Hawaii Trip, Friday

Friday

Today was an EARLY day. Since the ship was leaving port at 2:00 PM, all excursions were supposed to be back by 1:00. That meant an early start. I got up at 6:00 AM, without any problem. Unfortunately, I couldn't pry Debra out of bed. So, I was on my own for breakfast and the excursion.

We left the port about 8:00 AM, on our journey to Waimea Canyon, also called "The Grand Canyon of the Pacific." It was quite a long drive to the other side of the island. We made a comfort stop (bathrooms) in the little village of Hanapepe at a tourist gift shop. The bathroom was large and beautiful. Obviously, that is how they get the tour buses to stop there. Still, it was a welcome stop and I always appreciate an opportunity to shop.

Back on the bus, we wound up the mountainside on a narrow winding road, with many switchbacks. No part of the road was straight or level. The guardrails were short and offered no security on a big bus. Still, as I had no other option, I trusted in the driver and we got there safely.

En route, we could see another of the 8 Hawaiian Islands, the island Ni'ihau. When we were on Maui, we had seen from a distance the island of Kaho'olawe. So, though we only visit 4 of the 8 islands, we actually saw and learned about 2 more. Kaho'olawe is called "The Target Island," because it used to be used by the navy for bombing practice. It is the smallest of the 8. Even though it is no longer bombed, it is virtually uninhabited due to the lack of fresh water.

Ni'ihau is called "The Forbidden Island." In early times, under King Kamehameha, it was a place to escape to for refuge if you had broken a law. Nowadays, you are only allowed to live there if you are 100% Hawaiian. There is a cattle ranch there, but only about 130 people live there. The island has no infrastructure, no paved roads, no running water, no electricity.

When we arrived at the Waimea Canyon, the weather had cleared and the canyon view was amazing! It was HUGE and deep. From the overlook, we couldn't get a view of the bottom. Unlike I picture the Grand Canyon, this one is lush and green. I took many photos. Looking south, you could see all the way to the ocean.

Kauai is known for its abundance of chickens. Though all of the islands have many chickens, Kauai is the most overrun with them. They have no natural predators in the islands, hence the population explosion. What makes it worse in Kauai is that when Hurricane Iniki hit, in 1992, it destroyed many chicken coops and let most of the domesticated chickens free. I surprised to see chickens roaming around the Waimea Canyon Overlook, even at that high, unpopulated place. At least they are pretty chickens. The males have striking colors.

From a distance along our route, we could see the highest point o the island shrouded in clouds. That mountaintop, Mount Kawaikini, has the distinction of having the highest annual rainfall in the world, 450 inches, with rain falling an average of 350 days a year! So, if you ever see it clear up there, you know it is going to be a clear day. Because of the abundance of rain, they see a lot of rainbows on Kauai. I saw one at the port while boarding the bus and another on our route.

We came back down the mountain on the same twisty winding route. The views were dramatic all along the way. We saw canyons, mountains, cliffs, ocean, beaches, and the other island. In places the surf was dramatically high.

We made our next stop at Po'ipu Beach. I have seen many striking and amazing sights on this trip, including here on Kauai, which is by far the most beautiful of the islands, but what I saw at Po'ipu Beach was the best. There is a feature there called the Spouting Horn. The surf pounds against black lava rock. At one point there is a lava tube. Water rushes under the lava rock and gets pushed up the tube and spurts up 30+ feet into the air like a geyser. I took lots of photos and video of the water spraying into the air. I could have watched it all day.

Back on the ship, I found that Debra had finally hauled her butt out of bed. She really missed a treat today. I guess she'll have to read this blog. We had lunch and then went down to our balcony to watch the ship leave port.

The port at Nawiliwili Bay here on Kauai is just big enough and just deep enough for this cruise ship. I wanted to see it maneuver out of the harbor and through the narrow channel. With the help of a tugboat, the ship slowly turned around and carefully threaded through the eye-of-the-needle channel.

