The Pride of America was a very different cruise than the other two I had been on previously, as you were in port every single day (and two you even stayed in overnight). The boys love just being on the ship, so I told them while I wanted them to get off at least once on every island, I said they could stay on when we doubled up. Monday July 3rd marked our second day in Maui, so we had planned to stay on the ship all day and just relax and catch our breath.
First of all, it's worth noting Clint and Jess didn't cruise with us as they wanted more time on the islands. But their plan was to island hop with the boat most places and meet us in port. Our first day in Maui, while we were at the ocean center, Cort, Holly, Gwen and Garrett asked Uncle Clint to find them some sea turtles, and he totally delivered. Clint had been to Ho'okipa Beach the day before and found a whole slew of them resting on the beach. When he took Cort, Holly, Gwen and Garrett the next day, they were everywhere.
Asa, Peyton and I had seen one in the water the day before, but I wanted Calib and Hayden to be able to see them close up, too. I also wanted to see them sunning themselves on the beach. We decided to forgo our quiet day on the ship, rent another car, and check out Ho'okipa Beach ourselves. (Side note: Don't ever rent from Budget, we only did because I hadn't previously made a rental car reservation and every other place was astronomical to book same day).
Anyway, Ho'okipa Beach is known as an excellent spot for wind surfing, and board surfing. But it is also known as a home to the Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle. It's up the road to Hana, which I was convinced I couldn't do (thank you motion sickness), so it was never on my 'things to do in Hawaii' radar. Everytime I saw 'on the road to Hana', I thought 'well, that's out'. But Holly assured me that I would be fine, because it was at the very start, before the road got too windy and secluded. It's around mile 9, I think, and if you blink, you'd miss the sign. It's a bit of a trip down the hill too, so it's not like you go right past it.
We did find it, without too much trouble (Google, however, does not nail the location down, FYI). We arrived a little before the time that Cort and Holly had been there before, and while there was plenty of area roped off for the sea turtles, there were none to be found. A volunteer sits out under an umbrella to help protect the turtles from harassment and keep 'turtle highway' clear so the turtles can come up to the beach with no problem.
The volunteer insisted that we shouldn't worry, the turtles are on the beach everyday, and we'd surely see them. So, we decided to spend some time in the water. It wasn't the best place for swimming, as it was very rocky (those $5 water shoes were the best pre-trip money I spent), but the water was clear.
Calib and Hayden both got in the water quickly, while Peyton complained about how cold it was. (The Pacific is way colder than the Gulf, that's for sure). Our three pairs of googles went to Asa, Calib, and Hayden. There were varying depths, so you could go out deeper and take a break in a sandy area where you could touch. The found some fish, but not nearly as many as we had seen the day before.
After a couple of hours, we still hadn't had any luck with sea turtles. Asa asked the lifegaurd about them, and he was like 'Yea, that's totally weird. They'll be here, they are everyday.' But he went on to tell him that if he was a good swimmer, they were surely in the water, out at the end of the rocks filling their bellies. This was enough news to get Peyton into the cold water. He and Asa swam out, and were greeted by 6 sea turtles, underwater, munching away, eating the algae off the rocks.
Peyton came back and told me all about it, and said I had to go out there. The waves were picking up by now (and I could see why this was a good afternoon surfing spot), but I really wanted to see the turtles, so I powered through and went out there with Asa. I only saw three of them, but they didn't seem to mind us watching them at all. The waves were a little tough to navigate though, it was easy to get lightly tossed from side to side, but the sea turtles were moving in the same way I was, so I was super glad I went out there and experienced that. (We, as you might have guessed, do not have an underwater camera- which is why I just have to tell you all about what we saw!)
I still really wanted to see one on shore, and I wanted Hayden and Calib to see a wild one up close. Of course they had seen plenty in the water on the glass bottomed boat in Oahu, and some at the Maui Ocean Center, but that's not the same. (Also, I realize that sounds spoiled). So we waited some more. The turtle lady volunteer said they would be there, and once one came up, many more would follow.
And then there was Calib, just sitting in about a foot and a half of water (slightly deeper than this picture), while I stood next to him, and a sea turtle came swimming up RIGHT next to him. I'm pretty sure the back flippers were inches from touching him. (For the record, Calib was startled and totally freaked out by the event, though he would never admit it). Hayden meanwhile, was sitting right up on the shoreline, so he could also see what was happening.
