Our Cruise

So we were cruising with an LDS group of about 32 people organized under a company called "Cruise Lady".  We have traveled with them before although this was by far the smallest group we have been with.  Traveling with this group adds some LDS flavor to the cruise including visits and historical information about LDS people in Hawaii, the first LDS Chapel built in Hawaii, and the Kona Temple.  The other thing they do is provide a headliner who speaks at special meetings when you are at sea.  This time it was Michael Ballam who is a opera singer and director of the Utah Theater Opera in Logan, Utah.  He performed three concerts for us and talked about musical theater and other topics as he performed.  He was awesome.

We took over 600 pictures plus "Cruise Lady" took another 1000+ so I can't possibly even begin to share them all (hey, I can see the relief on your faces...at least pretend you want to see them all!)  I will share some of my favorites and in the process tell a bit about what we did.

As a framework, we got on board the ship Saturday night in Honolulu and disembarked on the following Saturday morning in Honolulu.  In the middle we spent 2 days at Maui, two days on the Big Island, and two days on Kauia.  We saw volcanos, palm trees, beaches, plants and flowers, waves, and lava.  We rode on buses, hiked, took a few small boats, and took walks on the beach.  Gary and I managed a few minutes of snorkling and saw a great variety of fish in a short amount of time.

Haleakala Volcano--inside
Maui
It was very cold up here.

Then the fog moved in to cover the volcano and the road as we traveled down

First LDS Church in Hawaii

Hawaii greenery

Rainy morning on the Black sand beaches--
but walking in the black sand was on my bucket list so
Gary and I took our shoes off and enjoyed the sand despite the rain.

A venting volcano on the Big Island

Our group in front of the Kona Temple
It has a beautiful view to the ocean.

End of the first section..........................more later!!!!