Day 7 – day 6 of Cruise, Kauai, HI

Sabrina gets a Surprise

Our ride!

Happy as can be!

Our ship form up top

Waterfall

Double falls

Waimea Canyon

Flying low

Near the NaPali Coast

Beautiful beaches

Dual Falls

And it is over

Sabrina’s surprise

Can’t wait to get on board

Jurassic Park Falls

Waimea Canyon

Flying in the canyons

Lava cave

 

Kauai was the last island on our itinerary. It is the most north-west of all the big Hawaiian islands and thus the oldest. The volcanoes are long extinct and the vegetation is come back and flourished. There some interesting things to know about Kauai:

• The red soil of Kauai – it stains everything permanently – now it is used to color a line of clothing sold under the “Red Dirt” brand.
• The large number of films shot on Kauai – Jurassic Park, Raiders of the Lost Ark, South Pacific, etc
• The very scenic Na Pali Coast
• The Waimea Canyon (The Grand Canyon of Hawaii)
• A large chunk of property on the island is owned by one family – the Robinsons who support the native Hawaiian families and protect the environment.

We will always remember Kauai for 2 things

• The Surprise and
• The Sock

When we were planning out the trip to Hawaii, I had Sabrina help by picking out what she wanted to do on each island.  The challenge was to keep in mind our talk schedule and not just the time the ship was in the port.  She did a terrific job picking out stuff that was unique to Hawaii and activities all of us would enjoy.  But Kauai was a challenge.  We had to give 5 hours of talk on the second day, so we had to be back by 12.00 noon.  On the first day we had the whole day.   Kauai has incredible waterfalls and scenic areas that are difficult to get to by road.  Even the Waimea canyon is a long drive away and most of the more beautiful spots are not accessible from the road.  Luckily the ship was going to drive past the Na Pali coast on day 2 so we just had to figure out how to see the rest of this beautiful island.

Helicopters are the way to go but quite expensive.  So Sabrina and I had decided we would take an excursion into Waimea canyon rather than rent a car and drive.  Unbeknown  to her, I had signed us up for a helicopter excursion.

When we landed we got off the ship and went down to where the excursions started.  Sangita kept Sabrina distracted till the bus came to pick us up.  We got on the bus marked for the helicopter ride and Sabrina looked at me – but before she could say anything I told her, “Oh this shuttle will drop us off at the chopper place and then another will take us to the canyon”.  She accepted that quite easily.  So we reached the chopper place and they started orienting us to the flight.  I told her that we had to put up with watching this as our shuttle was late.  Then they asked us to put away all our bags and get weighed.  Now there was no fooling her.  Her eyes became big as saucers and her jaw dropped.  I think we was so surprised that she even forgot to beat us up for tricking her.

So after the orientation, we went up to the airport.  We saw our chopper come in and we went in to sit in our assigned positions.  Sabrina got to sit in the front middle seat right next to the pilot!  She was so happy that it made all the effort to surprise her worthwhile.

The ride itself was spectacular.  A grand view of Waimea Canyon, some beautiful waterfalls, the NaPali Coast, incredible beaches, and flying into a volcano crater!  The photos do not do justice to this awesome spectacle.

We returned to the ship for lunch.  Then for the first time on the cruise we split up.  Sabrina wanted to play in the pool, I just wanted to rest and Sangita of course wanted to shop.  So she went off on a shuttle to the marketplace.  I sat in the hot tub with Sabrina and then I stretched out on the deck chairs while Sabrina played with a bunch of kids in the pool.

I prepared for the 5 hours of talks I had to give the next day and we all were a bit sad that our vacation was drawing to a close.  Just one more day on ship

But wait a minute, I didn’t tell you about “The Sock”!  Well that will have to wait for tomorrow.

Day 6 – 5th day of Cruise, Kona, Big Island, HI

Last night we got the thrill of our lives watching the lava flow into the Pacific with a huge plume of steam rising up into the night sky. Went to sleep thinking that nothing that followed could live up to this. But this day, the Captain Zodiac raft trip came very very close.

