Aloha and Mahalo!

A warm Hawaiian congratulations to our 67 amazing Hawaii cruise earners! Earlier in the month, NCL's Pride of America set sail with some of the "Pride of Close To My Heart" onboard: wonderful top-performing Consultants, a chosen guest, and in many cases, family and friends to share the experience along with our Vice Presidents Monica Wihongi, Kristine Widtfeldt, and Brian Holman. A special shout out goes to our 21 first-time earners! How I hope it was a magical, memorable and "must-repeat" adventure for each of you. Although Hawaii is truly my favorite place on earth, for a variety of reasons, I was unable to attend the cruise—but my, have I enjoyed the stories! To share some highlights, I've asked the veeps to share their thoughts:

KRISTINE

We spent two days on the "big island," with one day in Hilo and the second in Kona. Both days brought sprinkles but that didn't dampen our enthusiasm for the lush forests and beautiful vistas and delicious eats. Our Close To My Heart excursion was an on-the-bus/off-the-bus dance that involved a ton of cool stops, starting with the horticulture gardens, replete with awesome photo ops. Here's Ginni Candelaria making the most of the scenery.

We also saw Rainbow Falls. My husband kinda ignored the sign to stay behind the railing :), so I focused on taking photos of others—like friend Karen Morris, dutifully standing well behind the railing.

We stopped at the famous black-sand beaches of Hilo, courtesy of all the volcanic activity. I have a tradition of always taking a photo of my feet/shoes in an iconic place when I'm on vacation, so here's my customary shot featuring my new walking shoes—before they were destroyed by mud—on that crunchy black sand. 

We also visited Big Island Candy and the Mauna Loa macadamia nut factory, where we all stocked up on local favorite treats. Random trivia: did you know that macadamia nuts are the top crop grown in Hawaii? It's not pineapple, like some folks might think—our guide said pineapple isn't even grown commercially there anymore! Judging by our group, you'd think the biggest export was chocolate—check out Karen Pedersen stocking up on chocolate-covered macadamia nuts to share with loved ones back home (or not, right, Karen?).

The highlight of the day was Volcano National Park, home to Kilauea. She was a little camera shy that morning, and preferred to hide under clouds of mist and steam. Still, we got some great shots at the steam vents (it was like walking on the moon!) off the beaten trail. It was fun to see what everyone REALLY looks like—wet hair, rain ponchos and all—here are Shari Froemming and husband Stacey in all their steam-vent glory, and Shari and I moments before disappearing into a lava tube (watch out, Indiana Jones!)

MONICA

Kauai is my absolute favorite of all the Hawaiian Islands!   This was our final island stop before returning back to Oahu to go home. 

We planned a group excursion to kayak and then hike to a waterfall known as Secret Falls (the Hawaiian name is Uluwehi Falls). Before I begin describing our adventure, you must know that for many days prior to our excursion Kauai had record-breaking rain—more than 36 inches in just two days!  Typically the conditions are much more mild than what we experienced. 

We started out in two-man kayaks, navigating a pretty deep and wide river that was overflowing because of all the rain. That was a pretty intense river! 

Once we made it to our landing point we began our 1 1/2 mile hike up the rigorous paths, which were full of tree roots and massive amounts of mud! We needed to cross several small rivers, which again, because of the rain had risen up to waist-deep water. The current was so strong that we had to hold on to ropes to cross. 

The hiking trails were more challenging than usual, too: the mud was more than ankle deep, and there was so much mud that many of our group decided that it would be easier to walk barefoot!  This "nature walk" had become our very own "CTMH Survivor"! 

Once we reached the falls it was unbelievably amazing.  The rain had caused it to be above 80% of what it normally flows. It was something to behold. I couldn’t resist jumping in. What an amazing photo opportunity!!

After a yummy lunch we all geared up for the long trek back through mud land :). As we headed back down the trail, we did have an unfortunate accident, one of my worst fears realized: our dear friend and Consultant, Lynn Como was injured, dislocating her elbow after a fall. She was quickly helped by many in her hiking group (with a special shout out to Greg Gilbertson, husband of Consultant Margi Gilbertson). 

They were quick to take control of the situation and literally carry Lynn to the kayak where the guide kayaked her out to a place where she could be rushed to the hospital. Gratefully, Lynn is doing better and in fact told everyone at our business meeting the next day that she loved this excursion above any other we have ever offered and would do it again, given the chance! Wow, she is the ULTIMATE CTMH survivor! So happy she is on her way to a full recovery.  

For many, this excursion was scary, hard, exhausting, team building, uniting, fun, funny, spectacular and like nothing we have ever done as a group before.  I’m sure there are many different stories that those who were there could tell and I’m not sure we would do it again, but for me, ultimately it was about being together with the people I respect, admire and love to have adventures with. I’m pretty sure this will be one of those excursions that goes down in Close to My Heart history!  Here’s to all the mud warriors:  I’ll be working on a Convention ribbon to give each of you that says, “I survived the Kauai excursion!”

BRIAN

We started and finished the cruise on the island of Oahu.  As we left our weeklong home away from home, the Pride of America, we boarded two tour buses for a circle island tour. We got to visit the Dole Pineapple Plantation and enjoy pineapple-flavored ice cream. We witnessed the natural wonders of the Halona Blowhole and beautiful Hanauma Bay.  

But for me the highlight of the excursion was our visit to the WWII Valor in the Pacific National Monument including the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor.  We saw a powerful video of the history of the Pearl Harbor attack and then were escorted to the boat that took us to the USS Arizona Memorial.  It was a solemn experience to see the names of all those who are entombed in the USS Arizona and reflect up their sacrifice. 

It was also touching to see the names of those survivors who chose to have their ashes returned to the USS Arizona after they passed away to be with their fallen comrades.  

As we were viewing the names, I noticed that there was a wreath gifted from Nagaoka City, Japan.  I reflected on the gesture and was reminded of Japan's devastating loss that happened with the earthquake and tsunami one year ago.  It was great to be there with my Close To My Heart friends that share my same love of God, family and country.