January 4, 2020 – Nawiliwili, Kauai – Mostly Cloudy – 78F

We did not hear the thrusters last night.

However, the ride in the middle of the night was just north of medium rock and roll – enough to make it difficult to sleep.

I was in Horizon Court at 5:45 AM so I could help them “open” the buffet.  I had my usual good breakfast and was still back in the room by 6:20 AM.

I took a picture of our sail in from our stateroom window.


I helped with dispatch in the Princess Theater and then had a coffee in New Grounds.  We both had a late breakfast (bagels and lox) in Horizon Court before joining our tour – “Waimea Canyon” at 11:05 AM on the pier.

It was dark and cloudy in the port.


Lisa was our guide and she is from Texas via Central California. I always get nervous when our guide is also our driver (especially when we are in a big bus with 53 passengers).  She cracked a lot of jokes but was also very informative.

We drove through Nawiliwili, a small town with all of the requisite fast food places and some shops, then through Lihue, the main city on this island and the location of the airport.  We then proceeded through the countryside.


The weather improved as we made our way along this major (and only) highway. Our first stop was a photo stop at Hanapepe Valley - the bus covered the 19 miles or so in about a half hour. This is where Jurassic Park was filmed – we saw the gorge where the helicopter experienced turbulence in one of the early scenes.  I could see why Steven Spielberg picked this location for the movie.  I took a lot of pictures of the valley (including panoramas) and even caught a rainbow stretching across the valley.








We made a comfort stop at a store in Hanapepe Town where I tried Kauai Coffee (couldn’t tell Kona from Kauai or from my coffee back home).  Hanapepe has a population of 2630; Hanapepe means "crushed bay" perhaps referring to the landslides in the area.

Our main stop was Waimea Canyon, the “Grand Canyon of the Pacific”.  


The canyon can reach depths of about 3500 feet and features an array of colors and rock formations.  Two special treats on today’s visit. First, the visibility was perfect – you could see across the whole canyon and even view the two waterfalls on the far side. 






Second, the mist rolled in and a nice rainbow connected two locations on the far side. All of this was captured in photos and panoramas.  


Two other attractions at the Canyon – bullet holes (of various caliber) in the metal signs 


and a lot of chickens.

Our final stop was at “Spouting Horn”.  In the past, the horn has spouted quietly but today, the giant lizard trapped under the lava rock also roared.




As we started our trip back to the port, Lisa told us that there had been a car fire on the only road back to Nawiliwili and that we would encounter traffic.  Indeed, we were stopped for almost a half hour with no movement – then traffic started moving from the other direction and only one lane was open at a time. Eventually, we did start moving.  We were the last bus to come back – about 30 minutes late and past the all aboard time - getting to be a habit.  We were in the last group to board the ship and while we were going to the cabin, the Captain indicated that everyone was here and we would be departing.

Dinner was later than usual in the Michelangelo Dining Room.  We were assigned Table 50 but, while the service at this table was very good, we will not sit here again as there was as there was too much traffic passing by the table.  Dinner was excellent – garden salad with ranch, pasta with pesto and potatoes and green beans (the last two items did not contribute to the taste), Pan Fried Orange Roughy (excellent except for the fennel it was sitting on) and tempura veggies (soggy but OK). Ellen had the Baked Potato Soup, Cesar Salad and the Roughy.  A sundae finished it off.

After dinner, we found seats outside the Explorers Lounge and did some reading.  I started a new book, “Liar, Liar” by Lisa Jackson.  A few pages into it, I realized I didn’t like her writing style and the subject matter – in fact, I had no idea what was actually going on in the story.  I returned the book to the Library and started “Unseen” by Karin Slaughter.  I chose this book because Will Trent, an unusual FBI agent, was the main character and I like the last Will Trent book. So far, so good.

At 8:00 PM, we went to the Crooners Lounge to hear guitar vocalist, Michael Kneafsey.  After a couple of songs we decided he was not our type of singer and the volume was a little high so we retreated to our previous seats. 

Our evening became an early one because we were assigned to an early excursion tomorrow morning so we headed back to the cabin to just settle down.

Seas are smooth.

January 3, 2020 – Honolulu, Hawaii – Mostly Cloudy – Showers – 78F

Showers were predicted for today and early in the day, the clouds over Honolulu did look threatening.  But, it's still a beautiful day on the island of Oahu.




We did have excursions today but we needed to be in the Theater at 7:30 AM and we just can’t get ready that early anymore.  We respectfully declined the tickets, explaining why.

