My main worry about this vacation was how Catalina will fare through 11 hours of uninterrupted flight. We got her a new Snow White lego, some favorite toys and at least 10 books (all in the backpack I carried, please feel free to pity my poor back). And what do you think? She liked the lego for 5 minutes, she never opened a book, but she was INCREDIBLE. I was bored, I wanted off the plane, my legs were cramping, my spirits were down. Not she! She played with the TV remote control continuously. When both Marius and I fell asleep she just continued playing, all happy. 11 hours of flying were not enough for her. She could have played even longer :)
We finally landed on our first island, Oahu. Honolulu, more specifically Waikiki beach is amazing. When we reached the hotel, Catalina got the excitement level sky rocketing. She talked on the phone, ran around the room, and did some gymnastics :)
We started our second vacation day with a trip to Pearl Harbor. Not exactly Catalina's slice of bread, but she cooperated nonetheless. We told her we'll see a big ship and that bought her attention for a while. Before we boarded the boat to Arizona Memorial, we sat in a theatre and watched a documentary about the Pearl Harbor attack. And this is when the jet lag caught up with Catalina. Congested and tired, Catalina snored like an old man all through the movie. Several people turned their heads in utter disbelief (don't forget we were watching a very touching documentary about people who lost their lives), only to smile widely and understandingly at our tired little girl. Once we were out of the theatre, Catalina got all interested in her surrounding again :).
This is a happy family at the beginning of a vacation in paradise.
We ended the day in our favorite way: the beach. And really, what better place to be when you are on an exotic island with gorgeous white sand beaches and sparkly blue water?
And here is one of the highlights of our vacation. The BEST latte anyone could imagine, I would go back to Honolulu only for this coffee. Amazing. We tried it in the evening and second morning again.
After coffee, we were still early for our flight, so we decided to get breakfast. And where, if not at one of the most famous places in Waikiki: the Duke's. People say the president himself goes to this place every time he visits his home island. The food was good, and breakfast with the ocean and the palm trees in the background cannot be beat!
And thus we hopped on the plane for our second island adventures! Big Island greeted us with friendly people and great vegetation. We stayed in a nice house and Catalina loved her surroundings. First night was dedicated to mommy's adventures, as mommy wanted to hike as close to the molten lava as possible. And this is how close this adventurous mommy got:
Lava entering the ocean. Amazing spectacle!
The second day in Big Island was reserved to visiting the Volcano National Park. We thought we saw enough black, creepy lava just driving to the lava hiking tour. Oh my goodness! Nature can be impressive, scary and leave you speechless. We drove for a couple of hours seeing only lava and burnt trees. People around kept on talking about respecting the nature and knowing you are at its mercy. I believe respect is based on mutual trust, and as long as I cannot trust an active volcano, I don't think I can respect much of it. But I can definitely meditate a little on how small and fragile we are.
I believe I mentioned that Bis Island was by far the friendliest (speaking about people here...) island. We started a long drive to see one of the world's two green sand beaches. On the way, we stopped at this cute fruit stand. Nobody was there so we waited for quite a few minutes. In the end, the cutest japanese man comes and tells us the fruit is sold based on the "honor system" You take whatever you want and put the money in a collection jar. Humbling in today's life. After buying quite a few fruits, the nice man gave us 4 limes for free. Those were the best tasting and most precious limes I ever got.
We continued our ride only to meet other nice people. To get to the green sand beach one has two options: long 2 hour hike, or ask a nice local with a 4x4 to drive you on a VERY bumpy road. You are practically driving on harden lava, so it's no joke. Traveling with the little princess Catalina is, of course we chose the second option. She kept on asking to eat one of the papayas we got at the fruit stand. I had no knife and frankly I also did not have a clear idea on how a papaya is eaten. So our new driver cut the fruit and fed it to my cutie pie.
And finally at the green sand beach! I know it's olive, but they say this is as green as a beach goes :)
To continue our colorful beach hopping we stopped at the black sand beach. And boy, is the black sand black! We saw some BIG turtles, Catalina got to lay in the sun a little so we all had fun.
coffee cherries!
And here we are at the volcano crater! This one does not spit out lava, but deep down, the lava faces the ocean, boiling angrily and scarily. During the day only smoke and fumes are seen, but when it gets dark the red lava glows and reflects awesome color into the fumes:
watch out kid, there is a volcano behind you!
This was a full tiring day. Nothing that Advil and a hot shower cannot fix! Last day we decided to try some easy trails in the park. It took a lot of work to convince daddy to get off the car and use the legs. Catalina was very upset there are flies around, so the beginning of our trip was not the greatest. When nature rewarded us with these beauties, it was the perfect time for mommy to tell everybody" I told you so!"
Entering the the lava tube
Walking through the lava tube gives you the chills. It's dark and humid and you have no clear idea on how long you have to walk like this. Oh, yeah, no cell phone signal either :)
Desolation trail. Most of this walk is through land burnt by the lava. Some vegetation tries to break through.