We woke up in the morning with our ship already weighing anchor 1/2 a mile off the coast. The lifeboats (called tenders) were being used to ferry us to the shore. For those who were just going ashore without any ship sponsored shore excursions, the process was incredibly chaotic. They had to go to the main reception on Deck 5, get a number and then wait till their number was called. Then they would go down to Deck 3 to get on the lifeboats. For some reason, it was taking very long to do this, and from what we heard, people were still waiting to get off at noon! We lucked out as we had a shore excursion with the Captain Zodiac raft. We were able to walk up to the ramp and get on the first boat.

Our raft trip was not till 12.45 PM and so we were able to walk along the picturesque coastline. The whole town was preparing for a Triathlon and thus there was a lot of people, who were getting a feel for the waters, and trying out their bikes. We had our by now obligatory shaved ice and took in the local palace. Then it was time for the main event!

Kailua Village, Kona, HI

Kailua Harbor

Hulihe’e Palace

Palace Grounds

From the Palace Grounds

Picturesque

The Pride of America in the background

Shaved Ice of course!

The Head of Goddess Pele (not her, the lava rock!)

The Goddess Pele

Spinner Dolphins

Another zodiac raft, like ours

The best snorkeling in the World!

We did not know what to expect till the raft showed up; it was like a pontoon boat with a very powerful motor. There were no seats, you just sat on the sidewalls and held on for dear life. Instead of a seat belt there is a foot belt, you tuck your toes under a rope that runs along the floor. This prevents you from getting tossed out of the boat. The captain told us that the back of the boat stays pretty stable but the front is very bumpy. So of course we had to sit at the very front, courtesy Sabrina.

Just as we got out of the harbor, the captain spotted some spinner dolphins. There was a whole school of them following us and another boat. What a great start to the trip! The captain then pushed the throttle and we had to hold on for dear life as the boat leaped forward with it flat bottom bouncing off every wave. We felt like we were on a rodeo!

The destination was a cove that is supposed to be the most beautiful snorkeling place in the world. It is where Captain Cook landed and there is a small monument commemorating him. The area is protected and you are not allowed to touch any of the coast or the sea bottom. You jump off the boat directly into the waters. Notice I said “you” because I don’t swim and I thought I was just along for the ride, no puns intended. Well all the hype about this being the best place for snorkeling made me curious. The captain and his assistant had all the equipment – life jacket, prescription snorkeling goggles etc. I can’t imagine ever jumping into the open sea, life jacket or not, and here I did it without a question! Had a hard time figuring out how to breathe through the mouth, keep the snorkel hose above water, and stay horizontal in the water etc. Luckily the salinity in the cove is very high and that too helped! Had a great time and almost forgot that I could not swim. Stayed close to the boat, holding on to the ladder. It was a great experience! Sabrina and Sangita are fabulous swimmers and there being close by helped give me courage. The captain’s assistant who was the snorkeling guru was kind of nonchalant about the whole thing, “you can’t drown even if you want to”! And me thinking I was going to get a medal or something! Time passed very quickly and then it was time to go back.

We thought the fun was over but there was more. The entire coast of Kona is lined with lava that has been eroded by the waves forming fabulous lava caves undercutting the shoreline. There are also openings of lava tubes that are exposed when the undercut shoreline caves in. You can see a cross section of the various layers in which lava was deposited over many years. At one place the lava tubes and the layers form a very semi-human shape which the ancient Hawaiians believed was the Goddess Pele, the one who also lives in the Volcano!

We finally headed back to the harbor, getting a close view of some fabulous golf courses and resorts. The last tender was to leave at 5.00 and we got to the harbor at 4.30 pm. There were very few people on the tender and so it waited till 5.00 instead of taking us back to the ship and sending another tender. My talk was at 5.00 PM and thus of course I was late. The CME coordinator called the ship administration who instead of calling my cell, called Uday who was listed as one of the emergency contacts. He got frantic, that we were lost and the ship can looking for us, so he called me on my cell! By the time I got his call, I was already starting my talk, so much ado about nothing!