I had talked to Wil earlier and he told me about hail in Gulf Breeze. As I was leaning on the rail of our balcony, I overheard the lady on the balcony next door mention hail and Gulf Breeze. I couldn't resist leaning around the wall and introducing myself. They are indeed from Gulf Breeze. In fact, the gentleman had been raised in Pensacola and had attended N.B. Cook for elementary school. His wife is an elementary school teacher in Gulf Breeze. It truly is a small, small world. I traveled halfway around the world and ended up next door to a person whose home is just a few miles from mine.

Once out of Nawiliwili Bay, the ship turned north. Before leaving Kauai, the ship was giving us a view of the Na Pali coastline. The ship sailed along the coast to show the sights to the port side first, then turn the ship around and show the sights to the starboard side. We had a balcony room on the port side which gave us prime first viewing.

The Na Pali coast is not accessible by road. The only way to see it is by boat, helicopter or our cruise ship. I hadn't heard much about it except that it had high cliffs and it was very beautiful. Once I saw it, I knew why the cruise company went out of their way to show us. I already knew Kauai was the most beautiful island, but I was unprepared for the breathtaking sight of the Na Pali coast.

Words seem so inadequate to describe this, but I'll try. It truly may take 1000 words to replace one picture. (Of course, I took many, many photos!) First you have to understand that Kauai is the oldest of the 8 Hawaiian islands. It is roughly 5 million years old and eroding. The big island is the youngest and is still growing as those active volcanos keep erupting.

Because Kauai is eroding, it has more sandy beaches. It has better soil for growing, hence the beautiful flowers and farms all over the island. The mountains are different, too. All of the volcanos are extinct and natural erosion has carved them into more jagged peaks with steeper sides. Natural erosion carved out the Waimea Canyon. Along the Na Pali coast, there are steep cliffs. As we sailed north, the coastal mountains became steeper and steeper. The lush greenery everywhere gave way to solid rock cliffs, punctuated with the occasional isolated green valley.

I can't even hazard a guess about the heights of the cliffs. They were enormous! I was on the 8th deck of the ship and they were way higher. The ship has about 14 decks and the cliffs were way higher than the ship. Some sailboats and motorboats where cruising along the shoreline and they looked like toys against the massive cliffs.

But it was much more than their size that made the cliffs impressive. The most remarkable attribute was the texture. Natural erosion over thousands of years has carved the sides of the steep cliffs into sharp, wavy ribbons. It was late afternoon when we sailed past, rather close, and the interplay of light and shadow was breathtaking!

The beach was narrow, but at a couple of places there were isolated coves with wide secluded beaches, only accessible by boat. The surf was relatively calm, unlike the high surf along the south side of the island, where we viewed the Spouting Horn. If I lived in Kauai and had a boat seaworthy enough, the secluded beaches along the striking Na Pali coast would be one of my favorite places.

I plan to post a photo album of Hawaii on my Facebook page, but if you can't view that, you should search google images for Na Pali coast, Kauai. I have no doubt that you will find incredible photos. It must be a photographer's paradise.

Tonight we pack for our last excursion to Pearl Harbor, then our flight home.

Hawaii Trip, Thursday

Thursday

Thursday was a pretty lazy day. We slept in a bit. However, I was still up by 8:00 AM, Hawaii time. My body has still not adjusted completely to the time change. After breakfast, I opted to go shopping on shore. Debra stayed aboard; she had a spa appointment. I offered to exchange a shirt for her at Hilo Hattie's.

I took Hilo Hattie's free shuttle to the store. I exchanged her shirt, then did some shopping for myself and family. Hilo Hattie's is an icon here on the islands. They sell souvenirs and Hawaiian clothing, real tourist stuff. I enjoyed myself greatly.

I finished shopping and Debra finished in the spa in time for lunch. We also went up to the observation deck above the pool to try the drink of the day, called a Blue Lagoon. I can't remember all that was in it, but I know it was grapefruit juice and blue Curaçao. I liked it.

We relaxed and later dressed for the luau. I wasn't ready to put on a sarong, but I wore a flower in my hair, bright colors, and my kukui nut lei. We were each given an orchid lei when we arrived at the luau.

