Thursday, March
23, 2006 - Home to Hawai'i
Up at 3:30
a.m. to get to Nashville for an 8:15 flight to Denver.
We had dropped off our check-in baggage at
the curb-side check-in when Tommy thought better of his packing and
pulled out
the sip-lock bag that had his billfold in it (he had pulled out the
important
items so he could check it through then changed his mind at the last
minute. As we got into the LONG
security line, he realized he had also put his knife in the bag
(because he
wanted it to be in the checked bags since you can’t take it on the
plane with
you). So he now had to knife with him
instead of in the check-in bags as we had planned.
We thought
maybe they had relaxed the restrictions on pocket knives, but found we
were
wrong – AT the security gate. SO . . .
I wound up with our 2 hats, two backpacks, camera (and case), and other
carry-on bag while Tommy went back to the car to take his knife (repeat
of the
scenario in November!). My security
check-in would have made a good Charlie Chaplin movie:
the computer (for downloading photos from
the camera on the trip) had to come out of the case and go into a bin,
as did
the camera. Then each bag had to have a
bin (4 more) and the hats and my jacket shared a bin (7 bins in all) –
and
other people were putting their things in line between mine. Then
my shoes set off the alarm, so they had
to go up on the belt, then my belt buckle set off the alarm, so I had
to do the
personal scan thing (while our “stuff” was piling up on the belt!).
Then I had to collect and repack everything
at the other end. What a scene it must
have been!
I then
waited a little, but Tommy didn’t come, so I called to tell him I was
heading
for the gate; he had not even gotten on the shuttle at that time.
At the gate, I had only a few minutes to
wait before they started boarding – and Tommy was not in sight! I
went back to the gate – with all four bags
and 2 hats! – and told the lady our situation.
She said did I know how long the security line was? [like I
hadn’t just
come from that carnage] (I did not feel very comfortable with her
attitude!) There were about 12
passengers that had not showed up, though, so there was time. I
called Tommy and told him our status.
When the
last person besides us had boarded, the lady told me Tommy had 5
minutes to get
there. I called him to tell him that
and he said he was going through security at the time.
The lady was not sympathetic, even though I
point out we were connecting in Denver to a flight to Honolulu – she
just made
a “pained look” kind of face. I began
watching the hall for Tommy and when I saw him, I told her. She
told me to take my bags and go and he
could get the others and follow. We had
made the flight (minus the pocket knife, again)!
For Tommy’s
part, he said the line was still long when he got to security and there
were
several wheelchairs that were being checked through on one side.
He looked up and the man on the other line
seemed to be open and so Tommy motioned
to him to see if he could go through.
Luckily the man was very nice and let Tommy come through or we
might
have missed the flight.
26o
in Nashville when we left. We had to
climb through clouds to gt to the cruising altitude, so that part was
bumpy. The plane was an “express,” so
there were 2 seats on either side of the aisle and it was not designed
for a
lot of comfort: not much padding in the
seats. We were glad to change planes
when we got to Denver.
As we were
getting ready to land, the pilot told us there had been freezing fog
and we
were going to circle to wait for it to clear.
He said we had 20 minutes of fuel to circle and if it didn’t
clear by
then, we would have to land at Colorado Springs and then they would get
us to
Denver from there (so much for our connection to Honolulu – the day was
beginning to look even more sketchy than it had at security in
Nashville! But we “lucked out” and the fog
cleared and
we landed on time at Denver. Snow was
on the ground, but the runways were clear.
The de-icing trucks were out along the runways, but by the time
we got
there, they were not having to work on the planes.
Again we were going through the clouds coming down and going
up. In Denver we had to change planes
and had a short wait, so we took that time to eat our “lunch” which we
had
brought with us (since United had started charging extra for their
lunches).
Our flight
to Honolulu took about 7½ hours because of a headwind.
That was a LONG flight! I
worked puzzles most of the way and Tommy
watched the movie and other video stuff.
We were seated about mid-way of the plane right in front of the
big
screen TV (no seats in front of us). We
still had our “supper” sandwiches which we had brought on the plane
with us as
well as snacks, and United served water and soft drinks.
Amazingly
we still encountered
turbulence a few times at our cruising altitude, but for the most part,
it was
a smooth flight. Landing was a
different matter. As we approached
Honolulu, we began to encounter clouds.
Tommy was listening on the cockpit channel on the seat headphones and
said our pilot found a small break in the storm and landed through it;
another
plane on the ground decided to delay takeoff based on what our pilot
said of
the conditions we had come through.
