Circle Pacific - Sun Princess - June 2016: August 2016

Hilo

Hilo, Hawaii - Day 59 - 18th August 2016

We met at 8am for our private tour with "Big Island Aina Tours". This was a tour that I had organised and we were a group of 8.

Our tour guide was Gil who was there to meet us on time with a nice new, clean, air conditioned van and our tour was for approximately 6.5 hours.

The weather was perfect with a nice breeze that was pleasant for walking through the rain forest and the Volcanic National Park.

Our lunch stop was at the Macadamia Farm which for us was the signatuary ice-cream! After lunch we visited the Rainbow Falls and the black sand beach.

Our tour finished at around 2.30pm and Gil had offered to drop us off at Ross for our last retail fix but alas after dropping those who wanted to go back to the ship including Peter we were caught in a traffic jam. As we only had an hour before we had to be back on board we decided to turn around and head back to the ship…. our stress levels were greater than the need for last minute bargain shopping!! Ross will have to wait for another visit! To drown our disappointment we headed for happy hour in the Wheelhouse Bar…..

Another great day in Hawaii and a fabulous sailaway on deck 11 with good friends and a wine or two!

Five days at sea before Papeete, Tahiti…. can't wait for my sea days….

Quick Facts:

Region: On the east side of the big island Hawaii

Climate: 127 inches of rain/year - one of the wettest cities in the world. A pleasant tropical rainforest climate year round.

Language: English (but there is an official Hawaiian language)

Currency: US dollar (USD)

Arriving into Hilo

Volcano National Park

Thurston Lava tubes

Our tour group

Native flowers

Volcanic lava along the roadside

Pu'u Huluhulu

Nene (Hawaiian goose)

Pukiawe Mamane

Beautiful colours in the lava

Kilauea Iki

Volcano still steaming

Steam vents

Native flowers

Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut chocolate factory

Manually inserting the nuts into the chocolate

Rainbow Falls

Banyan Tree cathedral

Black sand beach

Fish ponds

Happy hour back on the ship

Volcanic lava spewing into the ocean seen from the ship

Lahaina

Lahaina, Maui - Day 58 - 17th August 2016

Today we had no tours booked so we got a taxi to beautiful Ka'anapali beach at Whale Cove where all the 5 star resorts are…. it reminded me of Denauru Island in Fiji.

We found a spot on the beach which was just beautiful. It was very hot and with no shade the water was a good option.

We had lunch at a beachside cafe washed down with a Mai Tai… a perfect combination when in Hawaii!

We met up with some friends then headed for a maxi taxi to take us back to the wharf area. The girls got dropped at the Factory Outlet Centre and the guys got dropped at the pub! Who would have thought??!!

After another spot of shopping the girls headed to the pub for another Mai Tai before we headed back to the ship for sailaway.

Another great day in Hawaii!

Next port is Hilo… our last Hawaiian port….

Two old sailors

Our Hawaiian welcome

Wooden carvings in a market

A very large old Banyan tree in the park

Ka'anapali Beach

Cooling off

Lunch at Leilani's on the Beach

View for lunch

The main street of shops

More wooden carvings

In a gift shop… for Scott and Sarah

Just one more stop and another Mai Tai before we head back to the beautiful Sun Princess

Cooling off in the pool on the ship

The "L" for Lahaina on the side of a hill

Leaving Lahaina

Our usual sailaway drinks with the gang

Lovely scenery and lighting as the sun sets

Almost set

And set!

Honolulu

Honolulu, Hawaii - Day 57 - 16th August 2016

We did have a possibility of a private tour in Honolulu but declined as we were pretty toured out and thought it would be nice to take it easy and take in some shopping especially at Ross my new favourite shop!

We took our time getting off the ship then were conned into a "free" shuttle into Waikiki and Ala Moana Shopping Centre BUT what we were not told is that we had to go via a pearl shop and sit through a video presentation, a tour of the factory and then shopping time in their gift shop. Eventually we were dropped at the Ala Moana Shopping Centre where we decided to go to Ross first which was a couple of blocks away. This shop is great and we (I) found quite a lot to buy. Our next stop was Walmart. We hadn't been in one of these shops before but had heard a lot of passengers talking about their bargains so decided to check it out and yes we did make a few more purchases. On we went to the Ala Moana Shopping Centre which is very large and just like any other Westfield Shopping Centre.

Our first stop was the food court for lunch. Our next mission was to find Peter some Sketchers as they are a quarter of the price compared to Aus. Mission completed at Macy's.

By this time we were pooped and had bags and bags of shopping so we headed for the "free" Walmart shuttle back to the ship to offload before heading to Waikiki Beach for dinner.

After unloading our shopping and resting our feet for a while we then headed to Waikiki on the public bus. Unfortunately by the time we got there it was dark but still plenty of sights to see.

We walked along the main beach and took in a free Hawaiian Show in the park then walked through all the 5 star hotels until we were close to the bus stop to take us back to the ship.

The Outrigger Hotel was close by so we stopped off and had a cocktail and a snack at the bar while listening to a very good local band playing all types of music before heading to the bus stop.

Another great day in Hawaii.

Tomorrow Lahaina.

Quick Facts:

Region: Surrounded by the Pacific Ocean and situated just below the Tropic of Cancer

Population: 905,266 (2011)

Climate: Average temperature 75F to 85F

Language: English

Currency: US Dollar (USD)