March 5, 2022
Last night, the rain cleared off in time for the sunset, even though it was still obscured by some clouds. The Dance Band wasn’t playing today so we enjoyed pre-dinner drinks at the Sea View bar. Still breezy but the temperatures are definitely going up.
We had to go back to Guest Services for another incorrect charge. Someone charged some distilled water to the room. It wasn’t us. We don’t have any need for distilled water which is usually ordered for oxygen or CPAP machines. They credited the charge about an hour later. Wonder if they were able to get the right room number. Easy to transpose room numbers.
Played a few slots before dinner. At dinner, we sat with two sisters from California and a couple from Chicago. Nice conversations. Chuck and I each had the mini shrimp taco as an appetizer, he had soup and I had a salad, and then he had the salmon and I had eggplant and zucchini with couscous. Neither of us had dessert.
We went to the BB King Band’s first set – all Disco. Played songs that reminded me of my freshman year at WKU. Good times. We stayed for part of their second set but then left to get a seat at the 9:30 show on the mainstage – Strings Alive.
They are a couple from Australia who play piano, violin, and piano. It was very high energy. Played everything from Irish folk tunes to Guns and Roses’ Sweet Child of Mine. We had missed their show earlier in the week so I was glad we were able to attend tonight’s performance.
Afterwards, Chuck went for some three card poker and I detoured up to the Lido for some hot tea and a slice of strawberry cheesecake.
However, the best thing about the night was not the show or the cheesecake. It was the hot shower I was able to take. The maintenance fixed whatever the problem was. Yay! Small victories.
Woke up today to beautiful blue skies and even warmer temperatures. First time since California that I have enjoyed drinking my Latte on the veranda.
Chuck decided to sleep in so I went up to the Lido for some breakfast and to enjoy the sun on the Sea View Deck. Was still a little breezy so I returned to our veranda where the side panels and plexiglass railing block some of the breeze.
First thing I noticed was that one panel that separates the verandas was swinging loose. When I investigated, I noticed that its mate on the other side of our neighbor’s veranda was also swinging loose. Weird. I know you can request that the panels come down between cabins for an extended balcony but you typically only do not do that when your neighbors are strangers.
Then, as I was sitting there, I got some sprinkles. Okay, weird again. Next, I heard whooshing sounds and started seeing water come pouring from the right and making its way through our balcony and on to the left. I didn’t have a good feeling about any of it so I went inside. Next, water came pouring from above onto our deck. Had I still been there, I would have been soaked.
Either they were washing windows or balconies or both above us. Either way, you typically get a note in your room to be aware of the cleaning. We didn’t get any warning. I just got lucky.
I went to the 11:00 lecture on “Hawaiian Wildlife” by the Naturalist. He is such a knowledgeable young man.
He had some great videos of spinner dolphins and of him diving with whales. He told us some interesting facts about the wildlife we might see –
Butterfly fish – only fish species known to be monogamous
Yellow Tang – Have white dots on tails that can be deployed as spikes to cut the mouth of any predator fish tries to eat them.
Wrasse fish – Tiny fish popular with the other fish because they clean algae and other gunk off the scales, gills, and mouths of bigger fish.
Parrotfish – Nibble on coral. Digested coral becomes sand that they poop out. One large parrot fish can poop 900 pounds of sand in a life time. (Think about that the next time you are relaxing on a white sandy beach).
Moray eels – Have two jaws. If a bait fish comes near the large jaw, a small jaw is deployed grabbing the fish and dragging it into the big jaw. Was the model of the creatures in the Alien movies.
Octopus – Have the ability to solve puzzles. They can also escape through any opening as long as the opening is slightly bigger than their eye.
Flying fish – Glide over the water up to 200 meters (appr. 650 feet) to escape the underwater predators. Unfortunately, they forget about the birds who are circling waiting to grab one as it breaches the water. It’s hard to be an ocean bait fish.
Spinner dolphins – Can leap out of the water and do up to 7 complete rotations before splashing back into the ocean.
Sea turtles – the males have long tails, the females have short stubby tails.
He told us that later on in the trip he has recordings of whale sounds that he will share. I look forward to that presentation.
Lunch was at the Lido again. Didn’t make it to the salad bar today. The line was very long. Typically there were two salad bar stations but one station today was a create your own taco bar. Since HAL doesn’t let you handle your own food, it was so going as people were telling the servers what to include in their tacos. I skipped it and went for the pizza.
Chuck and I attended the 2:30 Cruise Critic Meet and Greet. Cruise Critic is a website about cruising. One of the features is the roll call. If you are going on a particular cruise, you can search to see if someone has started a roll call for it. On it, you can discuss topics such as private shore excursions, find people who share similar interests ex. Bridge players, knitters, etc.
If there is enough interest, once you get on the cruise you can go to a meet and greet and match names with faces of the people you have been chatting with online. We went mainly today to pay the organizer of our snorkeling tour in Fakarava. Today’s get together was held in the Crow’s Nest and was very well attended.
However, it lasted so long I missed the lecture on the Tropic of Capricorn. Maybe it will play on the room TV. Sometimes the ship will record and do that.
Travel Trivia
Hawaiian Islands – The State of Hawaii – The Aloha State
The state of Hawaii consists of eight main islands: Niihau, Kauai, Oahu, Maui, Molokai, Lanai, Kaho’olawe and the Big Island of Hawaii.
Hawaii became the 50th state on August 21, 1959.
There are only 12 letters in the Hawaiian alphabet.
- Vowels: A, E, I, O, U
- Consonants: H, K, L, M, N, P, W
From east to west Hawaii is the widest state in the United States.
The Hawaiian Islands are the projecting-above-the-ocean-tops of the biggest mountain range in the world.
Hawaii has its own time zone known as Hawaiian Standard Time. Hawaii has no daylight savings time. The time runs two hours behind Pacific Standard Time and five hours behind Eastern Standard Time.
Due to volcanic eruptions, the landmass of Hawaii is constantly growing.
This state is the only one in the U.S. that grows coffee, vanilla beans, and cacao commercially.
The Hawaii state flower is the yellow hibiscus.
*Trivia provided by Wikipedia and Holland America documents
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