Just as our plan slowed to taxi speed, “the bottom fell out” and rain
really started coming down; but by the time we got to the terminal, it
had
slowed greatly. Luckily the ramp was
covered, so it really didn’t matter (except for dodging the
leaks!).
Just a hint of things to come . . .
We
were met by Norwegian Cruise
Lines people who took our check-in baggage and saw to it that it made
it to our
hotel room. Then we got on a bus for a LONG
ride from the airport to our Marriott Hotel on Waikiki Beach – during
rush
hour!
When we finally
got here, NCL had our room keys and real leis for us! We went to the room and set down our packs,
freshened up, and then went out to find supper before our meeting with
our
square dance caller, Jerry Rash, at 8:00.
We went for a walk along Waikiki Beach as the sun set and the
tiki
torches provided light along the walk.
Sunset, palm trees, banyan trees, tiki torches – how Hawaiian! It was late and we were tired, so for supper
we found a “sushi bar” nearby that had a really good Teriyaki chicken
dish. (Sushi was EVERYWHERE in Hawai’i and
at
every meal on the boat, but then it seemed that almost half the
tourists we saw
there Japanese.)
At our
meeting with Jerry, we learned that the dances were at 10:00 A.m. on
Monday,
Wednesday, and Friday! Oops!
We had signed up for shore tours! Well,
we may get in one dance, but we
quickly learned that dancing was NOT the FOCUS of the cruise; the
cruise is a
group of people who share a love of square dancing and take an
opportunity to
travel together to places they could not afford otherwise.
Friday,
March 24, 2006 - Honolulu, O'ahu
We had
checked with NCL when we got to the hotel to see if we could get the
Deluxe
circle island tour that had been full when we set up our shore tours
before
leaving home. They got us on one at 8:15
on Friday, so we left a wake-up call for 6:30, afraid we would
oversleep
because we were so tired. Silly us –
jet lag kicked in and we were awake by 6:00!
So we were
up in plenty of time for the cruise and got a sandwich at the ABC store
in the
hotel (ABC stores are like the mini-Wal-Marts of Hawai’i – there are at
least 2
per block on all the main drags, one in each major hotel and a variety
of
little “hole-in-the-wall” sites everywhere).
We proceeded to the tour door to await our tour.
8:30 came, and no bus. Tommy went
to the NCL office in the hotel to
check. They assured us that traffic was
bad and the bus would be there in 5 minutes.
Try 25
minutes, and it was NOT
the tour bus
but was one that was to TAKE
us to the tour bus which had
stopped
at the side of the street to wait for us.
So we were about an hour late starting the tour.
The tour
was great, though. We got to see a
variety of communities around the island of Oahu, and a real variety of
land –
mountains inland and, in some areas, with houses all the way up the
sides of
the mountains – multi-million-dollar houses in some instances.
We got to
see Diamond Head, but did not get to go into the crater [*sigh*].
We also saw Sunset Beach – actually walked
on it – where surfing competitions are held.
The waves were really huge! Our
last stop was Dole Pineapple Plantation where we took a ride on the
“Pineapple
Express” – a little train that took us through some fields showing the
various
steps in the process of growing pineapples (and of course it rained, so
we had
the clear plastic rain curtains down to restrict viewing).
The
plantation was started by J. D. Dole
who began the Dole fruit canning process with this pineapple plantation.
Saturday, March
25, 2006 - Honolulu, O'ahu
We did not
have to leave the hotel until 12:00 and would not be in our rooms on
the ship
until 1:30. So we took a leisurely
stroll up Ala Moana Blvd. which goes along the shore at Waikiki Beach. It has all the expensive shops (and an ABC
store about every block it seemed!), and several places to eat, though
none
serving breakfast. We finally found a
restaurant that served breakfast in a fast-food manner and took our
food
outside and ate at a table there – very pleasant if you ignored the
sounds of
traffic out front.
Back at the
hotel, we took pictures of ourselves in our leis, rested a while, and
then
packed our carry-on bags and went downstairs to checked out and catch a
shuttle
to the ship (we had already put the heavy bags out the night before and
NCL
took care of getting them on board). It
was just a short trip to the ship. Once
on the ship, we went to deck 11 which had the buffet and had lunch
about
12:30. We had already done the
“pre-board” formalities at the NCL office in the hotel, so getting on
the ship
was just a matter of walking on with our “sail-and-sign” card and photo
ID.
When we got
to our room, we unpacked the carry-on (our checked bags were delivered
later in
the afternoon) and checked the TV to see about the tours we had booked. Our room was an interior room – no porthole
to look out of to find the horizon – but I did amazingly well on this
trip: no real disorientation except for
one day. The room was compact – as all
these rooms always are – but had a refrigerator which was very
convenient for
us and kept our leis in excellent condition for the entire trip.
