Sunday April 28, 2024

Our plan for today was to check out the black sand beaches near the ship. Heading away east and then south from the ship, we stopped at two beaches which were only about a 15-minute drive away. We found them to be rather uninspiring.

Changing gears, we headed out of town to explore and Meg navigated us to a one lane road that seemed like was leading to no-where. Despite her protests that the map showed it to be a “real” road, I was grateful to have All Wheel Drive as I dodged water filled potholes. It really felt like we were in the middle of the jungle. The views were impressive and seeing countless mongooses (mongeese?) running in front of us confirmed we were in an area with minimal human inhabitants. There were a few view points along the way where we stopped as well as some impressive rock formations and parks. 

Exploring State Parks – always something interesting.

One of the highlights Sunday, after getting back on “real” roads, was the Lava Tree Loop trail at Lava Tree State Park. We came across this park by accident as it is not on all the maps. Within the park, there were a number of trees that were encased in lava from a volcanic eruption. They look rather haunting. During a volcanic eruption, most trees spontaneously combust in the lava flow. There are a few that do not and they become rock formations, encased in lava which hardens to rock. The loop trail walks you past some of these and provides an interesting insight. 

As we headed back to town, we carried on our quest for the ultimate brew pub and stopped at the Hilo Brewery. It is truly a working brewery and you find yourself in a warehouse, standing on a concrete floor, surrounded by large vats. There was loud pounding music and some not so comfortable looking chairs. We decided to grab two cans or beer and head to a park to sample them. 

The park, around the corner from the ship, provided great ocean views as well as a glimpse of the ship. As we sampled our adult drinks, we concluded that Honolulu brewing was still the winner so far on this trip. 

Once we returned the car, we embarked on the ship and took advantage of the ship’s happy hour. Dinner and a show followed and the ship sailed overnight for Kona.

Monday April 29^th

Kona was the second port on this cruise and we were tendered here. The queue to get a tender was not too bad at 8 AM, likely because it was an overnight stay, so not everyone was rushing to get off the ship. As this was a last-minute booking, we were not able to get a rental car in Kona itself, instead we ended up reserving one from the airport. We took an Uber to the airport and after getting the rental car we headed away from town to the ocean views at Waipi’o.

Waipi’o is supposed to be a “must-see” place with a great view. We drove the one-hour route, mostly uphill, and, while the view was nice, it wasn’t really worth the drive. One interesting fact is the valley below is where King Kamehameha was raised. I have a fondness for the King, based on what I have read and seen. Lunch was poke in the historical town of Waipi’o.  

Another State Park

As we headed back to Kona, we found a wonderful sand beach. Spencer Beach state park has a number of historic monuments and after seeing the plaques, we headed to a well-equipped beach area. Showers, change rooms and a long sandy beach with numerous trees for shade, and not very crowded. Pretty much perfect. Sandy beaches are a bit rare on the Big Island as it is so volcanic. I went for a swim and found the water warm. There was one main entry into the ocean from the beach, around the coral and, as I swam out, I saw various fish. 

It was an hour ride back into the city and we headed for Kona Brewing for happy hour. We’ve been to this brewery each time since we found it a few visits ago. Happy hour has pints for $4.75, which was the cheapest we saw in Hawaii. The brewery tied with Honolulu brewing, in our opinion, for best brewery in Hawaii. We stopped after one beer because we needed to move our car and “real” beer packs more of a punch. 

Keeping our car overnight came with the problem of needing to find a safe place to park it. We drove around a bit looking at some parking lots, but they all had signs saying they would tow. We weren’t willing to risk the possible tow and bill. Eventually we decided to park on the road where there were no “no-parking” signs and hoped for the best.

Tuesday April 30th

After getting up and having a light breakfast, we headed out to see if our car was still there. Our tender ride was uneventful and we walked over to the car, which was still there. Heading out of town in the other direction, we were going to a beach where the dolphins sleep during the day. 

The wrong beach, but a better choice.

We had been to this beach a few years ago and enjoyed the nature and fish we were able to see while swimming. The drive was about 45 minutes and we managed to find a parking spot, but the area did not look familiar. Speaking to the park host, we realized it was not the place we were looking for. This area had a grassy area with large trees providing shade along with some well-placed picnic tables. We unpacked and thought it was fine. I went for a short swim and saw a number of fish. Meg recalled being able to see fish from the shore at the other park. As she was not really interested in swimming, we decided to head out and find our original beach.

Once we got to the other beach, which was a 15-minute drive, we parked on the road and walked the final 100-meters to the beach. There was a State Park parking lot which was $20, but was pretty much empty as most people were parked on the road. Walking around the area, there was no beach, just coral and lava and no shade. The vendors, which were there a few years back, were gone, so there was really nothing there. The good news was Meg could see a number of yellow fish from the shore. With the lack of shade, we decided to head back to the first park. We spent the rest of the day lounging and swimming until it was time to leave. 

