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