Boca Resort by night

The facade of the Boca Resort by night. Photo taken in January 2010.

Weekend reflections: Ye olde golf

Double your pleasure with this reflection from the Madison Green golf club near Palm Beach, Florida. It's a beautiful course with some challenging holes. I really enjoyed it!

Photo taken in January 2010. For a look at more reflections from around the world, check out Newton Daily Photo.

Skywatch Friday: Maui sunrise

A beautiful sunrise over a beautiful island.

To see more skies from around the world, click on the Skywatch link. Happy Friday!!

Surfin' USA

The water in Hawaii was gorgeous! This was a surfing beach we found in Kauai. Photo taken in January 2010.

Punchbowl cemetery

This burial place is officially called the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. But since it's located inside the Punchbowl Crater, everyone just refers to it as the Punchbowl Cemetery. It was an interesting place to visit and quite moving too. Photo taken in Honolulu, January 2010. For a look at more cemeteries, visit Tapophile Tragics.

Kauai scenery

There was no shortage of great scenery in Kauai. What a beautiful island!

Air roots

As the islands are made up of volcanos, there is no real topsoil to speak of. A lot of plants have adapted by growing air roots. When it rains, they suck in the water and minerals. Pretty cool!

Hawaiian church

A local church in Kona on the Big Island. The skies were darkening towards the end of the day, but we were lucky and made it back to the ship before the rain came.

Photo taken in January 2010.

Arizona Memorial

Double your looking pleasure with this reflection of the Arizona Memorial. It really is a moving experience to visit such an historic place in person. I definitely recommend it if you have the chance.

Note on the architecture: The designer of the memorial stated that it sags in the middle to represent the difficult times the US went through during WWII but the edges sweep up to the sky to represent our eventual victory.


Happy weekend! To see more reflections from around the world, click on the weekend reflections link.

Skywatch Friday: Pearl Harbor

A partially cloudy sky provides a beautiful backdrop for Old Glory at the Arizona Memorial in Hawaii. This photo was taken in January 2010.


Happy Friday!! To see more skies from around the world, click on the skywatch link.

I survived!

I am glad that some survived. The Arizona Memorial was a very moving place to visit. If you're ever in Hawaii, make the stop. It's worth it.

Great seal

Our ship in Hawaii sailed under an American flag and had a predominantly American crew. The decor around the ship was also American-themed. It was a refreshing change from some ships we've been on!

Dance floor

Every cruise ship has a disco, this is the Mardi Gras Lounge from the Pride of America. Sadly, not many cruisers took advantage of it during our week at sea. We had fun though - even if it meant dancing mainly with the crew.

Spikey tree

You definitely won't see me trying to shimmy up this one!

Photo taken during our waterfall hike in Maui, January 2010.

Creepy lady

We saw this spider during our waterfall hike in Maui. I can't remember what kind of spider he was, but our guide assured us she was harmless - unless you're her mate, of course! I believe this is the type of spider who mates and kills.

Reflections on the water

A beautiful sunrise reflected in the waters of Maui. Photo taken in January 2010.

To see more weekend reflections, visit Newton Daily Photo.

Sea turtle!

After the Molokini crater, the boat took us out to another site where the turtles hang. I saw two or three of them and luckily caught this one on film. They really fly in the water!

Photo taken in Maui, January 2010.

Pride of Maui

We took the Pride of Maui out to Molokini. It was a great boat with a great crew - an excellent day!

Molokini reef

This was the reef we snorkeled at Molokini. It was pretty spectacular!

Molokini crater

This crater is a volcano that sunk back into the sea just off the coast of Maui. Now it's home to tons of colorful fishies! We had a fantastic time snorkeling there.

Photo taken in January 2010.

Chapel window

An original window inside the chapel I showed you yesterday. It has a nice view too!

Bayside wedding chapel

A wedding chapel in paradise. I'll show you another view tomorrow.

Photo taken in Kona on the Big Island in January 2010.

Weekend reflections: waterfall

In Maui, we took a waterfall hike. It was a lovely place for swimming, jumping into the pools and swinging from rope swings. If you ever happen to be in Maui, I would definitely recommend it - Hike Maui. Photo taken in January 2010.

To see more reflections from around the world, click here.

Lava tube

I heard about the lava tubes before going to visit the volcano, but I really didn't have any idea of what they were. Now I do! This is an empty lava tube - the hot, molten stuff was once rushing through these very walls. When the lava meets a dead end, the pressure builds up causing an eruption. It was a very interesting visit, to say the least.

Lava

More of Mount Kiluea. This is where some dried lava cracked and bunched up. There was so much interesting terrain.

Photo taken in January 2010.

The plume

This is the plume you saw in the background of yesterday's photo. This crater is near the Volcanoes National Park. Sometimes this area is closed, depending on the way the wind blows. Although it looks like steam - this is actually a plume of gases which can be poisonous if inhaled in large quantities. It was a very cool day - we even saw some molten lava flowing (from a great distance) as we cruised by the island that night.

Mount Kiluea

My husband and I hiked across this volcanic crater during our recent visit to Hilo, Hawaii. There is live lava only 50 feet underneath, it was pretty exciting to walk across a live volcano!

Photo taken January 2010.

Lush gardens

A beautiful garden setting in Kona, the perfect place for an outdoor wedding! Photo taken in January 2010.