The folks attending were very patient, they all waited for me to get there and weren’t the least bit upset.

It had been a terrific day, almost as good as the previous one at Volcanoes Park, and I was pretty amazed at how I snorkeled in the ocean without knowing how to swim! Next day was at Kauai which was going to be a big surprise for Sabrina.

Day 5 – 4th day of Cruise – Hilo, Big Island, Hawaii

We woke up very excited; Volcanoes National Park everyone had told us was the most unique feature of Hawaii.  We did the usual free shuttle to the airport to rent a car.  This time though the compact car trick did not work.  National actually did not have any cars and we had to wait for 15 minutes for one to be returned.  So we took the first one that we got which turned out to be a Ford focus.

The road is a straight shot till you take a left turn to go into the Park.  The visitor center has a short video which is quite nice to get a good idea of the layout of the park.  We had to get back for our talks on the ship which started at 5.00.  So we had about 4 hours to spend in the park, leaving us an hour to return the car and get back to the ship.  We asked the park ranger how to best spend that time.  He laughed and said just the crater rim would take us the whole day!

Well that was like throwing down the gauntlet.  We decided we to see it all in 4 hours!  We did the steam vents and the museum overlooking the crater in an hour.  Decided to skip the sulphur beds.

The Steam Vents:

The steam vents are right next to the road. There is some competition for parking spots but people spend only a few minutes here, so just wait and you should get a spot soon. The steam is created by rainwater seeping into the soil and making its way to the hot lava. The steam finds its way back to the surface at cracks that are called steam vents.	Standing in the sauna
This one produces dense steam that fogs up your glasses even on a hot day!	Glasses fogged by the steam vents

The museum is very well placed with an view of the crater.  They collect all the rainwater, filter it and you can fill your water bottles from natural rainwater which was pretty cool.  They also have good topographic models of the park showing the lava flows.  Really helps to see these before going down to the actual lava flows.

View of the smoking crater from the museum

Topography of the volcanoes and lava flows

Next we saw the Lava tube which was quite amazing.  It is on the way to the Chain of Craters road so, you cannot miss it.  We had seen a lava tube on the Road to Hana but this one is huge!  It is also impressive to see all the vegetation that has sprung up around this area.  It looks almost like a prehistoric landscape and you expect a dinosaur to spring out at you any minute!  That I guess comes from watching Jurassic Park which incidentally was shot in Kauai which is the last island on our itinerary.

Lush vegetation approaching the Lava Tube	Walking down towards the Lava Tube
Standing outside the lava tube	Touching a piece of recent earth history

The Chain of Craters Road (that ends under the recent lava flow!)

Standing on a somewhat older lava field	Photo spot in the lava field
Pacific pounding into the lava coastline

And then we were off to see the desolation caused by the Lava flows as they went down the slope towards the East (Pacific) Coast of the Big Island.

This was an incredible experience, seeing the recent geological events recorded by the lava flows quite visible on the landscape.  The view of the coastline from the top of the slope was awesome.

The road (chain of craters) stops abruptly as the lava has run over the asphalt.  You have to park and walk about 15 minutes to see the remarkable sight of the pavement disappear under the Lava.  Near the now new, more proximal parking lot you can walk to the edge of the lava ledge and see the Pacific waves pounding on the fragile lava and creating features like arches and caves.  New land being created and formatted in front of your very eyes! The whole area is scorching hot, partly from being so close to fresh lava.

Lava Arch caused by Pacific erosion

2003 the lava ran over the road

There is fresh lava further to the north of where the road ends but that is a very long hike over uneven lava and we were running out of time.  We took the obligatory snapshots to prove that we were there, and then hurried back to the car.  We made only one stop on our way back – Snapshot of Sabrina making a label with the local stones.

Walking on land created 7 years ago!

Can you spot the Mystery Word?

We were thrilled.  We had done it all (well everything we wanted to do) and with a bit of time to spare!  So of course we had to hunt for a Taco Bell on the way back!  The GPS came in useful showing us there was one just off the highway.  Unfortunately we got stuck in traffic going through the shopping center and decided to skip TB!  Got back to the ship well in time for the talks!

