Sept 2003 was a very special month for us...after knowing each other for 11 years prior, bicycling from Oregon to Maine and doing a whole lot of other fun stuff apart and together, we decided that we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together, so we got married. Buddy finally asked Aly on the beach in York, Maine just days after bicycling 3,500 miles across the US. Buddy's Aunt Bea (who is now 96 years old), said that Buddy John is a bit slow on the trigger--it ONLY took 11 years to finally pop the question!
Fast forward to Sept 2013...We really have been blessed in life and are so very happy together--so much so that we decided to celebrate our 10-year anniversary (a bit late) by doing something really fun (oh no, not more fun!!!)! You'd think we'd be tired of traveling, but no, instead, we decided on something a bit different, a little exotic and a trip really special, so we chose to take a 15-night cruise to/from the Hawaiian Islands from San Diego, California.
We booked the trip just 1-week before sailing and drove to southern California, visiting an old college pal of Aly's in Tucson on the way.
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| Kerri Ann and Aly--old college roommates |
After Arizona, we spent a couple days with Aly's mom, Gigi, (complete with watching football), before she took us to the commuter train which dropped us off almost directly in front of the port in San Diego. It was there we boarded our ship, the Century, a Celebrity Line Cruise ship all of 815' long, with her 15 decks, and an capacity of 1,814 passengers. We set sail on Monday the 7th of October out of San Diego harbor bound for the great open Pacific Ocean and the Hawaiian Islands.
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| Gigi (Aly's mom) and Aly during a Bronco game |
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| our ship, the Century, docked in San Diego, CA |
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| downtown San Diego, CA |
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| ships in harbor in San Diego |
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| San Diego marina |
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| Buddy leaving San Diego--we have set sail |
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a Coast Guard escort out of San Diego
--look at that gun! |
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| the last shore before the great open ocean |
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| our 1st eve at sea-the moon and Venus |
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| San Diego sky line bound for Hawaii |
We weren't really sure what to expect or if we'd like cruising or not, but I must say, we were both impressed at not only the ship, but of cruising as well. We had a 10th deck starboard side of the ship balcony stateroom.
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| our stateroom with a complimentary bottle of champagne |
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| our 1st toast aboard |
The ship was just fabulous. There was so much to do and really so little time. We had 5 full days at sea before seeing land again on the island of Oahu.
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| 2 pools and the sunning decks |
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| 4 hot tubs |
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| outdoor basketball court where Buddy played b-ball |
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| lovely view from the basketball court |
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| look at that ocean |
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| our walking deck |
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| somewhere back there is San Diego |
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| where we had lunch everyday |
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| the beautiful ocean |
With 15 decks, one could almost get lost...we had a semi-routine for the sailing days...breakfast on our balcony every morning, then an hour walk around the 14th deck (about 35 times around!!), sunning and reading, then lunch in the early afternoon, we'd try to attend programs or talks, a 2 hour workout in the gym every afternoon, attend the show of the evening, have a light dinner and watch a movie or take a hot tub or see a night performance (or take a chance in the casino)...we're telling you, if you've never done a cruise before, it's like a floating village with more food than one could imagine, lots of exercise opportunities, multiple guest speakers, fun and exciting entertainment, shopping, spas, a gym, a hair salon, a small medical center, a computer lab (very costly so we did not connect the entire time at sea), a fully equipped children's play center (and there were only 26 children out of the 1800 guests aboard), a casino, multiple bars, fancy restaurants, and so, so much more. The beds were comfortable, the en suite bathrooms were roomy with plenty of hot water, sleeping was so peaceful with or without our balcony doors open and our gin and tonics were so doubly delicious on our private balcony looking out to the crystal clear Pacific ocean.
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| rain and a rainbow off in the distance |
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| gorgeous skies |
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| looking out our balcony |
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| morning breakfast |
A few more shots of our ship and of the very sweet towel designs our stateroom attendant Edy would surprise us with nightly.
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| part of the delicious buffet |
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| more of the buffet |
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| and more |
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| and more |
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| more again |
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| and more |
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| Martini bar |
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| Theatre |
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| ice sculptures at one of the buffets |
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| the Grand Dining Room |
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| shopping aboard the ship |
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| the grand staircase |
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| towel elephant |
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| happy anniversary towel swans |
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| Edy (from Indonesia--10 years on this cruise ship) and Buddy |
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| hey, who is that guy? |
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| lobster towel |
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| scorpion towel |
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| what a cute puppy towel |
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| towel guinea pig complete with apple with bite out of it |
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| baby crocodile |
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| shrimp towel |
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| crocodile towel |
After 6 nights and 5 full days of sailing, our 1st port was Honolulu, the capital of Hawaii, on the island of Oahu. Oahu is the most populated of all the islands (with 75% of Hawaii's population) with 953,207 people, is the most developed and boasts excellent beaches with some of the most popular wind surfing and snorkeling of all the islands.
We chose not to do any organized tours but instead went off ourselves in search of Pearl Harbor, downtown Honolulu and Waikiki Beach. Unfortunately we were visiting Hawaii during the government shutdown, so Pearl Harbor and other government parks were limited, but we made the best of it. At Pearl Harbor we were offered a free FABULOUS 20 minute presentation that brought us both to tears. We were also lucky enough to have a local Hawaiian gentlemen in the group who was RIGHT THERE on 7 Dec 1941. He gave us another free 15 minute talk of his 1st hand account from an 11 year old boys point of view, watching the Pearl Harbor bombings. We also got to see the USS Missouri, where the signing of the end of the war took place in Tokyo Bay. She now sits facing the sunken ships of 'battleship row' in a protective stance. This experience is a must for every American.
