Hawaii 2007: Honolulu

Day 7:  Honolulu - Pearl Harbor & Honolulu City Tour

One of the best things about today was taking advantage of the "Easy Fly" program.  We were able (for $20 each) to have our boarding passes for our flights delivered to our cabin along with special tags which directed the NCL staff to take our bags directly to the airport and check them through all the way to Fort Lauderdale.  Made our tour and disembarkation so much easier!  The tour of Pearl Harbor was cool to see, and a sombering sight to think of what happened on that spot.  We really had about 45 minutes too long to stay there, which became more of an "issue" when we went to the bus and it wouldn't start.  This delayed our departure from Pearl Harbor by about 45 minutes.  But we rode around the city for two hours taking in the sites, like the Punchbowl Cemetery and the Royal Palace with the statute of the king.....he was over 7 feet tall and over 300 pounds! 

Hawaii 2007: Kahului (3)

Day 6:  Kahului - Maui Plantation and Iao Valley

Brad decided to stay with the Pa crowd today as they rented a car and drove along the coast toward Hana.  Kim and I really enjoyed the Maui Plantation for all the beautiful flowers, Brad would have been very bored.  The Iao Valley and Iao Needle were very cool looking.  The bus driver was a native Hawaiian and we really enjoyed his narration and perspective of the changes to the islands.

Hawaii 2007: Kahalui (2)

Day 5:  Kahalui - Luau Kalamaku

The best news about the luau was that we got to go to one.  It was on our original list of excursions, but we were "rejected" and I called and was told that for a number of reasons NCL was no longer having a luau, but they thought they might be adding one in time for our cruise.  About ten days before we left it became available and we booked it.  The bad news was that it wasn't really anything like what we thought it would be like....there were nearly 1,000 people there and it more resembled a giant buffet with an evening show.  Due to the number of people we were far from the stage.  For me, the Mai Kai in Fort Lauderdale was as good a show, and we were closer, but for people from non-Florida areas I'm sure it was very cool.  The setting was gorgeous as you can see from the pics.  The roasted pig was delicious and we got to try the Hawaiian dish, poi.....it was yuk.

Hawaii 2007: Kahului

Day 5:  Kahului - Haleakala Center

Today was the COOLEST volcano tour.....the crater was over 9,700 feet in elevation and the pics do NOT do it justice.  The trip up the winding roads of the mountain were enough to make me nervous and Kim did not feel well.  The crater was much more colorful than the other we'd seen, and much bigger.  But the best part was we were actually above the clouds.  It was a perfect day to be up there, and it was cool, but not as chilly as we thought it would be!

Hawaii 2007: Kona (2)

Day 4:  Kona - Atlantis Submarine

It was very cool to go on the submarine, we dove to a depth of over 100 feet....but it was disappointing in that we saw very little, and we had thought since so many people talked about how colorful the reefs were when you scuba/snorkel, that we'd see the same.  But the captain of the sub explained that the lighting was essentially black lighting on the ocean floor, so what you see in the pics is what we saw.  Also, the seats were very narrow and it was very cramped......more room in the 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea attraction at Disney when it used to be running :)

2017 Update.....when rebuilding the website I was able to put the underwater photos through a filter which brought out some of the colors - above is a 2007 original compared to the 2017 revised photo followed by the old photos put through the filter.

Hawaii 2007: Kona

Day 4:  Kona - Nature Cruise & Dolphins

This morning was one of the coolest days.......Kim, Karrie and I went out for a very pleasant boat ride through te Kona harbor and right away we saw SOOOOOO many dolphins around the boat.  They kept coming up in groups of 8-12 and then another wave.  The narrator told us there were probably about 100 around us.  Then we went farther out in the harbor in search of whales.....and found four of them.  VERY COOL stuff to see them spout and then surface.  The water was so, so blue......