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

The more things change, the more they stay the same

I have lived in Niagara Falls, Canada since 1973. Needless to say, I've seen many changes, but the raw beauty of the falls themselves remains unchanged. Last weekend I decided to take a walk near the falls. Locals often avoid the tourist areas, and it had been too long since I'd been there. I wanted to see, up close, what had changed.

Wanna buy a floating home?

Earlier this week we had another "tourist" day and went to Fisherman's Wharf at the Inner Harbour in Victoria.

It was a hive of activity, with shops, restaurants, boats, and water taxis. An interesting feature is its floating houses.

Just a walk in the parks

As I've mentioned before, Greater Victoria is made up of a number of areas and cities of varying sizes. Sometimes it's difficult to figure out where one ends and the next begins. At times, I get help with this from my phone's camera, but today it wasn't so obvious. From what I can gather, today we walked in Esquimalt, Colwood, and Saanich. I'll just leave it at that.

Yesterday, Greg mentioned that Fanci had four walks that day. Today he was aiming to top that, but I think we stopped at four. It continues to be lovely weather for walking - lots of sunshine and temperatures that allow for t-shirts, which is great.

Gotta love these pets!

On my laptop, the desktop is set to cycle through my thousands of photos at one-minute intervals. It's just a quick glimpse, and often brings back so many memories of our travels. It makes me feel so fortunate.

This morning I was awake too early, in my eyes, as it wasn't yet daylight. This is the photo I first saw, which just made me smile. I love this photo!

Reflect and recycle

Photos of flowers in this post were taken over the past week, but don't directly relate to this story. My mother enjoyed flowers though, so I'll link it that way.