Saling towards Rarotonga April 14,15 2016

Ok we missed Fanning Island. We woke up early, so we so we could watch the sail in and we saw the island,,,,, and then we didn't!

This was at first. 

Then it looked like this, then you couldn't even see the island, it rained so hard.  The capten  said we had to abort, as there was no way with the storm, that the tenders would make it. 

So we just headed south, on to our next stop Rarotonga. Now our on location guid says it Friday the 15th, but none of us is really sure, as we have criscrised the date line, with no real refeance as to time and date. Oh well "what difference does it make?"

So now we are on our ? Sea days, all I know is we should be in Rarotonga day after tommrow. We'll see. I'll try to give you an idea of how we have settled into sea days around the ship. 

This is a very interesting ship, it is smaller then what we are accustomed to, so even though we are more aft we don't have very far to go to get to most things. 

I profiled the library, last time, that is on deck 10, if you go down one deck to 9 you are on the lido, and spa deck. The lido market is wher you have the casual option, for breakfast lunch, and dinner. It is very good, as that type of thing goes. The biggest problem is finding a seat, and the dinamics on this ship, makes it even more of a problem, as they are all so much older, so they all go to everything way ahead of schedule. 

There is another lunch venue on this deck, it is The Drive In, the have hot dogs and hamburgers and frys, this is the BEST I have experienced, in this category. I will try to get some photos tommrow.  We had lunch here today, with Bill and Irene, we got New England clam chowder and the other three had hotdogs and I had a chicken sandwich. Now Ed is napping, and I'm writing. 

We have been going to the lictures around 2 tha Kaino, gives on the upcoming islands, but there wasn't one today. The one today is on flying the North Atlantic, and Pacfic. Not sure if Ed is going or not. 

We go to dinner at 7:30, finely got that worked out, and we go to the Oceans Bar befor dinner, more on that later.  

So more trivial things later.  

Catching up part 2

  Ok so we get up and, have breakfast, and plan what to do today in regards to the car. What seemed like a good idea 6 months ago, doesn't seem so now. We are tired,and don't feel Ike driving all over Oahu today, so it is onto the walk to the garage, and find the car. Long story here, for another day. 

So we drive to the Pagoda, hotel, turn in the car, and walk to Walmart, do some last, shopping for, necessities, water, sunscreen etc.  it was an adventure. Then took the free shuttle back to the ship, the ship sailed at five.  We said a sad aloha to Oahu we were all sad to leave, hope we get to come back some day. 

So now it was on to, the big island, and Hilo. George, and Diane met us just outside the gate, and they showed us there, part of Hawaii. Right beside there condo is a small park, and I don't remember the name, but there is a great swim area, and you can swim with the turtles!

This is walking into the park. 

Just beyond here, there are steps, to go into the water. 

Then you see these guys

Then we got to see their airplane, and we were on to a Saturday morning market, no photos, of the market, too busy buying. 

Next day we were in Kona, here we had a private tour, to Explore the Kohola coastline, the birthplace of King Kamehameha and the mystical Polou Valley. This tour took us along the scenic Kohala coastline, a landscape of lava flows, resorts and white sand beaches. Visit PU'ukohola Helau National Historic Site and the temple of King Kamehameha the Great. We traveled to historic Hawi town, the birthplace of King Kamehamaha and payed  a visti to the original statue of the king, we continued to the end of the road to take in breathtaking views of the Pololu Valley with it's black sand beach and tropical wetlands, traversing the Kohola mountain pass through active ranch land return to Kailua-Kona along mountainous country roads while taking in panoramic views of the island.  

It was nice but a long drive in a van, that had one too many people, I think by now we were tired, ready for a sea day.

So now it is on to Fanning Island..... 

Catching up on all the days in Hawaii April 11,2016

Wow here it is the 11th of April and I last published on the 6th and that didn't go out like it was suppose to. So now to catch up the best I can. 