Some
mention needs to be made about the buffet.
The food was good; each day was a different cultural focus. There was always the hamburger/hot dog line,
and in one area was the children’s buffet with “kid food” on a serving
table
down at their level – a really nice touch for families.
The
glasses were the first thing to
catch our eye: they were almost all
little 6-oz. Juice glasses. When we
asked about this, the explanation was that the parent company of the
cruise
line was European based, and that was their version of a “water glass.” So we went down to the ship’s store and
bought Tommy a nice 16-oz insulated “travel” cup (I already had my
large cup
for my tea); so – WHEN we remembered to take it – he had plenty to
drink
without having to take 3 or 4 cups to the table or go back several
times for a
refill.
The other
thing was plates and silverware: if you
went to the buffet at peak time (which on the first day it was one of
only two
places serving), you had trouble getting a large plate and silverware. Later, as people went to other places to
eat, there was not so much of a problem, but we did have several meals
when we
were scrounging for plates or taking several “dessert” plates and
putting one
or two items on a plate. We were
disappointed to find that there was not a hot chocolate machine as we
had found
on Carnival: here you mixed the powered
mix with hot water. But – of course –
they had the ice cream machines (my downfall) and we located those
right away!
The ship
pulled out at 8:00 that night, heading for “the big island” of Hawaii,
our
first stop.
Sunday, March 26, 2006 - Hilo, Hawai'i
We went to
the buffet for breakfast, but – as with Carnival – for some reason
breakfast is
the only meal when you can’t find cheese on the bar (I like my
scrambled eggs
with cheese); they have it in the omelet line, but not out on the bar. So I have to get my eggs then get in the
omelet line and wait to get cheese on the (by then, cold) eggs. And, since we were still on “mainland time”,
we were up early and the omelet line had not opened; the “fixins” were
there,
but in covered bowls. Tommy pointed out
the ship’s officer who was evidently in charge of the buffet (if not
all the food),
and said he could probably get into the cheese for me.
So I went to him and asked if I could get
some of the cheese and he was very nice and opened the bowl and got
some for me
– very, very nice about it. Of course
the eggs were still cold when I got back to them, but – hey – I had
cheese!
Our tour
was the Lava Viewing Hike. This went by
bus through Hilo to Mt. Kilauea, the most active volcano on Earth. We saw several dormant calderas and finally
got to the ranger station at the lava site (or close to it, anyway). (I got my passport book stamped there). Due to the nature of the eruptions, the Park
Service had closed the area that would have put us close to the flowing
lava: the lava creates a “shelf” as the
lava cools coming from the vents and hitting the cold ocean water (it
is
actually coming through along lava tube from the heart of the volcano). Since there is nothing to support the shelf,
when it gets enough weight on it, it breaks off. The
last shelf to form had been about 25 feet long; the one
formed when we were there was already over 40 feet long, so it was
overdue for
breaking off. We did get to hike pretty
close to the steam cloud – over some very rough pahoe-hoe lava (they
issue
light-weight gloves to you before you go, in case you have to use your
hands to
balance or in case you fall), some of which was only a year or so old –
newest
land on Earth. The lava we walked over
had covered a road and was really beautiful in a stark way – the colors
of the
lava were incredibly varied; the textures varied also – from smooth to
ropey
with cracks and breaks everywhere. Such
power and force are hard to imagine happening.
We also
stopped at the rim of the caldera where there were steam vents all
around us –
you could go right up to them, knowing that the hole lead somehow down
to the
magma chamber. It was very barren –
just volcanic rock and sulfur patches everywhere. There
are really three “walls” of the caldera, each wider than
the previous one. ON the rim of the
second one is the Jaggar Museum which we visited briefly.
It has some VERY informative
displays about volcanoes and about Kilauea in particular.
After our
day with “Madame Pele,” we stopped briefly at a macadamia nut farm and
saw the
plant where the nuts are processed and packaged. Tommy
bought some nuts there, but later decided that the ones he
had gotten at a previous stop on the tour were better than the ones
from the
farm.
About 10:00
tonight we went out on the deck to watch as we passed by the lava vent
that we
had hiked toward during the day. What a
light show! There were at least 4
distinct places where the lava came out into the ocean with a brilliant
red
glow. One vent especially was highly
explosive, sending geysers of red-to-white hot lava high into the air. Incredibly beautiful!
