Hawaii Vacation, Part 3

 On Tuesday we arrived at Hilo on the Big Island. We booked an excursion to go see some of the highlights on this side of the island. It was a great way to see a lot of different parts.

First up was actually seeing the main path of destruction from the volcanic eruption of 2018. It was interesting to see how this cut right through parts of the island. In a couple of places houses were left perfectly fine but all of their neighboring houses were wiped out. We stopped and examined these areas closely.

From there we drove to a small national forest for an easy hike. The coolest feature here were all the volcanic statutes that had popped up. Of course there were several pretty flowers and plants to see on this as well.

We then drove to the Star of the Sea Catholic Church which was founded by Father Damien in 1864. I believe it's still the oldest church on the islands. Father Damien was known for his care of lepers in a nearby colony. This church has been moved three times by residents to keep it from destruction by lava. It was a lovely little site to visit.

We did have a picnic lunch but we also stopped for snacks at a little convenience store. I bought this dragonfruit lilipop, and it was absolutely delicious. Seriously one of my favorite things that I ate on this trip!

We were all very excited to get to explore a black sand beach! It was truly beautiful! Our guide explained how the lava hardens and over time is broken down into this sand. It's fine and soft, and I'm so glad we got to see this.

There are hot springs by the beach too. This actually used to be part of the ocean, but as other eruptions happened, this area was cut off from the ocean, so they became permanent hot springs instead.

Our guide also drove our group to another beautiful area on the island. Unfortunately I don't remember exactly what this area was called, but it was really beautiful too!

We left Hilo late Tuesday night to awake near Kona on Wednesday morning. We had made a last minute decision on Tuesday night to cancel our early Wednesday tour in favor of rest and relaxation. We took the morning slowly and then tendered in to shore. We found a farmers market in town which was selling the famous Kona coffee and macadamia nuts at half the price of the port stores. We bought a ton of these to bring back as gifts for family and friends; what a find!

We walked a little further until we came upon a restaurant called Kai that we'd heard great things about. It had both fantastic views and delicious food, so it was a win all around! We'd highly recommend this restaurant to others.

As we moseyed back into town, we opted for more shave ice - both in the Lily form and Ululani's form!

It was a slower paced day, but it was just what we needed.

Hawaii Vacation, Part 2

We headed over to the port to board Norwegian's Pride of America ship. It's a smaller ship since it just cruises near land year-round, but we still enjoyed it. Ryan and I decided a month or so ago to upgrade our room since we were all four sharing. We ended up with what they consider to be a penthouse room. It had a nice king size bed for us, a sofabed for Lily, a murphy pull out for Mia, along with a large closet, dining table, and plenty of dresser and shelf space. We also a nice balcony that actually looked out over the pool deck. We were definitely thankful for the extra space this room afforded us.

We left Oahu on Saturday evening and woke up by the island of Maui on Sunday morning. We had booked an excursion for snorkeling, first at Turtle Cove then at Molokini Crater.

It ended up being Ryan, Mia, and me who snorkeled while Lily stayed on the little boat. A mask doesn't fit over her glasses, and without her glasses, she really can't see the beauty around her. She didn't mind though as she got to enjoy reading while working on her tan. The other three of us jumped right in!

Underwater pictures never come anywhere close to capturing the beauty you can see underwater. God absolutely shows off His creative and artistic side here!

We arrived back on the ship, showered, and headed across the island to see the Drums of the Pacific luau at the Hyatt in Lahaina. We had the chance to walk around their garden area before we went out for the luau. One of the things Ryan and I remembered well from our trip to Hawaii in 2005 was just how beautiful the gardens are in Hawaii hotels. This one was no exception! Almost all of the flowers pictured in the collage below were from this hotel (though a few are from other outings).

Family picture beforehand.

This luau truly was spectacular, and we'd recommend to anyone heading out to Maui. The music was beautiful as was the storytelling through dancing that went with it. Some parts were truly mesmerizing. We enjoyed lots of delicious foods while here too which we appreciated.

One of the lovely lady dancers was outside afterwards, so we were able to thank her and share our appreciation from the evening. She was so gracious and kind.

This was such a wonderfully fun evening!

We decided not to book a true excursion on Monday but simply take the bus over to the town of Lahaina. Ryan and I remembered loving this town when we visited previously. We both remember enjoying seeing the huge banyan tree right in the middle of the square. It's a lovely place to sit and relax.

From here we just walked around town, shopping and taking in the sites; it was a really fun and relaxing time together. We stopped to watch a youth surfing competition for a bit which was fun. We enjoyed a delicious lunch at the Cool Cat Cafe. There were hot dogs, hamburgers, and fabulous fish tacos. We'd happily recommend this to anyone in town.

We'd heard great things about Ululani's shave ice, so we were excited to try it. It did not disappoint! All the flavors we tried were absolutely delicious, and the ice was practically like snow!

One of my favorite memories from Maui, both when I went with my family when I was 9 and again when Ryan and I went nearly 20 years ago, was taking our pictures with the parrots in Lahaina. I really wanted our family to get this picture! The photographer (who told us he'd been in the same spot since the mid-1980's so he probably took our pictures both times!) was running late that day, and we thought we'd have to leave without this. However, we walked by one last time before we had to leave, and he was getting set up. Yay! I was so thrilled to get these pictures; this is definitely a lasting memory for me!

Maui is likely my favorite of the islands. It seems to hold the perfect mix of traditional, beautiful Hawaii natural things to see along with some super fun things to do. Not too big and not too small, but just right. These couple of days on Maui were simply perfect!