Another opportunity to spend at Costco

When we left, we headed to Costco, just to see what they had. There were high-quality Hawaiian shirts and other clothes, so we added to our collection. We then took the rental car back to the airport and tried to book an Uber to take us back. As noted on our arrival post in Honolulu, I do not understand the pricing algorithm. The starting cost for an Uber was $85, so we decided to take a taxi. The car rental shuttle was offsite from the airport and, after it dropped us off at the terminal, I checked Uber again and the cost was now $50. Checking taxi fares, it was $50 – $60. Meg went to the bathroom and when she returned, I checked Uber one last time. The fare was now $22. The drop from $85 to $22 took place in less than 10 minutes.

The Uber took us to Kona Brewing again, where we partook in their happy hour again. A ten-minute walk from the brewery took us to the tender. That tender turned out to be the last one of the day back to the ship, so we totally maximized our time on land!

We set sail at 5:00 PM and started our five-day transit for Vancouver. 

Another successful Hawaiian trip!

Thanks for reading, feel free to leave any comments or reach out with the contact form.

Cam and Meg

Friday April 26, 2024

We were up early and, after a quick breakfast on the cruise ship, we headed to Diamond Head crater for our hike. The hike up can easily be completed by someone with a reasonable level of fitness, however it should not to be taken too lightly.

The Top of Diamond Head

At the top, we took a number of pictures and admired the views. One picture we were keen to capture, was the view of Waikiki from Diamond Head. There are so many views from the other angle. Having climbed to the summit, we wanted to capture the reverse. For some reason, we didn’t look for our cruise ship. Don’t ask why, we both forgot to do that and stared blankly at each other when we got to the bottom realizing our error.

During our earlier drive up to the trailhead, we noted what appeared to be a cute town just past the park. We walked for about 20 minutes to get there, but realized it was cuter driving by, so we Ubered back to the ship. After lunch, we headed out to explore a bit more and checked out Waikiki Brewing. We found their offerings were not as enjoyable as Honolulu Brewing. 

We returned to the ship and had dinner shortly after sailing away from Honolulu. Our first production show was after dinner – Rock City, after which we retired for the day.

Saturday April 27, 2024 – On to Hilo

The ship sailed overnight to Hilo, on the Big Island. Once there, we headed ashore at 9AM to get our rental car. We had no plan once we got the car, in fact we weren’t sure how to get the car. It turns out, that after you leave the ship and walk through the industrial warehouse, there are shuttles and taxis. Budget offers a shuttle to the airport for cruise ship passengers, which was a bonus. 

Once we got our car, a Nissan Rogue, we decided to head to Wal-Mart (yes, I actually wrote that). We needed some toothpaste and snacks for the day. Health regulations prevent food from being taken off the ship. There is a daily market in Hilo, however the Saturday one is the “big” market, so we to head into town and see what was there. 

Wandering around Hilo

We decided to start by visiting the Mokupapapa Discovery Centre which highlighted the marine life in and around the Hawaiian archipelago. There were displays of marine life as well as history of evolution of the marine life. The building was a historical place, very well kept. Inside, we marveled at the 100-year-old original first growth hardwood floors that have been flooded many times by salt water but looked just fine. We then wandered a few blocks to the “Big Saturday” market. Once there, there wasn’t much we wanted. We decided to have lunch at a “cool” looking hot-dog place we had seen. Let’s just say we won’t be going back there. In addition to costing $25 US for two hotdogs and two bags of chips, they were meh, at best. 

It was now time to leave downtown Hilo and we headed to the observatory visitor center, which is at 9,200’ above sea level. Due to the weather, there are a number of high-power telescopes there that provide insight to the universe. The drive is not overly scenic, lots of lava fields and, in some places, shrubs. 

High Altitude Hiking

When we arrived at the visitor centre, we parked and went inside. There were signs about altitude sickness and the Ranger told us there was 30% less oxygen at the visitor centre than at sea level. We decided to pause for a minute and then did a short 20 minute hike up a small hill. Going slowly, allowing for any adaptation due to altitude, we easily reached the summit and the views were amazing. The wind was howling so we moved to the other side of the hill where we were sheltered. Enjoying the view and getting some pictures, we headed back down. 

Driving down the mountain was a lot quicker than going up. Once down at the main road, we turned back onto the highway where there was another park. Interpretive signs outlined hikes and explained some of the topography, but we chose not to do those.

As we drove back towards Hilo, we stopped at another nature trail that explained the 1936 volcanic eruption and we did a short hike through the lava fields. They are not super exciting, sort of what you would expect the moon to be like.  

Getting closer to the ship, we started discussing where to park the car overnight. In the end, we decided to park on the road, across from a factory that was close to the ship where other cars were parked. It was a Saturday night and everything worked out fine.

Tonight’s show was a comedian and he had the audience laughing a lot.

Thanks for reading, we’ll post more of our trip in a day or two as we catch up!

Comments and questions are most welcome.

Cam and Meg