We then got
some ice cream and came back to our room where – my grandchildren will
be glad
to know – the movie The Incredibles was showing, so I
finally
got to see it! Had to go to Hawai’i to
do it, but now I’ve seen it.
Monday, March 27, 2006 - Maui
My last
“official” day of employment with Henry County School System.
Figured out
breakfast: don’t go to the buffet as
you can’t get large plates and silverware; food is good, just no way to
consume
it. Our solution? Go
to Cadillac Diner. Food is limited in
choice, but for breakfast
has all we want (and you don’t pay extra).
Also has LARGE
glasses – which they refill!
Of course it comes at a little price of
inconvenience: the line is always long
and it takes “Forever”
to get seated since they are very slow at
busing tables and even slower at seating people once tables are
available. But once you are seated,
service is great and food is good.
So, after a
great breakfast, we went out on deck – had an hour to wait before we
could
square dance and then another 45 min. after the dance till we left to
go whale
watching. We spent the time looking out
over the water and were rewarded with seeing some whales “spouting” and
one
“breaching” in the distance; apparently they had been
alongside the ship
earlier as the ship was docking.
At 10:00 we
went to the Mardi Gras Ballroom for the square dance.
Jerry was having to wait for a technician to get his turntable
set up with the stage sound. So we
actually got started about 10:15. Then
we stepped on the floor and it was AWFUL!
Our shoes stuck to the floor which is
terrible for dancing! First tip was
really hard on our ankles and knees (which were a little worn out from
yesterday’s lava hike!), so second tip we took our shoes off.
That was MUCH
better! And not the
first time we’ve ever had to do that.
Some of the other dancers tried it and agreed it was better – as
long as
you were not barefooted.
We left a
little early to be sure we got to our whale watching tour on time (had
to go by
the room and get our “gear”). There was
no one to direct us on the dock, but we figured that was because we
were
early. So we went on out onto the shore
and stood for a while in the rain (we had umbrellas and ponchos because
we had
known the weather would be rainy at least through tomorrow.
Finally we asked someone where we needed to
be for the whale watching tour and learned that the tour had been CANCELED!!!!!
We then had to go back through security
(just like airport security only with more sensitive scanners) and then
back
through the ship check-in. When we got
to our room, Tommy called the front desk and asked why there was no
sign or
something at the gangway to tell us – and they said they didn’t know it
had been
canceled
(the TOURS desk knew, but not the front desk and for some reason it
never occurred to anyone to put a sign up as we left the ship).
So now we are sitting here thinking of things we can do besides
go
shopping (at some very expensive places) or play Pictionary on board
the ship
later today (they have organized some “rainy day” activities).
Yeah, right, sure; just our thing.
Well, we
opted for a thrilling afternoon of watching two tugs bring a “car
hauler” ship
in and dock it right behind our ship.
It became rather interesting when they pushed it into the dock:
since it was apparently empty, the bottom
corner of the ship actually went up over the dock and caught on some
concrete
parking blocks, apparently making some sort of hole in the corner of
the ship
as we then saw something dripping from the corner of the ship.
And we then got to watch them attach the hawsers
to the dock – and watch a variety of guys get down on the tires on the
dock
(which buffer between ships and dock) and look up under the edge of the
ship at
the damage. The last one came in with a
camera. We then had our view obstructed
by the ramp they were lowering to allow vehicles to drive into the hold
of the
ship. We later determined they had
unloaded a few vehicles which were lined up on the dock when our ship
left
port.
After this
exciting afternoon activity, we got ice cream (what else?) and went to
our room
(Shrek II was on) and took a nap. We
got up about 7:00 and went to the buffet for supper.
Then Tommy steered me to the Mardis Gras room and we watched the
ballroom dancing (really just enjoyed the music as we are not very good
without
cues to follow). Then there was line
dancing, and I got on the floor for that (which was what Tommy had in
mind when
he steered us in there). We did several
dances, last and hardest was “Slapping Leather” done to “Chattahoochie”
– a
real workout! They had several young
crew members who got out to help the others learn the dances (and so
there
would be a good number of dancers on the floor).
HAPPY
BIRTHDAY TO MOTHER AND ME! AND . . . HAPPY RETIREMENT TO
ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My first
day of retirement! (This is also Jerry
Rash’s birthday, the caller who organized the cruise).
We went on a tour to Haleakala Crater, over
10,000 feet high. Beautiful views of
Maui as we climbed a switchback road up the face of the mountain. Maui is actually two dormant volcanoes with
a low “isthmus” between them where the city of Kahului spreads out. Maui is more agricultural with one pineapple
plantation – not large – which may be headed for closure soon, and
sugar cane
plantations – the last in Hawai’i.