Back at our cute house we packed for the next island. Catalina took some time to take in the beauty of the backyard. Yes, we had rainforest as our flower garden!
Once we were on our way we decided to make one more stop on the Big Island. Akaka Falls. People say they are famous, and beautiful, and we had extra time, so why not?
The falls are beautiful, but after one sees Niagra Falls, nothing really compares. The vegetation and the hike to the falls is a completely different story. Amazing!
Bambus forest on the left. Catalina told me at this point there are no cars on this trail so I should not hold her hand :)
Our next destination: Maui. This was the part of vacation that was meant to be relaxing. It was also meant to be the most kid friendly island. We really didn't find it like this. The island is nice, as any tropical island would be. But trust me, it has nothing on Oahu or Big Island!
After a long tiring trip from the airport, a difficult check in and the realization that we have no shampoo in the room, we went bed hoping for an amazing morning at the beach The resort website stated they are situated on one of the best beaches in the world so we were quite excited.
What can I say...The resort has beautiful grounds, the sand is amazing, the ocean water is blue and clear. The waves however...not that kid friendly.
Don't be scared by the clouds. We had perfect sunny weather all vacation long. This is how Maui looks like towards the mountain side. Always cloudy :)
We stayed on this wavy beach for a while, but roasting in the sun without the chance of cooling a little bit in the water was not an option for us. So we hoped in the car and drove to what they call the baby beach. This beach has almost no waves, so it's a big hit for kids. Unfortunately, is a big hit for dogs also, so you can imagine it's not the cleanest. It's also quite rocky, you can see coral very close to the sand.
the coral I was telling you about...
Not the softest sand....
Snorkeling pays off: big piece of dead coral
No, this is not me :)
One of our performers. Mommy and the dancer show the Hawaiian greeting sign. Catalina payed close attention and she was soon ready to mimic it too.
Good food, plenty of alcohol, and a nice dance party smoothed our spirits. We were again ready for vacation! So next day we went to see whales. We lucked out again. Perfect weather, calm ocean, the whales were out for play. Or more precisely, for mating :)
Nice play date with the whales. Maui Ocean Center next on the list. They have some really nice fish in there. Sharks and pretty much any kind of marine creature one can think of. Catalina was interested in a plastic dolphin that sang when you pressed some buttons. We spent there a good half an hour :)
Catalina loved the kid's pool. Small enough to feel like a bathtub, she pretended she is an experienced swimmer.
Look mommy, I am swimming!
Catalina finally mastering the Hawaiian greeting sign!
We gave one more chance to the beach. While the waves were still very strong, we had some good time playing in the sand.
Seconds after I took this picture Catalina complained: "oy oy oy, a fly is bothering me!" Well, I guess life is not perfect :)
After relaxing at the pool, we decided to eat in style. So we went to a restaurant that had seating on the beach. Good food, pretty cheap (so not that much style), very nice atmosphere.
Like I said, our resort had nice grounds!
That's the spirit, kiddo!
For the last day, we left Road to Hana. This is probably one of the most debatable attractions in Maui. Some people love it, some people hate it. We decided we'll drive as long as we are having a good time. Once we get tired, we turn back.
The road is very scenic, with plenty opportunities to hike to amazing waterfalls. The first stop on the list is the Twin Falls. Most recommend against stopping here, as presumably there are plenty more spectacular waterfalls ahead. Not knowing how far we'll go, we stopped. It was amazing! The hike was nice, the waterfall was nice.
Banana tree!!
We had time for only one hike. Through a bamboo forest!! The first part, going up, was a breeze! Nicely paved road. Going down, with Catalina in my arms or around my neck I had to make stairs out of some very wild tree roots. Still fun and very scenic!
We drove some more after that. We saw amazing scenery, but we stopped only for pictures. The road was curvy and we were tired. I was coming down with a nasty bug. So, U turn and headed back to our condo.
We really wanted to end our evening with a nice dinner. So we went back to the nice place on the beach, different restaurant, more upscale. A very nice waiter explained to us how they cook the fish. He recommended the best drinks. We had a decadent dessert. It was a perfect dinner (except my cold, that was getting really bad).
We were getting ready to leave, asked for the bill and my dear husband asked me for the tenth time that evening: you have the wallet with you, right? And for the tenth time I told him that same thing: yes, leave me alone. It's just that this time, I actually had to reach in my purse, when...guess what: no wallet. We were in a VERY nice restaurant, at the end of a nice dinner, with a fat bill to pay, but with absolutely no money on us. And half an hour away from our resort. For a second I really panicked. And then I remembered that I shop online a little more than I should, so by now I know the credit card number by heart. And this is how we were saved from one very embarrassing situation.
And the rest is history. ha ha ha...Tiring trip back to the airport, hauling luggage when you also have high fever and a very active toddler around, a 10 hour flight back home where it's cold and raining. But we survived the trip and a week later we are over the jet lag!
Still tired, but ready to look back at all the nice pictures and maybe relive some of our Hawaiian adventures.