The luau is held on a large plantation and it's quite an affair. It wasn't quite the way I had pictured a luau. I guess my image comes from the Brady Bunch visiting Hawaii. I imagined sitting on the beach, tiki torches everywhere, a pig roasting on a spit, native girls dancing the hula in grass skirts, native men twirling fiery torches, and waves crashing in the background as the sun set over the pacific.

Instead, we got a huge outdoor pavilion surrounded by lush tropical gardens. Native vendors were selling expensive wares. Bars were set up. There was a band. We were bused in by the hundreds. There were over 700 people there. Photographers staged photo ops at every opportunity.

I was impressed by the open bar. They only offered two kinds of drinks. We were each offered a Mai Tai as we passed the first bar. It was okay, but I am not crazy about dark rum. The other bars were also offering a drink called the Blue Hawaiian. I know it was light rum and some combination of tropical fruit juice, but was bright blue. Those were delicious! I drank 3 of them during the course of the evening.

There was some entertainment and a hula lesson. We were served salad, bread, and fruit. Then there was the ceremony of unearthing the pig from its roasting pit. Soon, we were sent to the buffet line. In addition to the yummy roast pork, there was macaroni salad, vegetable chow mein, rice, mashed purple sweet potatoes, mahi mahi, teriyaki chicken, and, of course, little cups of poi.

We had all been encouraged to try poi. It is taro root mashed with water. It is as yucky as it sounds. It is the consistency of wallpaper paste with a bland, slightly sour taste. I tried it, of course. I was not impressed.

After dinner, there were tropical desserts--rice pudding with rum sauce, coconut pudding, pineapple upside down cake, and banana cream pie. It was okay, but nothing remarkable. After visiting the cacao farm, I was hoping for chocolate.

Then the real entertainment began. It was basically theater in the round. Through music, dance, and dialogue, the natives told the story of their ancestors coming to Hawaii from Polynesia. Naturally, there was hula and fire dancing. It was interesting, dramatic, and long.

Some of the native men were FINE looking in their skimpy loincloths. There was just a strip of fabric in the front and a strip in the back attached with narrow bands on the sides. There was plenty of skin showing. They were way more skimpily dressed than the girls. As they danced and twirled, I kept expecting their fabric to flip up and see them flash the crowd. I think every woman in the place was holding their breath. The male dancers were pretty adept at ALMOST showing off their man parts. Finally, I caught a glimpse underneath, but all of the important parts were actually covered with some sort of skimpy thong. Oh well.

We had to wait in long lines to board the buses back to the ship. By the time I showered and got ready for bed, it was late and I was very tired. I knew I had to sleep as soon as possible, because Friday had an early excursion scheduled.

Hawaii Trip, Wednesday

Wednesday

Today we are anchored in the bay off of Kailua-Kona, on the big island of Hawaii. The bay is too shallow and the dock is too short for the ship to dock. So, we have to be tendered back and forth to shore. I don't like the tendering, but this the only stop where we'll have to do that.

Yesterday, we were on the windward side of the island and today we are on the leeward side. We had the same experience on Maui. There we were docked on the windward side, but took an excursion to the leeward side. The windward side of Maui is where the weather blows in, so it is windy, cooler, and rainy. The windward side of Maui is lush and green, with areas of rainforest. The leeward side is hot, dry, and brown. Hardly any vegetation grows on the leeward side of the Maui mountains.

The big island is similar, but the difference in the two sides is not as extreme. It is a bit warmer here and the winds are calmer, but it is pretty green. There are coffee plantations on the mountainsides. This is the tourist side, supposedly because tourists don't like to be rained on while on vacation. Personally, I like the greener windward sides better.

Our excursion today was called Kona Mocha, for coffee and chocolate. We toured a chocolate factory and a coffee plantation. The drive was pleasant and we got to see many of the sights of the town while en route.

Our first tour was the Original Hawaii Chocolate Factory. It is the only place in the USA where chocolate is grown, processed, and made into candy, all at the same location. The owner, Bob Cooper, gave the tour. We started under the canopy of cacao trees in his grove. It was very informative.