Sugar cane is also on its “last legs.”
The big industry here is cattle – the beef is exported however,
not much
locally processed. And – an interesting
note - chickens were imported into Hawai’i years ago to help with
insect
problems with some of the crops, and so they have become wild; we saw
them on
every island.
The climate
on Maui ranges from tropical at sea level to sub-alpine/Aeolian closer
to the
top of the mountain. When we reached
the top, the temperature was in the low 40’s with a wind – it was COLD! And – of course – there were clouds. When we got to the top, the driver explained
why there had been a “sunrise” tour:
sunrise is the only time the sky is clear; after that the clouds
begin
to form and it is hard (and in our case impossible) to see the crater,
even
though the ranger station sits right on the rim; it was rim/cloud –
nothing in
between and no visibility beyond the rim.
There was a
great variety of plants. IN the
national park, the grounds have been dedicated to preserving the native
plants. This is the only place on the
island where the “silver sword” plants can grow; the only other place
they grow
is the upper elevations of Hawai’i.
They grow only at the high elevations and have shallow root
systems and
hairy leaves to conserve moisture; they may live 50 years before
blooming, then
once they bloom, they die. I did manage
to get pictures of some.
Our tour
driver was very interesting and well informed about the plants and
animals of
the area. He had humorous stories to
tell about growing up and things he learned from his grandparents –
things of
native culture that many people would not get today.
He named a couple of Hawaiian kings and said there would be a
“test” later. When it came to the
“test” – one of them – Tommy and another man tied for coming closest to
the correct
pronunciation. The driver was going to
give the winner a CD of Hawaiian music.
He only had one CD, so he said they had to play “Junk-an-po” (I
have no
idea of how to spell it) which we call “Rock, Scissors, Paper.” The other guy did scissors and Tommy did
paper (so the other guy got the CD).
As a
preface to the next story, I had gotten a beautiful pink coral ring on
O’ahu
which had the coral carved in a rosebud shape sitting on top of the
ring. Apparently it was not attached very
well
because the day after I got it, I noticed the coral was missing. We looked and looked where we were standing
(in the Hertz car rental shop in the hotel), but didn’t see it; so we
went back
to the room and found it there – apparently it had come off when I put
my hand
into my jeans pocket. Now, back to the
story . . . When we got back to the ship from our tour, we called the
company
where I had gotten my coral ring and asked where their Maui store was. They said about 2 miles, but they were
closing. So we decided to mail the ring
to them as they said they would fix it and return it to us at no charge. So we got directions to the post office and
went ashore. After mailing it, we went
into
a store and got some Aloha shirts and a “mumu” for me.
Then on the way back to the ship, going
through a little mall area, I saw a jewelry store and HAD to stop in;
there was
a beautiful piece of lavender jade the I got – it was almost
translucent, very
pretty.
When
we
finally got back on the ship, we had heard from Jerry that there was a
birthday message on his tv that morning. Since our tv had not
been turned off the night before (as usual) there was no message that
morning. So we went to the room and turned the tv on (it
automatically comes up to the ship's menu page) and there was a happy
birthday message from the ship's crew! Neat! We then went
to supper and then later went up for
late
night ice cream and - what else? - hot chocolate!
Wednesday, March 29, 2006 - Kona Coast, Hawai'i
Our tour
started at 10:45 ASHORE, so we had to get a tender from the ship to the
shore
since the harbor was too shallow for the ship.
We went to the Cadillac Diner for breakfast since we had time,
and they
can fix what we like. We got on shore
early and had an hour to walk through some of the shops on shore. Tommy found a beautiful piece of pink coral
carved like a pineapple at Maui Divers (their pink coral comes from the
southern
tip of Maui at about 1200 feet). We
also got some other souvenirs and left them at the shop – saying we’d
pick them
up later; we left my business card with our cell phone # in case the
lady
wanted to call us about something.
FINALLY we
left on the sea part of our Kona by Land and Sea tour which took us
down the
coast to a
small cove where we had a lunch of sandwiches, fruit, and chips. We spent some time looking for whales and
saw three at a distance. Then the
driver took us where they had seen some “Spinner” dolphins on an
earlier
tour. They are called “Spinner” because
of their way of jumping out of the water and spinning in the air before
falling
back to the water. We didn’t see any
going out, but saw some on our way back from the cove – and one did
“spin” for
us. Really awesome!
While on
the boat, there was “entertainment” by a “hula girl.”