I talked about updates in GI and nephrology, Sangita talked about Ocular emergencies.

Our jet lag was almost over.  We had walked over 2-3 miles today but we still were not sleepy.  And the best part was still to come!

The cruise ship leaves Hilo on the north side and travels along the east coast during the evening and night to reach Kona on the south side of the island by next morning.  This takes you past the point where the fresh hot lava flows into the Pacific right around 9.45 PM!  It is very dark by this time and you can see the 2 lava flows glowing orange with steam rising from the ocean.  This looks a lot like a small Niagra Falls if they were illuminated only in orange.  An amazing unique experience.  Capturing this on camera was a whole different thing though.  Half the folks did not turn off their flash, so they probably got beautiful black pictures.  The point and shoot cameras were difficult to focus so kept giving blurring images.  Luckily I was able to play around with the settings and support the camera on the ship’s railings to get a good long exposure shot.  Enjoy!

This experience itself made the whole Hawaii trip worthwhile.  Morale of the story:  If you go to Hawaii, make sure you get a chance to see the lava flow at night from the ocean.

Day 4 – 3rd day of Cruise, Maui

Glad you are still with me after 3 days! This was going to be an “easy day” meaning that I did not have to plan or do anything. Just get on the bus to Lahaina which is on the west side of Maui. We would go down in a real submarine to see the coral and fish. We would then have a couple hours to see Lahaina (read – to do shopping!).

We had done a pseudo submarine trip in the Caribbean – we went in the hull of the ship which had portholes to allow us to see the seabed but the ship never actually went under water. This one was the real thing. A ferry took us out about a mile into the ocean and they made a big song and dance about watching the submarine surface. Then the passengers from the submarine got off on to the ferry and we went down the hatch. The crew was great and really funny (though they probably told the same jokes over and over). The first few moments were somewhat anxious as we could see the ocean surface above us slowly fade away. Then we got engrossed watching the fish and coral. The colors were very strange and somewhat fluorescent. This occurs due to the longer wavelength light being filtered out, thus making everything appear somewhat blue-green. This is even more pronounced for objects that are farther away from you. The lowest we reached was about 127 feet underwater. Not being able to see the true colors of the coral and fish was a bit disappointing but overall it was a great experience. Since I don’t know how to swim, I will take this over scuba any day! On the ferry back from the sub, had a great view of the Iao valley and the volcanoes on the west coast of Maui. The panorama at the top of this page, was shot from the boat.

Lahaina harbor is a bustling touristy place with all kinds of activities being offered – fishing, snorkeling, scuba diving, para sailing etc.

I wrote about how to create these panoramas in another blog.

Lahaina is a beautifully restored town with an old world charm.  Lots of shopping and some beautiful galleries and restaurants.  Lot of people running these shops don’t look Hawaiian.  The guy who runs the most prominent shaved ice shop told us he grew up in Stowe, OH!  There are some tourist traps, the most popular one is to pull a coupon from a hopper.  It will say you get a 50% discount on a pearl.  Then with big pomp and show they will ask you to open an osyter with a guaranteed pearl.  What you see is what you get (to keep).  My guess is that after the 50% discount you probably pay 3 times the price of that bauble.  Still it was fun to see people repeatedly falling for this one.  There are definitely some bargains to be had and haggling is not only OK but expected.  Sangita had a field time!  It was only when I reminded her that we were planning to go to the Aloha Swap Meet Flea Market on the last day that she agreed to limit her purchases.  Also it was scorching hot and that kept us from having to visit multiple shops.  Sabrina (and I) would have preferred to stay in one A/c shop till our bus came to pick us up but gamely accompanied us (actually we gamely accompanied Sangita) as we put in a couple of miles bargain hunting.

Lahaina Main Street	Window shopping on Lahaina Main Street
You can find Burgers anywhere!	World's third largest banyan tree
Waiting for enlightenment!	Under the Banyan Tree

A prominent feature of Lahaina is a huge banyan tree – apparently the 3rd largest in the world.  We know the largest is in Kolkata.  It is quite impressive and it was nice and cool in its shade.