Horizon Court was crowded this morning as people were getting ready for their morning tours.  My spot along the windows in the Solarium is perfect for a relaxing breakfast.  I had the usual and brought Ellen her breakfast, also the usual.

The ship was about emptied out when I had my morning iced latte.  We formulated a plan to take one of the free shuttles somewhere, where we could see parts of Honolulu.  It was raining slightly when we left the ship for the terminal.  The terminal in Honolulu must have had some kind of renovation since we were last here as it looked different.  In addition to all of the gathering spots for ship tours, there were free shuttles to “Hilo Hattie” and “Maui Divers”.  Both of these shuttles will, after you are subjected either to a factory tour or a shopping session, will take you to either a hotel (if you are not on a ship) or to Waikiki Beach or Ala Moana Mall.

I don’t know why but we opted to go to “Maui Divers”, purveyors of gem quality black coral and pearls.  The shuttle took us to the factory and store where we saw a short video on the company and its products, watched people make jewelry behind a glass partition, and then breeze through the store itself.  We then got into a group going to Waikiki Beach.  The ride to the beach was about 10 minutes and the bus let us off at the “Apple Store”, our pickup point for later.  This was a good choice because the store is huge and easy to find.

We walked about four blocks to the beach and Waikiki, even on a cloudy and iffy day, was wall to wall people.  All I could do was thread my way to the water and take a few shots of the beach.  Waikiki is still a lovely beach.





It was about 12:30 PM now and we needed some items from Longs Drugs so we walked past the Apple Store on Ala Moana Blvd reaching the drug store about four blocks beyond. We bought some deodorant and four bottles of drinking water.

Although we had to stand our ground in the bus pickup line, we managed to get on board the 1:00 PM Maui Divers Shuttle back to Pier 2, our dock.  Security can be a long wait but not today and soon we were back on the ship.

We checked out Horizon Court for lunch and came away with only a salad.  We went to the newly named “Salty Dog Grill” on the pool deck and I ordered the sweet potato and green chili tacos (a one off event) as there were no pizzas ready at “Slice”.  I went back and got some pizza to go with the salad.  The pizza was fresh but, in my opinion, the pizza in Alfredo’s Pizzeria is better. 

It was off to Deck 15 Aft, hoping that the prevailing breeze, and it was significant, would keep the cigarette smoke away from us.  I am about to finish “Full Wolf Moon” by Lincoln Childs.  When I first started the book, I was sure it was a werewolf book.  Then, some distractions were thrown my way, and ultimately, it was a werewolf book with a twist.  It wasn’t a long book and maybe not Lincoln Childs’ best but interesting.  His main character, Jeremy Logan, enigmalogist, is just not that interesting (not even close to FBI Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast).

We had a late dinner in Horizon Court – we didn’t change clothes all day – because we were not going to attend the Olana Hula Show.  The Eggplant Parmesan and Spinach Cannelloni were just OK and the fried risotto/mozzarella balls were interesting but overall, not a great meal.

The rest of the evening was spent on the couches outside the Explorers Lounge listening to the “Supersonics” (I like their sound) and the TV Theme Song Trivia (amazing how few themes I knew).

We are helping with dispatch tomorrow morning, so the evening was a short one.  We also wanted to get to sleep before the ship departed at around 11PM to avoid dealing with the bow thrusters.

January 2, 2020 – Hilo, Hawaii – Partly Cloudy – 80F

We have finally reached land after four bouncy days at sea.  It is a totally beautiful day here on the Big Island of Hawaii.

We are on an afternoon tour today – “Explore Hilo Town Highlights” - meeting at 12:00 Noon on the pier.

That means a relaxing morning, while a lot of the guests make their way off the ship for morning excursions.

The seas were mostly smooth through the night and I slept pretty well.  I was up in Horizon Court around 7:00 AM just as the sun was coming up.  Today, I got a table in the Solarium – it was warm and not too crowded like the rest of the seating areas.  I had my waffle and fixings, some scrambled eggs, and a biscuit. Again, today, everything was perfect and I was close enough to the coffee to be able have hot cups all morning.

The biggest treat of all, however, was seeing the two volcanoes, Mauna Kea ("White Mountain") and Mauna Loa ("Long Mountain") cloud free just as the sun was rising. I captured both of them in panoramic shots (Mauna Kea is on the right)



and individually, Mauna Kea




and Mauna Loa.


The two huge volcanoes were perfectly lit for photos.  It’s a 50-50 chance that the two mountains are visible here in Hilo as the clouds tend to obscure both of them.

