BBL 2011-2012 | Cruise Around the Hawaiian Islands

#6 CRUISE AROUND THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS

Why did I include this on my Bucket List?

Because it's Hawaii. Duh!

And because I've been fascinated with Hawaii for pretty much my entire life, but thus far the only island I had visited was Maui.

Was the experience what I had hoped it would be?

A week definitely wasn't long enough to even begin to see and do everything that I would have wanted to, but it was wonderful to get a taste of the different islands. In general, the trip was a definite dream come true! But, going back to explore more that the islands have to offer will absolutely be on a future Birthday Bucket List.

The details...

Kevin and I, along with my family, took a 7 day cruise aboard the Norwegian Pride of America. The cruise visited ports on Oahu, Maui, Hawaii, Kauai, and back to Oahu. While we were there we did all sorts of fun things... we went snorkeling, swam under waterfalls, hiked through a rain forest, went kayaking, toured coffee and chocolate fields, went to a luau, went tubing, and toured Pearl Harbor. We also got to enjoy all of the typical cruise activities, like eating way too much and being amused by daily towel animals.

I didn't take as many photos on this trip as I usually do. In all honesty, I never even took my DSLR out of my camera bag! Since most of the excursions we opted to do were active and near water, I took most of the vacation photos with my point and shoot in its waterproof case. It felt a bit odd not to have a camera constantly in hand, but it was also great to feel like I was really engaged in the moments and experiencing the trip instead of worrying constantly about trying to capture the moments in photos. I'm very guilty of trying so hard to capture the prefect photos, that I often miss out on a lot of life as it is happening. I certainly didn't do that on this trip and it was a welcome change.

Of course, it is impossible to visit Hawaii and not take at least a few photos of the stunning scenery.  So, here is a peek at the amazing Hawaii landscape that I was lucky enough to experience while I was there...

Do you want to see my entire 2011-2012 Bucket List? You can find it here.

Michele Whitacre is a portrait photographer serving Phoenix, Arizona and the surrounding area. Visit Michele's website at michelewhitacrephotography.com. Become a fan of Michele's work on Facebook. Follow Michele's updates on Twitter.