Peyton had been sitting on the beach and because of all the commotion, and the turtle volunteer trying to hold people back, he came running towards me with my camera. (He knows me so well.) The turtle circled the water, but it never got out. Some guy snorkeling started to essentially chase it, and it swam back out into the water.
I snapped a couple pictures, but it was hard to tell what was the turtle, and what was the rocks. I tried to enhance and crop, but it still didn't work out all that well. The turtle is in the bottom right of each of the cropped pictures. (You can tell, it's the only rock-looking like thing) that changes.
We waited a little while to see if any other turtles would be brave enough to come on shore, but it never did happen. We did enjoy our trip to the beach though. Besides the turtles, it was fun to see all the wind surfers and board surfers. There were even these two little girls, who couldn't have been older than Garrett who paddled out and surfed. They were pretty good too! There was also a lady who brought her dog, tied him up on the beach and went to surf. He sure barked a lot, though, so that wasn't awesome.
We had to get back to the boat, though, so we rinsed off, climbed the hill and headed back. At least Hayden and Calib got to see it close up, and we got to see a whole slew of them in the water.
Back on the ship, we were greeted with a clean room, and another towel animal.
It was also always nice to have the afternoon snacks. They either made for a good lunch, or a good appetizer to lunch. We told Peter we loved the veggies with the Italian Dip, and then we got those every day after that. He took good care of us.
By the time we were back on the ship, it was a little late for lunch. But, since we were going to a complimentary dining room for dinner, we weren't too worried about spoiling our appetite. Hayden was pleased with the pool bar food the day before, so he convinced me and Asa that was the best spot for lunch.
After lunch, mom showed back up. She had spent the day with Clint and Jess. They went to this farm to table lunch spot where you picked your own food from the garden. But before they went to the Maui countryside, they stopped at Ho'okipa Beach so mom could see the turtles. They had been there just two hours or so before us- and mom had seen turtles on the beach! I was wildly jealous. It was like dad and his moose (and us and the moose for that matter).
Hayden went off to spend a little time at kids club, and Asa and I went up to the top deck to get a view of Maui. It was really windy by now, and you could even see the beach we had to been to earlier and everyone kite and wind surfing. It was a good day for that.
We did have three bottles of champagne between the two rooms, so we opened our first one on Maui.
Holly was down at the pool, and there was no need to bring glasses when there was only a little left.
We even convinced mom to take a swig. Fun fact: My mom's birthday was two days ago, and I posted the picture of her drinking out of the bottle on her Facebook Page. It's a very popular picture.
The kids were back from kids club, and on the pool deck practicing with the Devil Sticks for the circus kids club held at the end of the week. Gwen and Hayden were pretty good with them, and would do all kinds of tricks. I don't think blogger does video (or does it), because I have a fun one of them using Hayden's hat as a prop.
The kids all spent some time together in the pool and hot tub when 'Family Circus Practice' concluded.
You might notice Peyton is missing from the group. He really liked to roam the ship with his friends, so he would show up, spend 5 minutes with us, and be off again.
The ship set sail from Maui that evening, and we were headed over to the Hilo side of the Big Island.
Gwen's friend from back home had taken this same cruise (last summer, I think), and told her she needed to be in the pool when the boat first started moving, because it became like a wave pool. We missed it the first day because of our dinner reservations, so in Maui everyone made sure to be in the pool as we sailed away.
We had a later dinner reservation that night though, so we had some time to kill before dinner. Asa made himself some pre-dinner coffee, and we hung out on our balconies.
I'm not sure if it was the weather that night (the wind was something), or just the area we were in, but this was the worst night on the ship for my motion sickness. It was the only time I actually got sick on the whole trip though, so that's an improvement from other cruises. The boat was REALLY rocking, and I had to bail on dinner before it even started. I only moved when Bonni, our steward, came to turn down the room, and even then I went to Cort and Holly's room next door.
I wasn't the only one though. Between the kids heading off to other places, and more people getting motion sick by desert time, Asa told me it was down to just him, Holly and mom. We were falling like flies that night. (I did hear the lava cake at the Skyline Dining Room was delicious, though).
Next Up: Volcanoes National Park on the 4th of July!
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