Deaf Cruise Hawaii
April 15 - 22, 2006

Lillian Mittauer, the DSA 2007 Conference Chair, had the wonderful idea to set up a Hawaii cruise as a fundraising cruise for PBCAD/DSA. PBCAD/DSA is the sponsor for next year's DSA Conference in Orlando, Florida. We were 35 people in our group originating from different parts of the US and from Canada. The majority of our group booked a pre-cruise hotel package that allowed us to discover the island of Oahu while staying in a hotel in Honolulu's Waikiki Beach.
The first day, we traveled to an enchanting, lush rainforest located deep within the beautiful Valley of the Rainbows. Afterwards, we visit the Chinese Great Ancestors Mound situated high on a hill below Pu'u Pia. We also visited the Red Diamond Head Deaf School. Kerstin made arrangements for a guided tour of the school. It was sad that the school has only 85 deaf/blind students; while there are 10,000 deaf/hard of hearing students in all the island of Hawaii. Most of them are in the mainstream schools.	Red Diamond Head Deaf School, Hawaii
The next day, we got to know Hawaii from the inside out with an all-day tour. We circled the entire island and saw the world-famous Diamond Head Crater, the "Blow Hole and pineapple and sugar cane fields waving gently in the breeze. At night we enjoyed a Cocktail Show where the interpreters did an excellent performance. Before we embarked our ship, the "Pride of America", we toured Pearl Harbor and the Arizona Memorial Visitor's Center which was a very moving experience.
According to our cruise itinerary, we stopped in ports like Nawiliwili (Kaua'i), Hilo and Kona (Hawai'i), and Kahului (Maui). Each port offered an array of shore excursions. We saw fascinating places like the Volcanoes National Park, where 70 million years of volcanism are on display, a Macadamia Nut plantation, the Maui Tropical Plantation, the Secret Hawaiian Valley at Maui, the Parker Ranch at Kona, Waimea Canyon, the 'Grand Canyon of the Pacific', and Fern Grotto.

Contact Kerstin's Travel to book your next cruise by sending an e-mail to kerstin@kerstinstravel.com