Cacao beans grow in large pods along the trunks and limbs of the cacao trees. First tiny white flowers bloom along the trunks and limbs, then, once pollinated, they grow into pods. The pods grow anywhere from 6 to 14 inches long and several inches in diameter. They look much like an acorn squash, but a bit longer. They ripen in about 5 months. Once ripe, the pods are broken open and about 30 beans are pulled out. Each bean has a slippery white coating. The beans are put into wooden boxes to ferment. The white coating melts away. Then the brown beans are put on racks to dry in the sun. It takes about 3 weeks for them to dry to 7% moisture content. After that, the beans are broken open. The outer shell is winnowed away and only the chocolate nib is left. Then they are cooked/heated and eventually formed into candy in molds.

It is labor intensive to harvest and process chocolate on a small scale, so the chocolate there is rather pricey. However, that is true of any single-origin chocolate. Big chocolate companies, like Hershey, buy chocolate from many sources and blend it together, making a uniform taste. Single-origin chocolate is not as common and, therefore, pricier. I did splurge and buy some milk and dark chocolate. The dark is for me and the milk for Wil.

Our other stop of the day was Kona Joe's Coffee Plantation. When Jacob went to Hawaii (only Honolulu), he came home raving about Kona coffee, saying it was the best coffee he had ever tasted. Of course, Jacob likes coffee in general. I do not like plain coffee. I love the aroma, but the taste is too bitter, even when liberally doctored with cream and sugar. For me, I have to have heavily flavored coffee, like Starbucks cafe mocha, where the taste of the coffee is more subtle and it's bitterness is more like dark chocolate than regular coffee.

However, when offered the sample cup of Kona coffee, I decided to try it. I did put in a liberal splash of cream and a packet of artificial sweetener. Amazingly enough, I liked the coffee! It wasn't hardly bitter at all. I drank the entire cup. It was the first cup of unflavored coffee I have ever finished. I guess Jacob was right. Kona coffee is the best.

Kona coffee is only grown in a specific area of this island, from Kona southward to a particular stopping point. It's like champagne only comes from the Champagne region of France. Most of the Kona coffee you find for sale is a blend of regular coffee and Kona. It is more difficult to find pure 100% Kona coffee. Of course, it was for sale in their gift shop, but VERY expensive, over $30 per pound.

All-in-all, it was an educational, entertaining, and delicious excursion. Once back at the dock, we crossed the street to do a bit of shopping at the ABC store. This chain of stores is ubiquitous here, selling souvenirs, snacks, and cold beverages. We were back on the tender, then back on the ship by 1:30. That gives us time to relax before dinner

Wednesday evening

We are en route to the Garden Island, otherwise known as Kauai. It is at the other end of this chain of islands, farthest from the big island that we just left. So, tonight we are sailing along at a pretty good clip, since we have farther to go. Also, we are farther out in open water, so the seas are a big rougher. The ship is rolling and pitching a bit more. I love the sensation! But then, I don't get motion sickness. I think some people are going to be a bit under the weather.

I've been a bit spoiled on this cruise having ready cell service in every port. Now, tonight, so far from the islands, I lost my cell signal sometime around 7:00 PM. I won't get it back until morning when we reach Kauai. I can't reach for my phone to check Facebook or the weather or the news. I find that disconcerting.

I am happy that we get to sleep in tomorrow! Our only excursion is in the evening to the luau. We leave the ship around 4 PM. We have all morning and early afternoon to do as we please. I may leave the ship to do some shopping. There is a free shuttle to Hilo Hattie's, that Hawaiian icon. But that can wait until LATE morning. I am not setting an alarm tonight!

Hawaii Trip, Monday and Tuesday

Monday

I slept over 8 hours last night! That is unusual for me. My internal clock still doesn't match Hawaii time, though. I was sleepy early and awake early. Fortunately, today that was a good thing. Our excursion started a bit earlier and I wanted to have time to call my mom and tell her happy birthday.

Today, our excursion was to the Maui Tropical Plantation and the I'ao Valley. We had a very entertaining bus driver. He had a very dry sense of humor and he was a big tall guy. He reminded me very much of Brad Garrett.