She went around the boat talking to various people, asking where
we were from and making general “small talk” though she had a
microphone on and
everyone heard what she said. When she
got to us Tommy said we were celebrating my retirement and that my
birthday was
yesterday; two other people had birthdays tomorrow, so she taught
everyone hot
to sing “Happy Birthday” to us in Hawaiian!
Once back
at the dock, we got on a bus for the land part of our tour. We saw a lot of beautiful plants, and
stopped at a peninsula area called Pu’uhonua O Honaunau National
Historical
Park. This was the location of two
important Hawaiian sites: a residence
of the Ali’i (Hawaiian royalty) and, separated by a stone wall, the
“place of
refuge” (actually one of two such places on the island of Hawai’i; each
island
had one, but Hawai’i being so large, had two).
A “place of refuge” was a place where a spiritual “Kahuna”
(expert – in
this case a priest) was located. Anyone
who was accused of a crime and could escape before being caught and
executed,
and could reach the “place of refuge,” could be “cleansed” and taught
by the
priests there and then could return to society. The
place was remote, and the last part of reaching it was a mile
across the water. Not an easy place to
reach when everyone in the village was looking for you.
Also at
this place was a building and several “totems” – the actual “place of
refuge,”
and, it is also a Green Sea Turtle refuge.
We saw several turtles which come up in the shallows there to
feed. There were beautiful palm trees,
lava rocks,
and a gravelly beach. It was really
quite beautiful; I can see why the royalty would have liked it.
From there
we went to the “Painted Church” which is a church built by missionaries. The inside has paintings on the walls and
ceiling done by a priest there who had no formal training in painting. The paintings were used to instruct the
natives in Christianity when there was no written language to use.
Then it was
back to the dock. Tommy retrieved our
package (the lady had already called and said she would send it to the
ship if
we didn’t make it there by 4:30 or so (when she had to start closing
the shop
up). Then it
was through security and
back to the ship by way of the shuttle.
Thursday, March 30, 2006 - Kaua'i
Well, our 2nd
attempt at a zipline tour was almost a complete zip.
There was overbooking on the Haleakala Zipline that we wanted to
take Tuesday, so they changed up our Waimea Canyon tour today and
gave us a
morning Zipline tour on Kauai. However
. . . it was storming as the ship landed at 7:00 and our tour was
scheduled to
leave at 7:45. The first storm went
over, and it was barely sprinkling when we got to the zipline tour site
– then
it began to come down a little more and then more.
We waited to start, hoping it would lighten up.
Of course it didn’t. We had our
ponchos on and our harnesses and
hard hats on, so we started out – in the rain.
We got to our second stop (end of the first zip) and there was
thunder
with a storm that was coming over. Due
to the fact that we were on metal cables using metal carabiners and zip
rollers, they were very conscious of thunder because of the possibility
of
lightning. There was much discussion
back and forth between the guides; our group was all for waiting it out
and
continuing (the thunder had been progressively moving toward us and was
now
right over us, so logic said it would be moving away); we were already
soaked,
so we really wanted to finish the tour for all the trouble we had been
through. But – in the end -
we wound up “abandoning ship.” Our
group was at the first platform which
was also the last platform, so we took the last zip and made our way
back to the
base camp. The other group which was
ahead of us (they had crossed the rope-and-board “bridge” from the
first
station to the second one) had to be repelled down from their station
(which
was no problem – something they are set up to do from every station in
case of
emergency). They called for our bus and
then we got out of our harnesses and rode in the pickup back to the
main road
where the bus was waiting.
Though the
tour was cut short, what we got to do was GREAT! We
had a harness on with carabiners that let us hook onto our
pulley. The pulley was clamped to the
cable (heavy-duty aircraft carrier cable) and you steered by putting
your
fingers through the carabiners on the pulley and turning them either
left or
right, depending on which way you wanted to go to keep facing the way
you
wanted to fact. To start, you gave a
push off from the platform and gravity did the rest.
A tour guide was on the other end to help you stop.
They ran us through a carabiner “training”
session before we started up to be sure we could move them and open and
close
the snaps. We were supposed to have to
move during the course from one wire to another, but we had to stop
before we
had to do it more than the one time to move around the platform to the
other
line to go down. When we stopped, we
were about to cross a “suspension bridge:”
it was ropes hanging down from two wires with boards at the
bottom –
only the boards were not attached to each other; each looked like a
child’s
swing; overhead was a wire on which, I assume, we were going to put our
pulley
– we just never got that far on the course.
We did get a refund of our money for the tour, and all other
zipline
tours were canceled for the day.
