I couldn’t write all these posts and not mention the Daves! It all started in San Diego where one of us pointed at a pigeon and said “look there’s Dave the pigeon”. After that, every animal we saw became a Dave. Dave the dog, Dave the squirrel, Dave the bird, then lots of Dave the… Continue reading All the Daves!
Return to Alcatraz
This morning we boarded a ferry at 11am to go to Alcatraz. Paul and I visited The Rock in 2011, it was one of our favourite tours so we decided to go again so the girls could hear the story of how the prisoners escaped. Jess really enjoyed the tour but Summie didn’t like it… Continue reading Return to Alcatraz
Henry Cowell Redwood State Park
We left Carmel Valley at lunch time to drive to San Francisco, our last stop of the trip. It was a three hour drive, so we stopped half way at a beautiful redwood forest, similar to Muir Woods. We did the smaller trail, but saw some amazing trees, the tallest being about 84m tall, over… Continue reading Henry Cowell Redwood State Park
Carmel Valley Ranch
We flew from Honolulu to San Jose on Saturday afternoon, we picked up our hire car and drove an hour and a half to Carmel Valley Ranch. It’s so beautiful here, a welcome calmness after the busyness of the cruise. It reminds me of Center Parcs; there are huge trees, amazing views of rolling green… Continue reading Carmel Valley Ranch
Last Stop Kauai
Kauai is the last Hawaiian island we are stopping at on the cruise. There was a lot of wind on the overnight journey here, which meant the sea was quite rough and I didn’t sleep well. The last time we did the cruise, Kauai was my favourite island, but by the time we got here… Continue reading Last Stop Kauai
Snorkelling in Kealakekua Bay
Today we are in Kona, on the southern side of the big island. There is no port so we had to anchor and get the tender boats to the shore. We booked onto a snorkelling trip to Kealakekua bay which apparently was the inspiration behind the reef and fish species in Finding Nemo. The catamaran… Continue reading Snorkelling in Kealakekua Bay
Waterfalls and Tropical Farm in Hilo
This morning we went on a cruise excursion to OK Farms where we had a tour around the orchard and visited two beautiful waterfalls. Our tour guide Toni-Jo picked local fruits for us to try such as longans and rambutan, then took us to the mama cacao tree where she opened a cacao fruit and… Continue reading Waterfalls and Tropical Farm in Hilo
Whale watching in Maui
This afternoon we went to the Maui Ocean Centre, an aquarium right next to the whale watching. We saw some turtles, sharks and a really amazing 3D dome cinema of hump back whales. After we went on the whale watching catamaran. We were very lucky as there were a group of about six whales really… Continue reading Whale watching in Maui
Maui cat cafe
This morning we went into Maui to visit the cat cafe. There were about eight cats that have been rescued and are now being cared for at the sanctuary. My favourite was Blu, a white and brown Burmese looking cat who was about six months old, she was really playful. There was also Bobbie, Tiramasu,… Continue reading Maui cat cafe
NLC Pride of America
Today is cruise day, we are island hopping from O’ahu to Maui, to The Big Island, to Kawai for the next seven days. We boarded the ship about 11:30am and had some lunch in Cagney’s.