The Maui Tropical Plantation is a large working farm growing a wide variety of Hawaiian crops. I suspect they make more money from tourism than farming. They have a large visitor center and gift shop. They give tram tours and have a zip line. They have lush flower gardens and an open market with natives selling crafts. It was very scenic and the tram tour was informative.

After that, it was back on the bus for the drive to the I'ao Valley.  The I'ao Valley is a lush green narrow valley between two tall extinct volcanos. Back before the Hawaiian Islands were a kingdom, each island was ruled by its own chief. The I'ao Valley was called the "valley of the chiefs." It was guarded by warriors to keep people out, especially women. The island was a male dominant society and in the middle of this valley is a tall slender vertical mountain with a rounded top. Because it was a phallic symbol, they didn't want women to see it.

Eventually, King Kamehameha conquered this island in his quest to unite the Hawaiian islands into a single kingdom. This valley is where the chief and his warriors made their last stand. The warriors were able to hold off King Kamehameha's  warriors long enough for their chief to climb the tall volcano, get down the other side, and escape to Oahu. However, his escape didn't ensure his safety. He was eventually hunted down on Oahu and killed. His body was returned to Maui for burial. King Kamehameha went on to established the kingdom of Hawaii in 1810.

At the state park in the I'ao Valley, there is a lookout point where you can see the entrance to the valley. I walked up all 133 steps to take photos. Then, there are other trails that go down to the river at the very bottom of the valley. I did two of those, too. It was a lot of climbing and my calves are a bit sore.

We returned to the ship in time for lunch. I'm going to a class on making kukui bead leis in a little while. Debra is napping, then she is off to a gathering of veterans. We'll meet back up before dinner. There's a show after dinner that is a tribute to Hollywood and we are going to that.

Monday night

I made my kukui lei from kukui nuts. It turned out really well and I bought a kit to make another with a different color, as well as some shells for another kind of lei. The class was interesting.

Debra went out to meet up with a group of veterans. I went to the Pink Champagne Bar to get a fruity adult beverage. I ended up with a peach martini that was delicious. I met up with Debra again. Her veterans group never materialized, so went finished our drinks and went off to dinner.

We had to wait a bit in line to get a table, but it was worth the wait. We got a table up against the window. Shortly after we were seated, the boat pulled away for the trip to the big island. It was great to have a window seat for that, the other great thing about dinner was that we had Filipino waiters. The service was flawless.

We did stay up to go to the show in the theater at 9:00 PM. Unfortunately, I'm still adjusting to this time change. To me, I felt like I was still in Central Time and it was 2 AM. I found myself falling asleep. I think the show was pretty good. It was a tribute to Hollywood musicals and the music was great.

Tuesday

Today was a big adventure. It was our longest excursion and we saw some amazing sights. We met our tour group in the theater. There were 350 people going on the same excursion! Fortunately, we were broken up into groups of 50-60 and each bus load became independent of the others, so all 350 never ended up in the same place at the same time.

As we headed out to our tour bus, we were given a box lunch and a bottle of water. That was supposed to sustain us for the day. There was a long turkey sandwich, a small bag of chips, an apple, and 2 cookies. When we ate later, I thought the sandwich was yucky, but the rest was okay. Debra gave me her apple, which helped since I threw away half of the sandwich.

Our first stop was Rainbow Falls, which is in the town of Hilo. The falls were beautiful. Our driver said he never knows how much water will be flowing over the falls. Sometimes, when it is needed, water from that river is diverted to farms, so there is barely a trickle. Other times, when there is a lot of rain, the falls are wide. Today, it was somewhere in between, a respectable amount. However, it was overcast, so there was no sunlight to create the rainbow in the mist.

After that, we began the long drive up the mountains. We stopped at an orchid nursery. The orchids were beautiful and there were dozens of varieties from tiny to large, from showy to ordinary, from expensive to cheap. In the gift shop, their pride and joy, a $20,000 orchid, was on display blooming. It is so expensive because it is so rare. It wasn't the most beautiful by any means.