When I was getting Ellen’s breakfast, the buffet was slammed so I made the right call with the solarium.

Later in the morning, I had my usual iced coffee in the Piazza – the sun was bright and the skies were essentially all blue.

At about 11:00 AM, we went back up to Horizon Court and had brunch that would fuel us for our excursion.  I had an omelet with tomatoes, onions, and cheddar cheese plus two biscuits. Ellen had a lox and cheddar cheese omelet.  All the items were very good.

At Noon, we disembarked and waited for our group to assemble.  We were both on the same bus, "White", a minibus that could accommodate about 25-30 people.  There were just two empty seats.  We sat in the middle so I wouldn’t feel all of the road bumps and risk another back injury. Our guide/driver was Kai – originally from Taiwan and now a resident of Hilo (he showed us his green house).

As we left the port area, we could see the ship docked across the bay.



After a drive through Banyan Drive (with the trees named after famous people), which is across the street from the Hilo Hawaiian Hotel (the venue of past great brunches) and past Liliuokalani Park (the largest Japanese Garden outside of Japan).  The Park connects to a small island, Coconut Island, 


in the bay via a footbridge.  Coconut Island was a refuge island in the Kingdom of Hawaii - if you broke the law but could swim to the island, you would be pardoned of your crimes.

our first stop was the “Big Island Candy Store”, 


which was just a few minutes from the port. We spent about 20 minutes (all of our stops today were about 20 minutes) tasting one of their cookies and a candy made with macadamia nuts.  The big treat for me was tasting actual 100 percent Kona Coffee – I took two small cups and drank them black.  The coffee ran about $70 per pound and I honestly could not tell what the deal was with the coffee.  It tasted just like the coffee I grind back home.  Still, it’s Kona and a lot of people will pay  for it; the price is more dictated by the cost to produce the coffee than the quality of the final product.



Our next stop involved a brief visit to the Farmer’s Market. We also took the opportunity to buy a couple of bottles of water to take back to the ship (and a diet coke for Ellen).  We met the bus, which had to circle around to pick up late stragglers (they would be late for the next stop as well).

We then climbed the streets of Hilo to Rainbow Falls.  Once again, the rainbow did not appear but the falls are still impressive.  I got the best panorama shot of the falls and the lush vegetation.





From the falls, it was about a 25 minute drive (and a bumpy one at that) to the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Company.  We have been here several times but we finally learned that a Mr. McAdams brought the nut to the islands and the famous nut is named for him.  We spent 20 minutes here tasting the various varieties of nuts – I liked them all except for the Sriracha coated nuts.  The servers were pretty generous with the samples – I also found out that just three macadamia nuts come to 100 calories.  Best of all, we got our escort kits from the store, a tradition we look forward to.

Our final stop was another 25 minutes away but close to the port – a visit to the Black Sand Beach.  There are a series of beach parks along that stretch of Hilo Bay but not that many actual black sand beaches (produced from lava).  It takes a long time to produce black sand and Hawaii is a young island in the chain.  The other islands have long stretches of black sand beaches.  Nevertheless, the black sand beach and surrounding lava heavy beaches were absolutely magnificent.  I took a lot of pictures because I had never seen anything like this.  The next time we are here we might just take a cab or Uber here to spend some time at these beaches.











On the way back to the bus (the walk on the lava was a bit tricky and from there up some grades to the road - not for the mobility challenged), we passed some spectacular vegetation including a banyan tree on a tiny island.


We were caught in some traffic getting back to the port and we were some of the last people to get back.  


The ship started its engines when we got back to our cabin.  The weather also got ugly as the Hawaiian rains came in.


We had dinner in the Michelangelo Dining Room. I didn’t make reservations but we still got a nice table for two against the wall. I had two bowls of gazpacho (delicious), a garden salad with Ranch Dressing, and the Pan Fried Tilapia.  Ellen had the Baked Potato Soup and the Tilapia. The fish was good but needed to be well done.  Next time.  I had the fried pineapple dessert and Ellen had some chocolate mousse thing (she liked the inside and not the mousse coating).  My coffee tasted just like the pricey Kona Coffee I had earlier. Go figure.

We passed on “Motor City” in the Vista Lounge because it is too loud in the small venue – instead we listened to Jan Gulbicki in the Crooners Lounge playing piano favorites and a kind of name that tune and composer.

We had excursions for tomorrow but decided not to accept them because they required a real early start.  We will have a Plan B for tomorrow in Honolulu.

Back in the room now and the seas are smooth.