Day 5 & 6 – Aloha Hawaii!

Okay so the past two days before this have been spent first in Hilo Hawaii on the big Island Hawaii. We were originally supposed to go see waterfalls and then up to see the volcano. Instead we ended up going to the Macadamia nut plant they have there on the island. We got freshly roasted and salted samples of the nuts –and ohhh boy were they AWESOME!- Then it was off to the Volcano, we slowly climbed –me having to equalize my ears every 500-1000 feet or so ><’ – We were shown the steam vents but did not stop there, from there we were taken several spots. One was to the rim of the Caldera that had a giant steaming pit in the very middle of the crater that was in the middle of the caldera. –by the way a crater is any “hole” smaller than a mile across in diameter and a caldera is any Natural “Hole” two miles or larger in diameter.- I guess we weren’t allowed closer because the caldera was also putting out threatening levels of dangerous fumes. –And I honestly didn’t want to die xD- but we were also taken to several places where we could take pictures of hardened Pahoehoe and Ai-Ai lava right next to each other and I got some sweet stock photos 8D –and textures and blah blah blah- I have LOTS of pictures… unfortunately my laptop doesn’t seem to want to read my memory card so I can’t show them to you =( sorry. But we got back and then went to walmart x3 At walmart we got several 12-packs for most of the rest of the voyage until we can get to Newzeland. We also got more macadamia nuts lol and a few other things we’d been lacking. My Cherry Coke box decided to split in half on me >< but fortunately a few nice fellow cruise passengers lent me a few bags so all 12 cans got on board with little problem xD we went and saw a juggler who did some humorous jokes and made fun of the old people in the first few rows of the theatre lol. He was amusing –and ended up balancing and juggling ontop of a ladder on rocky seas. My applause to him!-

The next day we were in Lahina[Maui] Hawaii and we meet a friend at the dock… well before that it took nearly an hour longer than planned to even get off the boat -.-‘ the port authorities showed up late and only cleared the tourists with tour groups to get off at first, about 7:30 or later or something the rest of us were allowed to get off. Jacki, the friend, took us to her tiny –I mean she slept in the main room which was also the kitchen and computer room- house on the side of the mountains. I should have taken a picture of the view… but didn’t >.> I got distracted with free internet lol. At any rate I got to call my hubby and wish him happy birth-day and got to hear him rant about the government doing just as it does –screwing everyone over- and then I got to go up into the mountains along a road I later found out was called Hana[?] and I guess it’s something like 617 turns, 56 miles long and takes three hours to traverse… and in some parts it’s a single lane road with NO GUARDRAIL, overlooking STUNNING views of the island’s coastline. I wish I could have taken more pictures than I did, but the ones I got suffice for me =3 I’m happy! I got to learn a little of the Hawaiian language. I guess there was also a 6.2[?] earthquake over in Indonesia –I think- that ended up in a tsunami that wreaked havoc in Samoa so some of the shore excursions are either canceled or being re-done and people have died in other countries became of it –the tsunami and/or earthquake- and I’m saddened by that. Fortunately Hawaii only had a few inches to a foot higher tide than normal so there was no major damage to the islands. At any rate EVERYONE was supposed to be back on the ship by 4:00pm that day… well… because some of the tours were late getting out they were late getting back… and the lines were long and we had to take the life boats out to where the ship was and such we ended up finally leaving around 5:30-6:00ish. I got some… iffy pictures of the islands as we were sailing away but I was exhausted. We were going to watch a comedian… but at 7:50, 25 minutes before show time, we kinda… forgot and kept sleeping and missed both sittings lol… oh well…

As for miscellaneous news…

Last night was TERRIBLE! Why? Well think, you’re on a flat bed… and suddenly the head of your bed tilts 30 degrees up from the floor and thunks back down so violently that everything in your room creaks under the strain. Yup… that’s what it’s like to run INTO large waves and then land on “flat” water… lol… and it sounded like something large and heavy was BEATING against the hull of the ship >< Plus we’re over the bow end of the ship so that made it even more terrible… we were going at like… 21-22.5 knots an hour last night to make up for lost time in Hawaii.

Any way… -and I dunno weather to be proud or ashamed- but I believe I ended up getting tipsy the first sea day 0o. Why? Well I got a pina colada, asked SPECIFICALLY for a non-alcoholic one and my mom got one with Alcohol in it… and I think they ended up putting Alcohol in both… cause I got a nasty headache and could barely keep my balance and all the next day I was much the same, terrible headache and nasty time trying to keep my balance…. Yup… accidentally got both drunk –to a degree- and a mild hangover. *sighs* I haven’t had one since… *snuggles my root beer lovingly*

Okay well… since my computer is acting up you’re just going to have to grin and bear with it since there are no pictures to be had… >.> Sowwy!