There was a basket of free orchid blooms for all the ladies. In Hawaii, if you wear a flower by your left ear, it signifies that you are married. If you wear an orchid by your right ear, it means you are single. The free orchids were a small kind that grow wild all over the island. They are called ground orchids.

I spent most of my time in the gift shop where they have a good variety of silk leis. I bought a beautiful colorful one. I also bought a couple of flower pins to wear in my hair. I did manage to see some of the orchids in the nursery, including one kind that smelled like chocolate,

Next, we entered Volcanos National Park, which encompasses Mauna Loa and Kilauea. We went to a museum with a lookout over one of the craters. The view was spectacular.   We were especially lucky because the view was clear all the way into the crater when we arrived. We were able to get great photos. After taking pictures, I went into the museum and gift shop for about 15 minutes. When I came out, the clouds had descended and totally obliterated the view. Those that came after us didn't get to see or photograph the crater.

Also there, atop Kilauea, you see steam vents, sulphur vents, and vast lava fields. The lava fields are barren acres of hardened lava. In some, a few hardly trees and bushes are trying to grow. Their growth is stunted by the hard rocky ground with little soil and the heat in the ground. The farther down the roots grow, the more heat they encounter.

We visited other sites in the park, too. We walked through a lava tube and explored a fairly new lava field, only about 5 years old. We saw some other craters, too. We also saw magnificent rain forests filled with trees that look like ferns. They grow and develop like ferns, but grow 20+ feet tall with fronds up to 4 feet long. They looked prehistoric and very beautiful.

We headed back down the mountain toward the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Factory. As we reached level ground again, only 4 miles from our destination, there was a loud explosive noise and the bus shuddered. We had blown a tire. It's fortunate we were back down the mountain and it only took about 20 minutes to get a new bus.

The Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Factory was quite unremarkable. It was a simple wooden white two story building with a small wooden white gift shop. They did have a great selection of products and I bought Wil a supply of milk chocolate covered macadamia nuts.

The blowout made us a bit late getting back to the boat, but we still had plenty of time to change for dinner. Tonight, Debra had made reservations in the Italian restaurant on board. We were once again lucky to get a window table and watched as the ship pulled out of port. The view was great, the service was good, but the food was only fair.

The ship headed around the island toward Kona, our port for tomorrow. On the way, about 10:00 PM, we passed the place were molten lava from Kilauea flows to the sea. We couldn't get really close enough to take good pictures, but the view with the naked eye was pretty spectacular! The lava glows bright orange and clouds of steam rise where it touches the sea. It was a wonderous sight to see.

Hawaii Trip, Saturday and Sunday

Saturday

Though it is a little more challenging to write on this iPad, I'm going to try to write a journal of this trip. It is my first trip without my laptop in about 14 years. I feel a bit insecure, but there is really very little that my laptop can do that my iPad can't. The iPad is much more lightweight and easier to carry. Also, my iPad can connect to the 3G network and so work without wifi. So, we'll see how this goes.

It is a bit disconcerting for several reasons to "type" on an iPad. I miss the feedback from these virtual keys. Also, way back in the typewriter era, when I learned to type, we were taught to rest our fingers on the home keys. I certainly can't do that now without typing a bunch of gibberish. Predictive spelling is getting much better and often corrects my typos without my help and sometimes without my notice. That makes this less frustrating.

I have been through a range of emotions on this trip so far. I started out with excitement, but also with a little worry that I had forgotten something important. I always start out a trip with that worry and usually I am right. Fortunately, it is rarely anything vital. This time, I had forgotten to print out my cruise documents. I wouldn't have remembered it at all without my BFF to remind me. I was able to print them out at her house when we picked her up. It's not the first time she has saved my hide.

Wil chauffeured me to Montgomery and then Debra and I on to Atlanta, but he is not accompanying us to Hawaii. He's been before and has, in fact, been all over the world. Besides, this is the annual "girl's trip," no guys allowed. It was really nice having Wil along on the ground portion of this trip. It's nice not having to drive or worry about the travel. He makes me feel very safe, protected, and loved.

