Hawaii....Days 5-9

Tuesday was our second day on Maui. My sister arranged a fantastic snorkeling trip to Molokini Crater. Does anyone know why the water in Hawaii is so blue? Because I couldn't get over it the entire trip. God's creations are truly a wonder!

We sailed out to the crater on a large 2-story boat, equipped with snorkeling equipment, a slide and barbeques to make lunch for the 100 or so people on board. They anchored th boat and we began snorkeling. My brother-in-law was able to scuba dive at the same place. Trevor and 2 other family members tried Snuba diving. It's a cross between snorkeling and scuba diving. A raft with your air tank floats above you and you are connected to your air with a hose while you swim below. He loved it, and is now ready to become scuba certified. I stuck to snorkeling and was not disappointed. The variety of coral and fish were amazing. Again, this world is truly a wonder!

We sailed through the night and arrived in Kona on the big island on Wednesday morning. Trevor, my dad and my brother went golfing at the Kona Country Club. Their beach course was incredibly beautiful, as you can imagine, and I was told that the golfing was pretty good, too!

I did some snorkeling with the girls until Trevor was finished golfing. There was an awesome beach spot right next to the pier. That was another amazing thing about Hawaii. There were great beaches everywhere that were so accessible. You could be driving along the road and see a beach and pull of the road and you're there. Nothing at all like the San Diego beaches that we were used to! The next activity of the day in Kona was parasailing. This was a first for us also and I was a little worried about it but it was so fun. The view from the top was incredible and it was so quiet and peaceful up there. They had tandem parasailing available so Trevor and I went together. So so fun! Kona was one of the places that we would love to visit again. It was a charming beach town that, by the way, had a little shave ice shack that serves a coconut shave ice that is to die for!

Thursday and Friday were spent on Kauai. Kauai is known as the garden island and lived up to any image of paradise that you've ever imagined. There is a mountain on Kauai that gets more rainfall that anywhere else in the entire world. One word that describes Kauai is green. So different from anything that this desert-dwelling-girl has ever seen! Thursday morning half of our group went on a tree top zip lining expedition. Trevor was part of this group, I was not. I totally chickened out on this one! They had an absolute blast, though, tethered to safety lines the whole time that they zoomed down zip lines and crossed rope bridges in the tops of the trees.

The rest of us opted for the Tubing the Ditch expedition. Way relaxing, way beautiful and way fun. We sat on big inner tubes and floated down old irrigation ditches through the rainforest. The ditches went through tunnels part of the way and we wore headlamps so we could see in the dark. (To be honest, I was a little worried about this because I'm a little claustrophobic but it was totally fine.) The tubes floated and spun and went along at a good speed and we visited and laughed while taking in the sights. And our guides shared some interesting facts along the way.

Next the two groups met up and we taxied to Kapaa. We rented beach cruiser bikes from a local bike shop. There is a paved bike trail in Kapaa that goes right along the coconut coast. So scenic, we're talking picture post card beaches along here! This was so much fun!!! We rode the length of the trail and stopped for some beach time in between.

We went on a Mud Bugging expedition on our second day on Kauai. We dressed in mud gear and drove along private roads through the interior of the island in go-cart style cars. We got plenty dirty along the way. Our guides told us a lot about the history of the island and pointed out several areas that were used in movies. They took us to a gorgeous waterfall where we ate lunch and went swimming. Then it was back to more off-roading fun.

We got back on the ship Friday afternoon and headed back to Honolulu. Before leaving Kauai the ship sailed along the Napali Coast. I've said a lot about how beautiful these islands were but this coastline was by far the grandest, most spectacular sight I have ever beheld. The Napali coastline is only accessible by boat or plane due to the sea cliffs that tower over the shore. Some areas of this coastline have never been reached by anyone. I couldn't help but think that this place is the ultimate testimony of God's creation and love for His children. Perhaps He was the last to touch some of these areas. We know that this Earth on which we live is Telestial and that the Celestial Kingdom will be far more beautiful than anything we've seen here. I wondered though, as I looked at this coastline, if He left us just a little taste of the Celestial. Just enough to make us stand in awe as we look at it. Just enough to make us think about how much He loves us to give us such beauty while we're here. Just enough to make us want to do our best so can live forever surrounded by even more beauty. For me, it was enough to pause and marvel.