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| Oahu Island with the Waikiki hotels and Diamond head in the distance |
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| morning sky over downtown Honolulu |
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| morning over Honolulu harbor |
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| entrance to the Pearl Harbor Memorial |
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| USS Missouri watching guard over the sunken ships |
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| USS Arizona and the other memorials |
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| the then 11-year old eye witness of the bombing of Pearl Harbor |
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| the memorial to the USS Arizona |
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| welcome to the USS Missouri-Pearl Harbor, Hawaii |
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the famous 'kissing sailor' celebrating the end of the war
the actual photo of the above was taking in Times Square |
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Admiral Chester Nimitz-signator of the instruments of surrender
ending WWII in Tokyo Bay on 2 Sept 1945 aboard the USS Missouri |
After a humbling visit to Pearl Harbor, we meandered our way through China town and downtown Honolulu before hitting the ever touristy Waikiki Beach...
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| coconut palm |
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| outdoor market in China town |
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| China town |
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| colorful fruits and veggies |
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| the fish market |
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| a thirst quenching Jack fruit slush with tapioca pearls |
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| bridge over the Nuuanu stream with rain in the distance |
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| Fort Street Mall, downtown Honolulu |
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Iolani Baracks in the foreground with new age
buildings in the background |
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| Iolani Palace--the only royal palace in the US |
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Aliiolani Hale--House of Heavenly Kings (gov't building)
with the statue of Kamehameha the Great |
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| Kawaiahao Church-Oahu's oldest church |
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| Diamond Head |
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| Waikiki in the background |
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| Waikiki Beach with over 33,000 hotel and condo rooms |
We set sail at midnight after having spent a wonderful day on Oahu, putting in miles and miles of walking, beautiful sight seeing and paying our respects to those lost at Pearl Harbor...
Next stop, the island of Maui, where we had spent 2 glorious weeks 10 years ago...the island was just as beautiful as we remembered it to be. We wanted to swim, shop and have a Mai Tai--all things we did 10 years ago. One of our goals was to see if we could find new wedding bands as Aly lost her original band this past summer in North Carolina. Our original bands came from Maui, 10 years ago...so we thought how perfect it would be to get new ones for our 10 year anniversary...
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| Maui with Puu Kukui rising 5,788 ft out of the water |
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| lowering the tender boats to go ashore |
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| the tender boat and Lahaina, the port where we spent our day |
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the largest Banyan tree in the US in Banyan Tree Square,
downtown Lahaina |
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| our ship from shore |
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| tourists in Lahaina |
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| downtown Lahaina |
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| more of Lahaina |
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| enjoying a traditional Mai Tai in the Pioneer Inn |
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our new wedding bands...made of Koa wood--
Koa is an Acacia used for sailboats and royalty
such beautiful patterns |
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| here's to another 10 years |
Two ports down and two to go...on our way to Hawaii, or more commonly known as the 'Big Island'. The Big Island is twice the size of all the other islands combined, is the youngest of the islands and contains the worlds most active volcano and the highest mountain when measured from the sea floor (32,000 ft). We arrived in Kona on the west side of the island at 7am, like with the other ports and took a tendered boat to shore. There we met up with old friends of Aly's mom, Dick and Anny. They were kind enough to drive down from where they live (1 hour north of Kona) and not only take us to a lovely lunch, but also show us a bit of what Kona has to offer complete with beautiful lei's from a road side stand. Thank you Dick and Anny!
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| Kona on the 'Big Island' |
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| views of Kona |
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| Kona and the west side of the island |
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| our tender |
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| on a drive south out of Kona |
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| what a view! |
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| memorial for Captain Cook |
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memorial where Captain Cook, one of the great navigators
and explorers, lost his life |
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| the bay where Cook lost his life |
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| beautiful Plumeria lei's |
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| the garden in front of the 'painted chuch' |
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| the Painted Church |
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| inside the painted church |
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| lunch and Mai Tai's with Dick and Anny |
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| yummy mahi mahi burgers |
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| good night Kona |
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| lovely sunset |
We set sail around 6pm just as the sun was setting and made our way around the island to dock the following day on the east side of the island, in the small town of Hilo, our last stop on the Hawaiian islands. Hilo which is much more lush than the rocky, dry Kona side, measures rainfall on 278 days of the year and is billed as 'America's rainiest city'. Hilo has Hawaii's 2nd largest port, has 44,000 residents which is about 1/3 of the Big Islands population. One of those residents is an old friend of Aly's who we set out to visit.
We found a free shuttle into downtown Hilo from the port, walked through the farmers market, took a small bus up to a lovely waterfall, walked back into town, walked around town and spent a couple of hours in the afternoon visiting Aly's old friend, Malissa, the owner of the Surf Break Cafe. What fun to visit an old friend who Aly hasn't seen in probably 25 years. We walked back to the ship and it was here we bid farewell to the Hawaiian Islands...
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| Hilo farmers market |
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| beautiful fresh orchids and other flowers |
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| the lush forest |
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| Rainbow Falls |
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| at Rainbow Falls |
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| Rainbow Falls |
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| Malissa and Aly after 25+ years! |
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| farewell Hilo |
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| just as the rains begin |
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| raining behind us |
These past 4 days were ABSOLUTELY WONDERFULLY FABULOUS! We couldn't have asked for better weather, nicer friends, or a more enjoyable way to see Hawaii. The return 5 days were a big chillier, but still just as enjoyable. We arrived safely back in San Diego on the 22nd Oct ready for our next adventure.
We'd highly recommend a cruise to anyone...make it your own and enjoy. This cruise is one trip we will not forget. Next time, we will look into taking a river cruise...when and where that will be, not sure...stay tuned...
