the famous Lahaina Banyan Tree.  It reminded us a lot of the Angel Oak on John's Island, SC and it was quite the sight.

 
But the main goal on Maui was snorkeling, so we drove down the road a bit to Kaanapali Beach, grabbed our rented gear, and hit the water.

The strength of the current was significant and the drop off from the shore was pretty quick and steep, so it took a little getting used to. 

The coral and sea life were beautiful, much more so than our video below provides.

All I kept thinking while we were in the water was, "We're snorkeling in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Maui!"  

Also, trust me when I say the newer, dry mouth snorkels are the only way to go.  I also highly recommend getting a GoPro camera.  It's so simple to use and works so well in the underwater case.

Here is some live action of our fun!
(It's only 3 1/2 minutes so you won't get too motion sick from my videography skills...or lack there of!)

Will also did some boogie boarding.

And then, as it always happens after a couple of hours at the beach, the kids crashed on the drive back to the port.

Next - and final stop - Oahu!

Goodbye 2015, Hello 2015 - Kiawah Style

Once again, we were able to spend a week at Kiawah Island, one of our favorite places to relax and enjoy a well deserved break from work and school.

We did a fare amount of riding bikes around the island and on the beach.

We took some nice breaks under beautiful live oaks.

Played Frisbee and flew a remote control helicopter in the soccer field.

And I ran into - almost literally - a childhood friend who was riding the paths with her family as well!  Hi Leigh!

We enjoyed the fun New Year's Eve celebrations at Night Heron Park.

Eliza Grace always finds her way on stage if allowed. We sang and danced and enjoyed the fireworks.

And toasted the New Year at midnight!

Happy 2015!  We hope it is a year of peace and love and joy for us all!