We had headed to southern California to escape winter in BC and decided we would like to get a bit warmer than a California winter so we booked a 14-day return cruise out of San Diego to the Hawai’ian Islands.  The weather was lovely the day we set sail.  And the weather was lovely two weeks later the day we returned to San Diego.  All of the days in-between were rainy and cool!  Every single day!  So much for getting warm in Hawai’i!  It was the first time I was ever happy to get off a cruise ship.  Absolutely crazy.It seems to me that half of the world’s ports have a three-masted schooner tied to a berth.  They are all over the place.  I love them though.

We have been to Hawai’i several times and have been to all the must-see tourist places so we did very little on the cruise and in the ports.  After four days at sea we docked in Hilo, on the wet side of the Big Island.  We have spent quite a bit of time on the Big Island and have been to Hilo several times.  We just walked into town from the port – and this was the only three or so hours of warm sunshine we had.  I actually got a bit of sunburn on our walk.  It took over an hour to get into Hilo, we walked the length of the main street and then walked back to the ship, arriving just as the sky opened for a torrential rain storm.

The only island we traveled around was Maui, as we have never stayed on that island, and have previously only seen Lahaina.  We rented a car and did a drive around the north west ‘thumb’ of Maui. We spent a month on Kauai a few years ago, so that island we have pretty much covered as well and felt no need to do anything but take a walk.

The last port was Honolulu on Oahu – a big city with a famous beach. Sailing away – Diamond Head is a very recognizable point in Honolulu.  And, then it was back to San Diego.