Soon our bus came to pick us up.  The driver was a native Hawaiian and lamented how things have changed – plantations are disappearing, sugar factories are dying, big box stores are popping up and the only jobs left seem to be in tourism.

We made good time and got to see some of the beautiful beaches of south Maui.  Apparently a wonderful place to see whales between December and February.  Good reason to go back some time!

In the afternoon, I gave a talk on “Recently Approved Medications” and Sangita talked about “External Eye Disorders”.  The medications I focussed on were Tecturna, Victoza and Prolia.

The ship left Maui that evening and headed for Hilo, the port on the northeast side of the the Big Island, the closest big town to the Volcanoes National Park.

Day 3 – 2nd day of cruise, The road to Hana, Maui

The day dawned bright and crisp.  We woke up very early and were able to take a walk on the ships walking track – each circuit was 1/3 mile – and were able to do a quick 2 mile walk as the sun came up, breathing the invigorating ocean air.

Even Sabrina was able to join us in time to see the sun bathe the island with its first rays.

I had rented a car online beforehand.  All the ports have free shuttles to take passengers to the rental car office.  Several folks with us had not made reservations but were able to get cars quite easily.  I had read up on websites and had been advised to book a compact/economy car, expecting the office not to have any of these available.  That is what happened, and we ended up with a free upgrade to a Jeep Liberty.  We even had an option to get an open Jeep Wrangler, but as it had been raining intermittently since we docked we reluctantly turned that down. A rainbow appeared over the harbor as we started our trip – putting us in an excellent mood.

I had also brought along my TomTom GPS and loaded the itinerary on it.  This is something that is easily possible using Google maps and a free software called TYRE.  It lets you create a route in Google maps, specify way points (destinations) and then download these to the GPS unit.  Once you start your trip, you load the itinerary, and it guides you to the first destination.  Then you mark that as visited and it takes you to the second destination.  I had found the coordinates of the best waterfalls and used these to create the itinerary.  Click here to view the Road to Hana on Google Maps.

Also, we had a great book “Maui Revealed” (borrowed from Sabrina’s pediatrician) which had step by step instructions for the Road to Hana.  It included exact directions on which mile marker to watch out for and where to park.  In hindsight, the book is quite sufficient and one does not need to do the GPS thing unless there is no navigator to read the book or you are a technogeek like me.

So what is this Road to Hana?  It is a very curvy road along the north coast of Maui and it winds its way along the Pacific Coast, very aptly called the Highway to Heaven.  The north 1/2 of Maui receives a lot of rainfall and all the water makes its way to the Pacific creating numerous waterfalls along the way.  These are quite spectacular.  In addition, there are some amazing views of the Pacific, lush tropical vegetation, and beautiful beaches. Some of the waterfalls have created tranquil pools which overflow into new streams.

Most of the waterfalls are off the highway and require you to park you car and take a short walk.  Thus the need for good directions.  If it has just rained, the waterfalls are heavy but the path to get there can be very slippery.  If you are not a seasoned hiker or not very agile, I suggest you wear good waterproof hiking shoes (not flip-flops) and take a stout umbrella that can double as a walking stick. Some places will have no trespassing signs – “do not climb over the fence”. As long as you interpret it quite literally and go through the fence not over it, you should be fine!

A word about the beaches.  Since the islands are “recently formed” from solidified lava which is pounded to fine particles by the ocean waves, there are some amazing black sand beaches, the best one being the Waianapanapa State Park.

A beautiful secluded area great for a picnic is the small park at the end of Nahiku Road.  There is a picnic table here and affords an incredible view of the Honolulu Nui Bay and the Kepakanoe Bay.  Nahiku road it self is very narrow and at one place has a sign that states that it is for local residents only, just ignore the sign and keep going.  The sign will be right next to the clearing with multiple mailboxes. The reward will be a visit to your own private piece of heaven.

There is only one real rest area called a wayside.  Even if your bladder does not need it, stop here for a great photo opportunity.