We made it to Atlanta and into our hotel for the night. That's when the next emotion kicked in. My excitement over the trip was tempered by anticipating how much I would miss Wil. It was nice to have one more night of loving before leaving. It will be very sweet to have him there to greet us when we return. We'll be flying all night on the way home, arriving back at ATL very early in the morning. We'll be in no shape to drive. Plus, Wil and I will be reunited sooner.

We briefly debated whether he should park at the airport and help us get bags checked in. There were reasonable arguments for doing that, as well as reasonable arguments for dropping us at the curb. We drove through the drop-off lane and decided that curbside check-in was the best choice. It probably would have been worse to prolong the good-byes. I didn't have time to get emotional this way. So, with one last hug and kiss, I watched him drive away.

So much for our best laid plans for curbside bag check-in. We had already checked in for the flight with our Delta app on our respective iPhones and prepaid the baggage. Curbside bag check should have been a breeze. However, the guy's computer at curbside was prompting him to check our passports. What the heck? Hawaii is a state and we were not visiting any other countries. Curbside man realized that and sent us inside to get it straightened out. So, no curbside bag check-in.

Fortunately, once inside, the computer glitch had magically disappeared. From there it was a breeze to leave the bags and breeze through security with our high-tech electronic boarding passes on our phones. We had a long train ride out to E concourse and found a gate change that actually shortened our walk. We took turns watching bags and visiting the ladies room and raiding the airport convenience shop for drinks and snacks.

We flashed our iPhone boarding passes again to get on the plane. I have to say that is so easy and so convenient! With your Skymiles number and PIN number, the Delta app is a breeze. It allowed us to check-in up to 24 hours ahead of the flight. Once checked in, it allowed us to prepay baggage, then brought up our electronic boarding passes. Then it gave us the option of putting our boarding pass into Passbook. That is Apple's app to store all kinds of membership cards, with ready access to rewards and coupons. With another app called Lemon Wallet, I can even store electronic copies of my driver's license, military ID, and credit cards, though I am not quite that trusting yet. I don't want to have to passcode my phone.

So, here I sit on a big Delta plane with 285 other passengers on a nonstop flight all the way from ATL to Honolulu. It's a nine hour flight. I thought it would be pretty miserable, but so far, 3 hours in, I have been pretty content. I have snacks, there is food available on the plane, and entertainment abounds. I am sure my butt will be plenty tired of sitting by the end of the nine hours, but, meanwhile, back to my iBook!  

Over 8 hours into this 9 hour flight and I am so ready to be off of this plane. I guess it has been a relatively peaceful flight. There is a very unhappy toddler. One row ahead and to my left. He slept through the middle of the trip, but fussed and cried through the first part and he's crying again. I'm not all that disturbed about it, though. The poor little guy doesn't understand hours of confinement.

I've read quite a bit of my book, 255 pages out of 953. It's a great book, so far. I'll probably finish it on this trip. I'll have some relaxing time on the ship to read, plus another 9 hour flight back to ATL. I've also played countless games of sudoku and Moonlight Lite. I have also written these couple of pages, eaten a bad meal and some snacks, and made 2 bathroom trips

Of course, people watching can be fun, too. The toddler has a brother about 5 years old. Evidently the party includes at least one grandparent. I've watched them passing the kids back and forth. Many people are glued to their screens watching movies or TV. Many have been sleeping. Some have been reading. A few people just stare with a glazed, resigned look.

The plane has finally started descending! Hopefully, the next time I write will be from the cruise ship!

Sunday

Whew, what a whirlwind 24 hours! Landing in Hawaii was interesting. From the air, it looks much like home in Navarre--palm trees, water, beaches. The main differences are that our white beaches are much prettier than their brown ones, but Hawaii has gorgeous mountains!

It took forever to get to the ship. There was the usual chore of finding and hauling luggage. We found our cruise escort guy right away, but the shuttles were late picking us up. It was 2 hours from the time our plane landed and the time we boarded the ship. Once we got to the port, there was luggage to haul again. Then we waited a long time to get through security and check in.