After lunch
we went back to the dock for our afternoon tour: our shortened
tour of Weiameia Canyon (the “Grand Canyon of the
Pacific”). Guess what? Yep – rock slide from all the rain
yesterday
had closed the canyon road; we were now going to “beautiful” Hanapepe
Valley. I guess it was beautiful: we had one stop with a
grand view of the
valley and the rest of the time we saw more sugar and coffee
plantations and
Eucalyptus and other flowers in yards.
We did stop at a “blowhole” called the Spouting Horn – it was really
fantastic! (Especially since our other
tour that was to go by THE premier blow hole of the islands didn’t go
there). The water went in through a
lava tube that had two holes in the top:
the water shot 15-20 feet in the air through the first hole, but the SOUND
came through the second hole!
Awesome! The guide said there
used to be one that went 50-100 ft. in the air, but there was a sugar
plantation in the area and the salt spray from the blow hole was
affecting the
cane, so they dynamited the blow hole!
Of course tourism wasn’t the money business then that it is now.
Friday, March 31, 2006 - At Sea
At
sea! All day! What
joy! Breakfast at
Cadillac’s for the last time. Then we
had a square dance at 10:00 in the Mardi Gras room, and had a good
audience for
our last tip because they were going to have Bingo in there at 11:15. Jerry called a really good tip – plus tip –
on the last one to show us off, I think.
Then he put in a plug for square dancing when we finished. We went from there to deck 6 to watch the
Na Pali coastline of Kauai go by. This
is the most rugged part of the island, and perhaps of all of Hawai’i. It is highly eroded mountains, some over
4000 ft. above sea level. This is where
there are huge waterfalls (still working on eroding the mountains) and
high
surf against the sheer cliffs at sea level.
Also some beautiful beaches in
between – in the valleys at sea level; only time I’ve ever
wanted to
have a sail boat. This area can only be
reached by air, sea, or by hiking over some really difficult trails.
We also got
to see some whales! Between us and the
island (Tommy saw one early this morning right beside the ship – he had
gone
out to watch the ship leave port and the whale came up right under him. He didn’t get a good picture as he couldn’t
get the camera adjusted quickly enough.
Rough seas! First day I had to take
meclazine. We ate lunch and then I
“crashed” – slept
from about 3:00 to 7:30 (down side of the Meclazine).
We had missed the farewell party for Jerry’s group, so went
straight to deck 11 for supper at Aloha Café (buffet). We went back to the room, but of course I
couldn’t sleep (having slept earlier) so got to watch “National
Treasure” (yes,
Chris, I finally got to see it) and then “Under Tuscan Skies.” I finally went
to get ice cream at some
ridiculous hour of the morning and after that finally got to
sleep.
Saturday, April 1,
2006 - O'ahu
We had our
check-in bags outside our cabin last night, so they are already going
through
security. We packed everything else up
in the backpacks and carry-on bag and then went ashore for the last
time. Our flight didn’t leave until 10:10
p.m., so
we rented a car and drove around Oahu to do some of the things we
wanted to do
before but did not get to do.
It took a
while for our bags to get out, but once they were out, we called the
Dollar car
rental people and they sent a shuttle bus for us. As
the bus driver took us back across town to Waikiki – which is
where our car was – she told us things we were seeing.
At one point as she passed by the Hula Bowl,
she said there was a “swap meet” there.
That rang a bell: the concierge
at the hotel had said (in response to my question of where would she
shop for
souvenirs) that she would go to a “swap meet;” I had seen signs for
swap meets
in various places, but always they were for days when we were not in
that
port. Well – here was one we could go
to. I had no idea what a swap meet was,
but we were going to go to one.
But first
things first – got our car, got a book with maps, and found the way to
the
Arizona Memorial. We had been told that
we needed to go there early because you had to get a time to go in. So went there first – and the line was
LONG. While we were standing there, a
lady came by with tickets and said we could have hers, they did not
have time
to wait. When we got inside the building,
we found that she had done us a real favor:
Our group was group D and the ones we were in line with were
getting
tickets marked group I!
I got my
passport book stamped and we shopped for magnets, then our group was
called. We boarded a shuttle boat that
took us out to the memorial. It is
really interesting: they have the
places marked where all the ships were moored at the time of the attack. The shell that hit the Arizona hit on the
forward deck and plunged straight down to the magazine hold and of
course it
exploded and sank immediately, trapping any who were below decks. You can still see the ship under the water
as you cross the center part of the memorial building.
There is still an oil slick there and they
said it leaks about a quart of oil a day.