Some words of caution:

• Make sure you have plenty of time to drive.  Try and keep at least 7-8 hours to the get most out of this trip.
• The road has numerous bends and is very narrow, at times goes down to one lane.  Keep your eyes on the road and 2 hands on the wheel.  If you like to drive with one hand, some of these hairpin curves will get you in trouble.  Make sure this Highway to Heaven does not become a one-way trip!
• I would set the trip odometer to 0 at the first mile marker and that makes the directions very easy to follow.  I did not do this and was constantly doing mental arithmetic while driving.
• Remember the good hiking shoes and a walking stick if you are not too nimble.
• There is no decent restaurant along the way and thus remember to take some food with you, unless you can fill your stomach with shaved ice and banana bread!

We returned the car and got back to the ship by 6.00 PM, tired but very happy.  We did not have any talks which was great!  The dinner was at the formal Skyline Restaurant and was disappointing.  There was only one vegetarian entree .  Anyway we were ready to crash and went to sleep right after dinner.  The next day was going to be pretty straightforward.  We were taking a ship organized shore excursion as I wanted to be sure we could get back in time for our talks and before the ship left for the Big Island.

Tired but happy!

Hawaii Day 2 Part II – First day of cruise

So finally we are off! Took a cab to the harbor and got a first look at the Pride of America. It is a 14 stories high and thus can be spotted from a far.

The check in process went pretty smoothly, we were entertained by dancers performing the Hulu and some Polynesian dances. We all got headgear made from grass leaves – custom fitted for our heads and Sangita and Sabrina got pretty flowers to tuck into the headgear.

The cabins were still not ready for us so we all went to the dinning area to get something to eat and explored the ship. Our talks were to begin at 2.30 and I got the laptop set up in the meeting room on the 13th floor. Sangita wanted to be able to view the speaker notes during the talk. Luckily I had PowerPoint 2007 on my laptop which has the presenter view option. Essentially once you connect the projector, you extend your desktop to the projector. Then in PowerPoint 2007, you select presenter view and this allows you to get a great navigation screen along with speaker notes on your laptop while the audience sees just the slide show. Luckily it worked first time without a hitch.
We had 21 physicians in the audience and they were fantastic. Some were from Australia and New Zealand, a couple from Canada. We had family practitioners, Internists, a cardiologist, a radiologist and 2 ER specialists. My first talk was on Statins for Primary Prevention and I was teeny bit anxious about there being a cardiologist in the audience for this talk. But he turned out to be a terrific guy and we had many great discussions on various cardiology related topics.  Sangita talked about a systematic approach to the examination of the eye.

Once the talks were over, we got our room all set up and the ship left the harbor. We were treated to a beautiful view of the Honolulu skyline at night.

We had great plans for that night – a big formal dinner and then go to a show but the jet lag hit us right around 8.00 PM. We got a quick bite to eat and collapsed into our beds. The next day was going to be huge, I had to drive along the very tortuous road to Hana and back and needed to get a good night’s sleep.

Hawaii Trip Day 2 Part I- The sands of Waikiki

Of course I woke up at 4.00 AM, which was pretty late considering that it was already 10.00 AM in Cleveland!  It was awesome walking off the hotel lobby straight on to the sands of Waikiki.  The beach was simply beautiful with the sun peeping through the high-rise hotels and Diamond Head providing a beautiful backdrop.

The tide seemed to be coming in, and the waves were crashing into the walls of the neighboring hotels throwing surf high up into the air.

A horde of surfers was already paddling out into the Pacific on their surfboards and that included a very enterprising dog!

Sitting on the rocks of the breakwater gave us a grand view of all the activity. What a way to wake up!

Having gotten an early start to the day, there was even some time to take a long barefoot walk along Waikiki, a great brunch and then get into the pool for a quick dip.

We bid adieu to Diamond Head; we planned to be back for a hike to the top of the volcano at the end of the Cruise. That was going to be a pretty tight scheduling as we had to catch our plane back to reality the same evening that our ship docked in Honolulu in 8 days. We caught a cab and soon would get our first glimpse of the Cruise ship!