I was starving and, therefore, grumpy. Lunch was over and it was 2 hours until dinner. Fortunately, Debra put up with my low blood sugar grousing and we did manage to get unpacked. We headed down for "freestyle" dining, which is what this ship offers. That means you get to eat at the time you choose, instead of an early seating and a late seating. The downside is that you never get seated in the same place and get different wait staff every time.

It is also rather inefficient, because you are given the option of sitting with strangers or having a table just for your party of guests. Though there are some families and tour groups, there are many more just twosomes. So many tables which could have held 4 people had just 2 at them. We had to wait a bit, but those after us had a longer wait.

The wait to get food was rather long. We got our appetizers right away, but Debra's entree arrived way before mine. When it became apparent that my food was not quickly forthcoming, I urged her to go ahead and eat before her food got cold. She was almost finished eating before my surf & turf arrived. I do have to say, though, that the food was utterly scrumptious!

This my 4th ocean cruise, but my first with an all American staff. All of my other cruises have been with a very international staff. Our wait staff in the dining room was very courteous and friendly, but there was not the same atmosphere of being cared for. Also, they don't serve as unobtrusively. Somehow the international staff was always there when you needed them, but never hovering. Also, I never had late food before. Always before, the courses arrived just on time and always together. Perhaps it was just an off night for the wait staff last night, but it seemed a bit frantic and unorganized.

We got ready for bed shortly after dinner. Though it was only 8 or 9 pm, our bodies were still on central time where it was 1 or 2 am. Being my first night in a new place, I slept rather fitfully, but I felt so much better this morning. We had both gotten rather dehydrated on our long flight, so we drank lots of water with dinner. So we were both up a couple of times in the bathroom.

Today, we had a delicious buffet breakfast and were off to our first excursion. A tour bus took us to the other side of Maui to shop in a town called Lahaina. They have a touristy shopping district. The drive to and from was interesting. The tour bus driver was very knowledgable about the island. We got a geography lesson on the way and a story lesson on the return trip.

Maui is essentially two volcanic mountains or mountain ranges, one at each end of the basically oval island, with a flat plain in between. The plain was formed by volcanic lava flow from the western mountain. On this plain they grow sugar cane, lots and lots of sugar cane. There is also a sugar processing plant. It operates year round, since there is no distinct growing season, planting around the plain is staggered every month so there is always a crop to be harvested each month and a new one is planted. It's pretty efficient.

We started our shopping at one end of tourist row, known as Front Street. Our first stop was a Hawaiian icon known as Hilo Hattie's. I bought a shirt for Wil and a dress (of sorts) for me and some costume jewelry. Debra went whole hog on some NICE jewelry after choosing oysters with pearls. She got a beautiful dark pearl she had made into a necklace for herself. Then she got lucky with an oyster with 2 gorgeous pink pearls which she had made into earrings. Then she got a freebie, since she had purchased so much. She got a dark purple pearl, sort of an eggplant color, that she made into a necklace for me! Wow, happy very early birthday to me!

Sunday night

One great thing about being on a cruise in the USA is that I have cell service in every port! I am posting on Facebook, as many have seen. I get to talk to Wil unless the time difference interferes. I get to check my email on my iPhone. I see no reason to buy expensive wireless minutes on the cruise ship. However, Debra did buy some minutes to check work email.

Debra also exchanged her bottle of wine. She got a special package with this room that included a bottle of wine and chocolate covered strawberries. Unfortunately, they gave us a bottle of merlot and neither of us are red wine drinkers. Fortunately, she was able to exchange it. They didn't have a sweeter white wine, so she got sparkling wine. We polished it off before dinner. Debra can't drink too much, so I drank 2/3 of the bottle. I feel really good! It's a good thing I don't have to drive!

We just returned from dinner. I have to say, it was MUCH smoother tonight. Courses arrived one right after another. Tonight my appetizer and entree were only fair. The dessert, however, was wonderful. I had warm bread & butter pudding with warm caramel sauce. Yum!

We are back in our stateroom now. The  Polynesian floor show did not interest us all that much and I am very tired again. We have to be ready a bit earlier tomorrow for our Maui plantation and I'ao Valley excursion. I'm not sure what all we are going to see, but I think it will be great.

Right now, shower and bed are calling me.