Hawaii
UnCruise Adventures is a small ship cruise company that focuses on wilderness, wildlife and culture. I've written about them before as we have traveled to Costa Rica, Panama and Alaska with this company. This time we explored several Hawaiian Islands with UnCruise and got off the beaten path.
When people hear the word 'cruise' they typically think of huge ships. UnCruise emphasizes the word 'small' for a reason! Our home for the week was the Safari Explorer, lovingly referred to by staff as 'The Bulldog' for being strong and nimble. The maximum number of guests is 36, we only had 19 guests for our week at the beginning of April.
Our trip began on the island of Molokai. With only one hotel and no stop lights or high-rises, this island works hard to preserve the ancient Hawaiian traditions. Devak and his father Greg led us on a hike in the Halawa Valley to the Mo'oula Falls and provided a cultural presentation.
Next stop was the island of Lana'i where the six of us took a hike to a gorgeous overlook. The island was a former pineapple plantation. Currently billionaire Larry Ellison owns 98% of the island and both of the Four Seasons properties on Lana'i. He gets mixed reviews for his ownership. Our local guide loved telling us the story of Ellison getting pulled over for speeding in his orange corvette. As the guide said "he may own 98% of the island but he doesn't own the roads!"
From Lana'i we traveled the short distance to Maui and snorkeled among coral gardens that are a known sea turtle habitat.
The area between Lana'i, Molokai and Maui is the location of the Humpback National Marine Sanctuary. We were hoping to see plenty of whales and dolphins...we saw a few but were a little late for the humpback breeding season.
We were to have another day of snorkeling and kayaking off the shore of Maui but our captain informed us that the weather looked bad and we needed to cross the Alenuihaha Channel a day earlier than planned.
I'm a travel advisor. I do research. I go down rabbit holes when I am planning your trip or mine, yet I had never heard of the Alenuihaha Channel! A quick google search revealed some interesting information! The channel, which separates Maui and Hawaii has a depth of 6100 feet and is 30 miles wide. There is a significant wind funnel effect in the channel - Alenuihaha means "great billows smashing!" When I read that it is the second most dangerous crossing after Drake's Passage, I went to grab some anti nausea medicine which was thoughtfully in a basket in the dining room!
Just to be clear, I never felt unsafe, just uncomfortable! And I didn't sleep a wink. I don't think many of us did. Apparently our crossing was unusually rough - it gave us a shared bond the next day to talk about our night!
Off the island of Hawaii, we kayaked, snorkeled and hiked some more. A highlight was getting to snorkel at night and see manta rays! We were provided wetsuits for warmth and held on to a surf board with handles and lights underneath. The lights attract plankton, which attracts manta rays. With a wingspan averaging 22ft, the manta ray can weigh up to 4000lbs! They move incredibly gracefully through the water.
We saw plenty of beautiful sunrises and sunsets, from the top deck of the boat and enjoyed amazing food, beverages and experiences!
The crew on UnCruise are incredible. Knowledgeable, patient, fun and able to do just about anything. They all pitch in, some days when we were anchored, even the Captain would serve us breakfast!
