Hawaiian Cruise

We have not posted for some time as we have been on a cruise of the Hawaiian Islands & out to Fanning Island. We had a fabulous time with no glitches or illness. Murray took some motion sickness pills as a precaution and I even had to take a few but all was well. We took many excursions off the ship and did some fantastic snorkelling, whale watching (saw some huge fins & baby whales breeching), and even took a helicopter ride over the cliffs of Kawai.

We were part of 200 "Spirit of the West" vacationers on the cruise who were from western Canada and had been or were involved in agriculture in some way.

Murray at Parker Ranch

One of the highlites of being part of this group was a trip to the Parker Ranch on the big Island. Here we were treated to a lunch and a presentation by the ranch boss as well as touring the museum and Visitor center.

Elaine was amazed by the size of the paper garbage bags on the cruise ship!

On the other side of the Big Island our friend Dale Trefz took us down the Waipio Valley where only 4-wheel drive vehicles are permitted. There are only a few places where vehicles can pass.

Looking down over Waipio beach.

4-wheelin' down the river at the bottom. They use the river beds as roads as they are rock not muddy as we know them.

We found the perfect retirement property down there where we could grow taro and make poi!

The vegetation is so lush and as you can see the leaves are HUGE!

At the bottom of the valley.

On Kaui we went tubing down an irrigation ditch dug by hand in the 1870's. Some of the ditch was through tunnels hence the helmet & lamps.

Elaine at top left at the end of the ride.

One of our stops after the tube ride.

If you can't read the sign this one is at Kona on the big Island and says it is the swim start and run finish of the Ironman Triathalon world championship.

We enjoyed all the fruit and had a picnic on the beach with fruit purchased from the market.











Murray taking a plunge into one of the pools when we had a hike one day.

We took a horseback ride along the beach & up into some of the ranch country at Kawai.

Our cruise went out to Fanning Island (a 2 day trip at sea from Hawaii, one way) where we got to experience more primitive culture but beautiful beaches.

The palm trees grew right out over the beach.

Of course everytime you took their picture you were expected to give a donation. Notice the size of the bucket!

Back at Kona touring the grounds at the Hilton. We were getting a little wet by the spray from the falls as it was a windy day.

At Honolulu we went to Pearl Harbor.

Hiking down to the beach with our frends Patsy & Dale who live at Waimea. We enjoyed spending 4 days with them at the end of our cruise.

At Honolulu we met up for dinner with Elaine's friend Ruby & her friend Don from Saskatoon.

We arrived home to -40 C temps with windchills below -50! Needless to say it was quite a shock to the system. Thankfully Patricia met us at the airport with a warm car so we did not have to dig out of Park & Jet. This was the scene on our return home - snow and brrrrrrrrrrrrr.

It is good to be home but sure could use some warmer temps.