Inside there is a wall with the names of all the men who died on
the
ship. It is really very beautiful with
flags along the walls from all the states who had men who died there. When you look from the memorial to the pass
through which the planes came, you can see why they did not see them
coming: the mountains were a perfect
barrier and the pass put the planes at the perfect level for coming in
low and
fast.
After the
Arizona, we walked a short distance to where they now have the
Battleship Missouri
moored. It is currently privately
owned, so there was an entrance fee to get in.
But they have most of the ship open and have it set up as a
self-guided
tour (you could also get an audio tour – as you could with the Arizona
– but we
opted to do our own looking and reading.
A video inside said that the Missouri was decommissioned after
Vietnam
and then recommissioned for Desert Storm, so she had big guns and also
had
tomahawk missiles – a variety of armament all on one vessel. After she was decommissioned the second
time, she was take over by the group that has her now and refurbished
and set
up for tours. Having her docked right
next to the Arizona is great – gives the beginning of our entry into
World War II
and the end of it right together. The
place on the deck where the peace was signed with Japan is roped off
and marked
with a metal plaque. We spent a lot of
time on the Missouri and even saw the place on the side of the ship
where a
kamikaze plane had just missed crashing into the deck.
By the time
we finished there it was almost 2:00 and we headed for the Hula Bowl
and our
“swap meet.” When we got there, we
found out it only went till 3:00. I
told Tommy what I wanted specifically and then we just browsed.
Turns out a “swap meet” is what we call a
“flea market:” all kind of stalls with
people with everything you could think of in all price
ranges.
We found what
we wanted – and the prices
were BETTER than we had seen at other places, and also found a luggage
dealer
with some nice looking bags for a good price (the lady made VERY
SURE that we knew that they were at least
$5.00 less than any other luggage dealer at the meet!), so we got one
to make
it easier to pack our souvenirs and odd items which we did not need on
the
plane going home.
From there
we wanted to go to Diamond Head: we had
been around it on our bus tour the first day, but had not gotten to go
to the
top. Map out, route determined, and
entrance found: of course the park was
CLOSED today! Don’t know, maybe it was
all the sunshine we had that day that jinxed us (not a bit of rain all
day
long!); there had been rain every day except this one – it was a
BEAUTIFUL day
to be going to the top of the mountain so naturally they closed the
park. Makes perfect sense.
Hunger
reminded us we had not eaten since breakfast, so we found a restaurant
and got
supper, then found a gas station and put gas in the car, and then headed for the airport to turn the car
in and wait for our plane. We checked
our (now 4) check-in bags which had to go through the agriculture check
before
they went into the airport building (they are VERY picky about plants
and fresh
food stuffs coming into and leaving the islands); our leis were not a
problem,
though.
Saturday, April 1 – Sunday, April 2, 2006 - Hawai'i
to Home
We
were early and had some time to
wait. Tommy fell into conversation with
a man from Dickson, TN and they talked most of the time till the plane
came. The flight back to Denver took a
little over 6 hours - an hour less than going over due to the tail wind
(that
had been a head wind going over). We
had to put the shades down on the plan as we were heading toward
sunrise and
all of us were ready to sleep. So when
we got close to Denver, the stewardesses started bringing coffee around
and
people gradually began waking up. Tommy
slept a little, and I slept pretty well for a time, but eventually
couldn’t
sleep and tried working my puzzles by the light from the restroom area
which
was just a few rows behind us (my individual light seemed rather bright
and focused more between Tommy and me than just on me), then was just
up and down to keep my
legs from
developing their usual jumpiness.
Landing
in Denver was through high
clouds, but the weather was ok when we got down. Landing
in Nashville was another matter: there
were some really bad storms between
Denver and Nashville and so some of the ride was rather bumpy. When we landed, it was between showers, but
by the time we got to our car, several showers had come and gone. Luckily as we were loading our bags into the
car, the rain had stopped. It started
again, heavy, as we left the airport.
As it turned out, when we got home about 6:00 p.m. our time,
there were
storm warnings going off and we wound up with storm damage from
straight-line
winds. There were tornadoes in counties
all around us, but none in Henry County.
This was the storm system that killed so many people in Dyer
County and
other areas as it went through (and left a scrap of paper under our
apple tree with a Newbern address on it!).
Did
we have a good time? YES!!!!!!!!!
Would we like to go again?
Probably, but not on a cruise.
The cruise we did was great because we spent all of our time
going from
one island to another and only had to unpack our clothes once; it is a
good way
to get an overall picture of the islands.
But there are things we want to see, but we’d like to go at our
pace to
the places we want to go and not be rushed to get back somewhere. Don’t know if we will ever make it for that,
but it is something to look forward to.
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