Mar 17, 2020 - Last Day at Sea

Another very busy day! We had our last class with Tai and Keith, our Hawaiian leaders. They had arranged the chairs in a big circle and Tai passed around the microphone so everyone who wanted to could make comments about the trip. Without exception, they were all extremely pleased. I don’t recall hearing one negative comment. For my part, I felt like a large part of what I got out of it was a much greater appreciation of the Hawaiian people and their culture. And, in addition, hearing about all of the difficulties they had in maintaining...

Mar 16, 2020 - Another Day at Sea

Busy day! We had a really interesting class with Tai this morning and then we went to a presentation on Mainstage of the Whales of Hawaii. Lunch at Lido Market where we talked with a couple of other passengers. Next we hustled down to Lincoln Center Stage for a “Meet the Artists” with the five musicians who told us a little about themselves and how they happened to be here. After that, they played music from movie classics. And all of it was really interesting. We tried to go to Mainstage for a Crew Show featuring members of the crew from...

Mar 15, 2020 - More Hawaiian History

This morning, Tai continued his talk about Hawaiian history and culture, but the highlight was when he read some excerpts from Mark Twain’s "Letters From Hawaii". I will have to get a copy of that one when we get home! We managed to catch the last half of a demonstration of Hawaiian cooking by the Eurodam’s Executive Chef: chicken with a pineapple sauce and a cured salmon appetiser. I doubt that I will try to duplicate either, but it was fun to watch. We spent a very lazy afternoon reading, knitting, and napping, and then had the Eurodam’s...

Mar 14, 2020 - On the Way Home

Tai continued his classes on Hawaiian history and culture, interspersed with stories that relate to whatever topic he’s addressing. He taught in Hawaiian schools for 37 years; I think that amounts to a LOT of lucky students--he’s very good with making things come alive for an audience. The only photo today that came out is from the "Lido Market" area. It is an immense buffet that is open longer hours than the main dining room. Somehow we did not manage to get a picture of the buffet line, but the one shown is of the seating that surrounds...

Mar 13, 2020 - At Sea, Headed Home

Our lecture this morning was mainly about the Hawaiian Dynasty, but in the process we learned a good deal about customs and marriage arrangements which were quite different from those of the Europeans. Marriages were arranged among the elite with an objective of producing children of the highest lineage to be the next leaders of the society/government. As with the European royalty, there was a great deal of intermarriage among the ruling families. Among the rest of the people, men and women were pretty much free to choose the mate they...

Mar 12, 2020 - Another Leisurely Day

Completely free day, and we made the most of it, sitting in the sun, reading, knitting, attending a couple of programs on Mainstage. One was titled “The Secret Language of Ships” where we learned (or at least were exposed to) what all the signs and symbols on the side of the ship mean as well as signal flags and whistles, both of which are still very much in use in spite of all the modern electronic communication, which they also use. The other was about sea turtles and how they come ashore to lay eggs and what tourists should do: mostly...

Mar 11, 2020 - Volcanoes and Orchids

This morning we went ashore at Hilo on the Big Island of Hawaii. We rode on two smaller buses up the slopes of Manauna Loa and Kilauea volcanoes to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. We could see down into the caldera and into a smaller crater where in 1959 there was an eruption which sent lava well over 1,000 feet into the air. Our guide explained that the lava cooled in the atmosphere and fell as “cinders” or bits of lava rock. The prevailing winds blew the cinders mostly in one direction where they built a hill stretching for a good half...

Mar 10, 2020 - Maui

We were supposed to arrive at Lahaina this morning and go ashore by tender, but the captain decided it was a bit too rough and took us to another port where we could anchor the ship beside the dock. It’s a small island, so we still could take a bus to get us to ‘Iao Valley State Park, a site sacred to the Hawaiian people, and then to the Maui Ocean Center. The valley has incredibly steep slopes up lush, green mountains, and all sorts of plants and water features below. Tai led us around telling us about the various plants and their uses. I...

Mar 9, 2020 - Leisure Day

We have all day at leisure, but decided not to go ashore again. Neither of us particularly like cities, even ones as beautiful as Honolulu. We slept a bit later than usual, got up for breakfast and then sat by the windows overlooking the harbor. There was a gorgeous rainbow right in front of us. It came and went for half an hour or so and finally brightened until we could see it stretching across the sky: we could see where both ends reached either part of the island or the water’s edge. One of the most beautiful I have ever seen. Sam read...

Mar 8, 2020 - Honolulu

We are anchored at the dock in Honolulu, so didn’t need to bother with tenders to get ashore. A bus was waiting and took us to the USS Arizona Memorial National Historic Park. We spent an hour or so walking around the memorial and looking at photos and written descriptions of what was going on in them. Then we boarded tenders (run by the U. S. Navy) to go to the memorial that is built over the sunken remains of the USS Arizona and all the men who died when she exploded--torpedos penetrated her hull and ignited her amunition storage. I don’t...

Nov 21, 2019 - Day 7

The first stop of Pu’u Wa’Wa trail is a bust. Somehow, I ended up right in front of a locked gate of a development. I knew the trail is nearby but could not find the entrance. I decided to give up and continue to the next place. This time the coordinates worked. It took me right to the entrance of the preserve. After I got out of the car, I immediately heard many bird’s chirping. Shortly after I got on the trail, I saw a red Apapane drinking from a Holia flower. This is my first Hawaiian endemic bird. Its red feather among the green leaves...

Nov 20, 2019 - Day 6

Today is a travel day. My flight is at 11:00am. I cleaned and put things tidy at the studio and left at 9:00am. Everything was smooth. The Hawaiian airline, from Oahu to Big Island is only 30 minutes. After getting my luggage, I took the shuttle to the rental car place. By 12:30pm I already got the rental car key and loaded my camera bag. Dan and Jean came at about 12:45pm. They loaded my big luggage into their car, and I drove off. They are going shopping grocery and pick up David. I want to skip this trip and go directly some birding...