We arrived in Honolulu about an hour late, which wasn't good for us, as we were renting a car, and for a while it got worse befor it got better. We finely got off the ship about 10:30. And where the Westerdam docked was not at the aloha tower, it was about a mile toward Waikiki, so we get out and Ed calls Hertz, for a shuttle, and the say the shuttle only runs untill 9 AM!  So we walk off to Aloha tower 1 which was the address, and guess what they aren't there!  So now what to do? Ed calls Hertz, and the guy says, were in the Pagoda hotel, about 5 miles away, we flag a taxi but he doesn't know where the Pagoda hotel is, so we go to the Interprise rental, as it was on the way, and we are not happy with Hertz right now, but they have no cars, so we get out on the street again, this time we found a great taxi driver who knew the way, and the Pagoda was right behind the WALMART!  Who knew we found out the next day that we could have taken a shuttle to Walmart, and been right there, but more on that later.

So we finely get the car, it is now it is noon, and we wanted to be at the Polynesian Culture center at noon, but at last we were on the way. We took the road over the Palii and road it around the coast, It took about an hour, and it was beautiful I saw lots of places I used to paint, lots of memories, the whole day, was just beginning. 

The four of us, Jim, Val and Ed and i, had purchased the Super Ambasader Package, so we got parking right up front and our own private guid for the day, and very VIP  treatment all day. Our guid was Phobie a sweet young blond girl from China!  And she really considered herself Chinese her parents moved moved to China when she was three, and she now had  9 siblings and they are all in China and when she finishes school on Oahu she will go home. She speaks fluent Chinese as well as English.  She was delightful and we all enjoyed her very much. 

We started out going to Fiji , and we learned that the early Fijians, were the pottery makers of Polynesia, and saw some wonderful natives dancing,  and our seats were right up front. We were given used some big bambo sticks that you pounded on the ground, it was fun. 

Tonga, was the next stop, Tonga is one of the few countries in the world, and the only one in Polynesia, never to be colonized by a European power. It's a royal family, now headed by his Majesty King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV.  This was one of the funniest shows, they chose three guys from the audience, one from Wisconsin, and two from California, one being aishen decent who was so funny. They were all very good sports. 

Then we went to Samoa, we learned about all the uses for coconuts and learned how to make coconut bread, yum, and Ed was chosen to try coconut juice, from a fresh coconut, he too was a good sport. 

Then we went to Tahiti and Jim and Ed learned to dance,, lol 

Tahiti, is the name of one island in the Society Islands, a group that includes Moorea, Bora Bora, and Raiatea, among others. 

Then it was on to the Pageant of the Long Canoes, and again we were given front row seats. 

Tonga

Tahiti 

Hawaii

After the show we got our own longboat canoe ride. Then it s on to dinner, again we had up front seats, and I mean up front. 

When it is time to dine, the pig is ritually removed from the imu and  paraded across a bridge into the dinning area. 

Then you have The Ali'i Lu'au, or the show, this was not the big evening show, that we saw later, I didn't take photos there, just enjoyed. Here are photos from the dinner show. 

We were so close they had to put up a fence to protect us, this was a female fire dancer. 

We left the center, about 9:30, we all had a great time, so many memories, from the past, and the day.

 The drive back was easy, and the guys dropped Val and I to the ship, and then they went on to hunt a place to park the car, then they had to walk two miles back to the ship, now we all said good night, after a brief glass of wine we were off to bed. 

To be continued........

Sailing towards Honolulu April 6, 2016

It say partly cloudy, not it is raining and very cloudy and about 70 F 

Today's highlights include: a lecture on Pearl Harbor - what happened and why, the events leading to December 7, 1941, the missed clues, the spy, the catastrophe for American forces and its impact on the future of the world. Ed is there now. 

You could learn to do the hula at 11am pool side, I think that might be a wee bit wet. Or you could do a licture on diversification of life in ancient seas.  Later at 2 we could see Hawaii's 2010 male star of the year performing music from Hawaii and see the hula dancer Celeste Akeo, we might just do that one, if we didn't have reservations for Wine Tasting For Dummies, at 2:30. Oh well you can't do everything. 

We are on our last sea day before we get to Honolulu tomorrow, we are scheduled to arrive about 10 am, and we are setting the clocks back, I think, although, there has been no reference to that yet. 

We just went to a talk on three of the islands we will be visiting. We must have missed the talk on the first three, but it was ok as it was interesting any way. 

We spent time in the spa yesterday, and I have found places for all our stuff in the room, so all is going well. Now we are up in the library/ crows nest, and coffee bar. It is really pretty, up on the 10th deck all the way forward.  And now it is clearing up, the sun is out. 

Where you get special coffees

The bar area

The library area

The view, Ed doing sudoku. We will go to lunch in a bit.