Back to the real world, but more notes on cruising. Our third day in the islands was in Maui, and we not too impressed. We were anchored in the harbor at Lahaina and tendered in to a sleepy one street town with lots of little shops. We opted for a walking tour which gave us way too much info about the missionaries who settled the island. We were impressed with the stories of how one of them saved nearly all the island inhabitants by vaccinating them with smallpox vaccine even though he had not finished his medical degree. I guess Harvard gave him an honorary degree later on. He was pretty smart, and made his own vaccine when he ran out. The other islands were devastated by the disease but his island was saved most deaths because of his actions. Along with that,of course, he made me women get dressed and the everyone be converted. Interesting history. Janet madeittohilo Hattie's but Jim Audi went back to the ship. That was the warmest day we had on the whole trip and it was only around 80 degrees,but the humidity was a killer for me!
The last day do our island tour we were in Hilo, where it rains all the time, I guess. I was there in the 90's but it was sunny and wrm so I can' t agree with the weather report. We took a volcano tour, stopping t the volcanoes national park center and then a lava flow where we got up close to see the different kinds of lava. Too cool! We also got to stop at the Maona Loa macadamia nut farm where we bought all kinds of fatty nut treats. It was too easy when they handed out samples. The Maui onion flavored ones were my fav, but the chocolate toffee ones are to die for, so we bought several bags and cans of those to use as temptation for friends.
There were lots of activities on board the ship since we had so many sea days. There were lectures, one man was a specialist on the Hawaiian islands and talked about everything from floral, fauna, geology and ocean mammals. He was a retired college prof. The other speaker was a sweet woman who had sailed over 30000 miles in s,all boats and who had instructed the navy some how,but primarily ishe was a history teacher. We specialized in old time sailing stories, including the mutiny on the Bounty and Admiral Halsey's typhoon which sank ships during WW2. Se also spoke about the women who sailed on sailing vessels in the 19th century, like whaling ships, etc. they often became. They often became very accomplished navigators, making themselves important to their sailing husbands. I would sit in the theater knitting while she talked,occasionally checking out the power point photos.
Speaking of knitting, we brought our knitting along with Kindles, and often went out to find a quiet spot ( very hard to do on a boat the size of the Golden). Whenever I brought out my knitting women would come up and ask me what I was doing, and Janet got good at telling the I would share the pattern for my potato chip scarf. It is a fun pattern and very easy to memorize, so it is perfect for a trip. I brought way too much yarn but I wanted to be prepared. Other than knitting and reading, any
other off hours were busy with shopping. Those cruise people know what to do to distract the women on the ship. You could see those tables outside the shops with a bunch of men hanging around the edges while the women were busy turning over the goodies. We were the next to last trip to e islands so they wanted to unload all the Hawaiian tees they could before they set off for Alaska. We boug tees, jackets, lotions, makeup, earrings, charm bracelets, luggage totes, hats, exercise clothes, bracelets and other gifts. Big spending on ships!
Today is my birthday, a big one, 70 years old. I am in a hotel in chino hills where we are visiting our daughter, missy, granddaughter Meghan, and son unlawful Scott. They are making me carne asana for dinner on their grill,one of my favorite meals. For lunch I am having fish tacos, another favorite. This evening I am soaking in their hot tub. Wow, what a great day. Libby called yesterday and told me she got us six, yes, six tickets to the 5th avenue theater for next year's Broadway series. That is another Wow! Jim's ready for breakfast, so off we go. More later about our trip. The Whidbey Wagners
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