Hawaii by Cruise

Our adventure had a bit of a rocky start, but everything turned out great thanks to the AMAZING staff aboard the Safari Explorer!

We arrived into Honolulu in the wee hours of the morning and went to a hotel for a few hours of sleep before catching our flight to Molokai.  We arrived at the airport way too early in the morning (we were trying to be safe) and spent over an hour sitting on a bench outside of the airport, waiting for it to open. 

Finally, we checked in and took a tiny little hopper plane over to Molokai.  Our driver was waiting to take us to the meeting place...but unfortunately, our bags didn't arrive. We filled out forms for the lost baggage and headed to the hotel where there was a receiving tent for all of the cruise guests.

From the moment we arrived, everyone took care of us! We settled into hammocks to rest while we waited for news of our luggage. One of the other passengers waiting for the cruise lent Kepler some shorts, and they gave us some local beer!

We took naps and enjoyed the beautiful view.  One of the crew came to let us know that there still was no news of our bags, so they arranged to have the shuttle driver take us to town to pick up essentials.  We each bought one outfit and a swimsuit - enough to get us through if needed.  We had some extra time, so we grabbed food at a local pizza place and wandered through town. It was a tiny little town - not touristy at all - and it gave us a great feel for the local culture!  Their weekend farmer's market was taking place which helped us pass some time.

When orientation began, we still did not have our bags, so one of the crew went to the airport and started to make calls to see what he could find out. He had great connections and was able to pull some strings and sure enough, just as we loaded up to head to the ship, our bags arrived!  Phew! 

If the crew had not been so helpful, we would have been stuck with no food, no luggage and not much hope for a great trip.  The Safari Explorer was impressive from the start, and they did not let us down as the week continued!

If you are looking for a touristy visit to Hawaii, this is not the trip for you.  Throughout this week cruise, we were able to see a side of the islands that most visitors miss completely!

Molokai was one of the most culturally impressive areas we visited.  First, we went to the town square for a welcoming ceremony where the locals prayed to the goddess of the island to bless our trip.

Next, we had the chance to visit a private reserve and farm.  The local family that owns the land led us through an official ceremony to "cleanse our spirits" and allow us passage into the reserve.

After the ceremony, we took a hike through the jungle/forest to a beautiful waterfall tucked back in the middle of nowhere!

That evening, we experienced a true Luau.  Not the touristy, blowing fire kind of show, but a dinner with a local family where we had the chance to taste dozens of local foods (including sucking tiny crabs out of their shells) and watch the daughter of the family perform native dances.

The Safari Explorer did such a great job of steering clear of the overly-touristy areas and gave us a true taste of the real Hawaii!

I have been snorkeling all over the world, but nothing so far has compared to my experience in Hawaii.  Each day that we hit the water, I saw more amazing things than the previous day!

We had a chance to visit a "turtle cleaning station". When they described this, I thought it was something set up for tourists, but that wasn't the case. It is a natural spot in the ocean where they have found turtles come and fish gather around them and clean their shells. Some eat anything growing on them, others run their bodies over the shells, polishing them clean. It was such an amazing thing to watch!

We also had the chance to visit very shallow waters where colorful fish, eels and turtles came to play

The wildlife viewing from above the water was excellent too! I'm not much for sitting around on deck at the wee hours of the morning, hoping to spot something, and this cruise offered the very best early morning experienced I could have hoped for!  The crew lets you sleep in, and if they spot something, they announce it over the intercom so you can run to the deck and check it out.  If they don't find anything, you can sleep, if they do, you don't miss it! It was fabulous!
Their watchful eyes fulfilled their duty and we were called to the deck to see some wonderful creatures!

As if the excursions we took each day were not enough to make the trip fabulous, anytime we stopped, we had a plethora of water activities to choose from.  For many of the snorkeling trips, you could travel to the spots by panga, or you could kayak there!

We had a chance to try stand-up paddle boarding, which was much more challenging than I would have thought (and doing it in an area where there was a shark attack the week prior added a whole new level of motivation for staying upright!)

I finally got the hang of it! (Kepler never made it up!)

We got to try the local outrigger canoes too!

And the double hull outriggers.

At one of our stops, we had the chance to try wake boarding

I was one of the few who was able to get up on the board!

You could not get bored on this trip unless you were really trying!

 

The open bar on the ship was quite amazing.  While they state that only basic drinks are included, there was nothing that I was able to name that was not on the "included" list. 

Aside from having local beers on tap and a great array of wines, the crew were experts and bartending, and each had their own special drink that was their favorite to make. They quickly learned our tastes and fun surprise drinks would magically appear by my side.

Chris made a killer afternoon drink - it was a combination of lemonade, coconut, vodka, malibu delicousness

And Donny noticed my slight obsession with the ship's POG (passion-orange-guava) juice and made me a POG-tini!

We had some free time in Kona one afternoon, so Kepler and I quickly made our way to the Kona Brewing Company (with some guidance from the crew).

We have some of their beers in our grocery store, but they were so much tastier when coming straight from the source!

From mimosas with breakfast, to afternoon refreshers, to the beautiful self-serve dessert drink bar after dinner, they didn't miss an opportunity to make sure everyone was having a good time!

If I'm being honest, the water terrifies me! I love the look of the ocean, and I love laying on the beach, or kayaking along the coast, but I actually hate getting into the water.  Something about feeling like control is taken from me and having fish touch me - no, no, no.  Now, this hasn't ever stopped me from getting into the water - I've snorkeled all over the world...but I don't necessarily enjoy it.

When they told us that we were going to do a night snorkel with giant manta rays, I almost peed a little.  We were told we were going to suit up, hop into the water in the pitch black of night, and shine lights that would attract manta rays with 20 foot wing spans to come and brush against us as they fed.  Nothing about this sounded good, but I'm not one to turn down a challenge.  So...we suited up

and headed out to the sea.  What happened next is one of my favorite experiences I have ever had! 
We were split up into groups and we jumped into the water and held on to floating surfboards with lights coming out of them

The lights shone into the water, and attracted plankton.  As the plankton gathered in the light, giant - and I mean GIANT - manta rays would swim right for us, barrel roll against us and eat the plankton!

While their mouths look HUGE, the actual opening that food can enter is tiny, and they don't have teeth, so there is no way they can hurt you - but that doesn't stop the experience from being a bit overwhelming

The water was chilly and it was raining, so many people only lasted through the first few minutes of the feeding and then headed back.  Kepler and I stayed in the water, absolutely in awe of the experience, until time was up - and knowing my fear of the water (and a bit of the dark as well), that says something about how incredible this experience truly was!