AKA Queen of the last minute deals.
There are week long cruises around to the different Hawaian Islands that start and finish in Honolulu and I'd had my eye on one that left on the 25th... It was way out of my budget, of course, but being queen of last minute deals I kept watching it until, on the 22nd, the price fell dramatically. I tried to book it then but they still wanted a large single supplement so I posted notes looking for a cabinmate on both the hostel bulletin board and on Craigslist. I had no luck. I called back on the 24th determined to argue my way out of paying a single supplement but I didn't have to, by then the price was still rock bottom and the single supplement had been completely removed! So I went off to live in luxury for the next 7 days, and, the travel gods still smiling on me, I got the very last cabin on the ship (yes, the one I'd paid rock-bottom last-minute zero-percent single supplement price for) which turned out to be a palatial balcony room!
Maui AKA Feeling Jaded
I spent two days on Maui with a lovely young Mormon couple who had rented a car to see the island. The first day we drove "The Road to Hana". The road is famous. And spectacular. With 12 feet of rain each year the hillsides are rampant with lush verdant jungle vegetation, enormous trees and ferns and vines. Jurassic Park was filmed in this part of the world and it really does look like a dinosaur could step out of the woods at any moment. The drive was great; we saw whales from the shore, there were many waterfalls, great jungle walks, exotic vegetation, caves, more waterfalls, and excellent basalt beaches.
Best of all we had accompanying us "Gypsy" a fantastic app who not only told us the history, geology, facts and fantasy about the area but was linked to our GPS and told us when, exactly, to slow down and marvel out the windows or stop, park, and take a short hike. I'd heard of such apps before and been sceptical. I can't speak for all of them, of course, but this one was phenomenal.
The second day we spent less than 40 km away on the other side of the island in dry desert landscape, sparse grass and cacti. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes I wouldn't have believed two such contrasting environments could exist in such close proximity.
(To my shame and embarrassment, I felt a little jaded on Maui. I'd seen whales closer in Mexico, jungle denser in Tahiti, roads twister in Romania, waterfalls more impressive in Iceland, cliffs more dramatic in the Faroes... And I wondered, 'Am I getting to the point I've travelled too much?')
Hawaii AKA Big Island
I didn't have plans for the Big Island so I exited the ship and worked the car-rental shuttle line shamelessly asking anyone and everyone what their plans for the day were and if they had room for an extra person... Eventually one couple agreed to take me on, and wow, what a fantastic day. We had a very specific mission for the day - see lava. We drove to the end of the road, walked a gravel extention, and then out out out across acres of otherworldly pahoehoe right to the point where the lava was pouring as if from a pipe into the sea. It was red, hot, and incredibly impressive. Small explosions of newly hardened rock and large billowing clouds of sulphur rich steam abounded. It was amazing. Absolutely amazing.
(I did not feel jaded at all, by the way, this was, absolutely, the best lava I'd seen in my life. In fact, I was, once again, feeling #privilegedtobehere. It was so fantastic I fear I might not even go to the Marshall Islands afterall... I might just stay and "tourist" right here in Hawaii for months! Have I travelled too much? No!)
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| New growth appears on ropey pahoehoe. |
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| Volcanic rock stained where sulphur vents outgassed. |
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| A town was covered in lava but rebuilding starts... |
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| Red hot magma flowing into the sea. WOW. JUST WOW. |
Again, spectacular. Canyons, waterfalls, the steep 4000' iconic Napali coastline, blowholes, coffee plantations, sea turtles, seals, beaches... It is wonderful!
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| Coast of Kauai |
Have I travelled too much? No. Could I stay here forever? Yes. Well, maybe not forever, but I do understand why people come back to Hawaii again and again. A woman selling banana bread back on Maui was lamenting that foreigners, both mainland Americans and others from all over the world, were buying up properties sending prices skyrocketing, and that her sons just couldn't afford anything anymore. I see and understand exactly what she was saying but have no clue how to even start to solve this problem. Hawaii is fantastic. I wish I'd had the foresight to buy property here myself 40 years ago!
PS The scenery was outstanding, the hiking unparalleled, but the best part of the cruise was meeting two other women on the first day at a Solo Travellers Meet and Greet and agreeing to hang out with them whenever we could. We'd eat breakfast together, split up for the day, and then reconvene to eat, chat, and laugh together every evening.
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| Andrea, Robin and I crashed the captain's VIP party and drank way to much of the free champagne! |
Notes:
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