Hauʻoli makahiki hou

My apology to any Hawaiians, if my title is not correct. I relied on Google translate, which is not always accurate.

Lotsa lava locally

On an afternoon's drive, we came across Lava Trees Monument State Park in Pahoa, just south of Hilo.

This plaque at the park entrance best describes how the area looked many years ago.

Variety is the spice of life

The photos you'll see in this post were taken on a walk we did in the neighbourhood. These plants are not in people's gardens, but rather are mostly growing wild. Things thrive here in the rainforest!

Raindrops on roses ...

... These are a few of my favourite things. [Lyrics from My Favourite Things, The Sound of Music]

Our first Christmas Eve at a volcano

Greg and I went to one of the parks at the waterfront recently. 

Settling in with our new housemates

We're now in Hilo, on the Big Island of Hawaii. We'll be here for two weeks, sharing a home with two dogs: Topo, an 8-yr-old Yorkshire terrier, and Yogi, an 11-yr-old Basenji/Lab/Ridgeback mix.

We took the homeowners to the airport, and then returned home. The main living area of the home is on the upper level. The dogs were happy to see us, but then looked down the stairs to see if the homeowners were with us. Not the best view of the dogs, that's for sure!

Our visit to Pearl Harbor, Honolulu

On our final full day in Honolulu, we visited Pearl Harbor. Although the trip to Hawaii was a belated promised anniversary trip, a visit to Pearl Harbor was also on Greg's bucket list.

Tree of Life statue to his left

Hawaiian Islands Cruise - Kauai - Day 2

For our second day in Kauai, before we left home we'd scheduled a helicopter tour. By booking directly with the company, the cost was $210 each, including transfers. The cruise excursion for the same flight and transfers was $349 each – that’s quite a markup!

Hawaiian Islands Cruise - Kauai - Day 1

Kauai was also a two-day stop on our cruise itinerary. Although we had the second day planned, the first was unscheduled. However, the previous day in Kona we met a man at the pier selling tours for Kauai for the following day. We made reservations and were told we weren’t expected to pay until the end of the tour, which was reassuring. 

I'm wearing a lei, & two flowers in my hair

Hawaiian Islands Cruise - The Big Island - Kona

After leaving the east coast of the Big Island, the next morning we arrived at Kailua Bay, Kona. As this bay doesn't have a dock big enough for our ship, passengers needed to be tendered in.

Hawaiian Islands Cruise - The Big Island - Hilo

We spent a day in each of two ports on the Big Island of Hawaii – Hilo on the east coast, and Kona on the west.

Our cruise was set to always travel between ports during the night. The evening we left for Hilo, our captain took the ship closer to land when we were passing the active Kilauea volcano, so that we could see the molten lava from "Madame Pele". It was still difficult to see from our distance, and didn't photograph well as it's lost some of its intensity over the past months, and also because we had to stay far away. However, it was probably still a once-in-a-lifetime experience for us that we won't forget. I encourage you to view the video of this volcanic action, taken in September when it was more active, and taken very close to where the lava entered the ocean. Go to https://youtu.be/xPVyO-5E03A.

Hawaiian Islands Cruise - Maui

Hawaiian Islands Cruise - December 10 to 17

Part 1 - Honolulu & Maui
Part 2 - The Big Island - Hilo
Part 3 - The Big Island - Kona
Part 4 - Kauai - Day 1 
Part 5 - Kauai - Day 2

Aloha! We’ve just returned to Honolulu, Hawaii after a 7-day cruise of the Hawaiian Islands, with stops in Maui, The Big Island (Hawaii), and Kauai.

On our cruise, the largest group of travellers was from Australia, followed by Americans, and then Canadians (almost all from British Columbia). Most of the crew were American, although they also employed International workers. Although this is only our third cruise, it was by far the friendliest group of travellers we’ve experienced on a cruise, and our favourite cruise so far.

Aloha from Hawaii

After our flight from Toronto, Canada to San Francisco, USA, we had a short layover waiting for our flight to Honolulu. Not surprisingly, the airport was a great place to people-watch, and, as it turned out, pet-watch.

There's a monkey in the middle of the flock

By the time you read this post, Greg and I will hopefully have started the first day of our Canadian winter snow birding. We have two back-to-back flights of more than 5 hours each - with a short layover in San Francisco - before we arrive in Honolulu.

A negative of our travels is that we leave behind family and friends. However, Greg's younger daughter brought us to Toronto tonight, and we enjoyed a meal with her.

The day before our travels, his older daughter and one grandson stopped by our house, eager to bring us the gift they'd been telling us was for our travels.

Where to now, snowbirds?

I've had a few emails, tweets, and conversations over the past few weeks, with people asking when we're leaving for the winter, and where we're headed. I'm pleased that people take an interest in our travels, so I thought I'd do an update now.

On December 8th, in the words of John Denver and others, we're leaving on a