Hawaii here we come ~ First stop Hilo
We embarked on Sunday in San Diego and started the voyage across to Hawaii. In efforts to educate us all, there was a channel dedicated to just information on Hawaii. I must admit, I didn't know much about the 50th state and have learned a thing or two. I found it amazing to find that the time required to get to Hawaii is actually more than what it was for the Constellation to cross from Cork to Newfoundland. The Atlantic crossing had only 3 days while it took us 4 to reach our destination.
In addition to the learning, I did manage to take in a couple of things that I wouldn't be able to do as a crew member ~ the most notable being the wine pairing course that was offered by the Sommeliers. It was actually quite interesting as we were presented with 4 different wines, 2 white and 2 red, and we were then given various food items such as lemon, olives, chocolate and chicken to see how the taste of the wine changed depending on what we were eating. Who knew red wine goes with chocolate. That one was my favourite!
We had 4 ports in total, and those who have been here before have their favourites and those that are used mostly for shoppoing. I guess it was like the Baltic run where Helsinki became the 'errand' port.
The first stop was Hilo ~ on the Big Island. The Big Island, so named as it is the largest of all the islands and is in fact larger in area than all of the remaining islands combined. It is also home to the worlds most active volcano. To showcase the volcano, there is a National park and you are able to see the lava flows and travel the rim of the crater. Interesting fact, there is enough lava produced each day to pave 20 miles of road. That is a lot of molten rock. Most of the lava flows out to the sea and as a result, the island is increasing in size every day. In hind sight, I should have gone on the day long excursion to the Volcano National Park where you hike some of the lava fields. I find that sometimes I don't cease the moment as I always feel that there will be the opportunity when I return. Pity really, as I am sure it would have been really interesting. With our arrival into Hilo, after 4 sunny days at Sea, we arrived to have a crew drill and find the skies overcast and spitting rain. Nice. I waited for Akis and Nikos and headed out to 'run the errands'.
While we were out I made a stop at Hilo Haddies. This has to be the biggest 'Hawaii-ana' store. Everywhere you looked there were clothes made out of the loud Hawaiian print, statues of dancing Hula dolls, Macadamia nuts ~ yummm, and grass skirts everywhere. The day proved to be a bit challenging with our transportation where it seemed that there were only 4 taxis that were working that day and 2800 people from a cruise ship looking for one. As it turns out, there was a Hula competition going on at the stadium which has a huge draw and this is where all of our transportation had gone.
In addition to the learning, I did manage to take in a couple of things that I wouldn't be able to do as a crew member ~ the most notable being the wine pairing course that was offered by the Sommeliers. It was actually quite interesting as we were presented with 4 different wines, 2 white and 2 red, and we were then given various food items such as lemon, olives, chocolate and chicken to see how the taste of the wine changed depending on what we were eating. Who knew red wine goes with chocolate. That one was my favourite!
We had 4 ports in total, and those who have been here before have their favourites and those that are used mostly for shoppoing. I guess it was like the Baltic run where Helsinki became the 'errand' port.
The first stop was Hilo ~ on the Big Island. The Big Island, so named as it is the largest of all the islands and is in fact larger in area than all of the remaining islands combined. It is also home to the worlds most active volcano. To showcase the volcano, there is a National park and you are able to see the lava flows and travel the rim of the crater. Interesting fact, there is enough lava produced each day to pave 20 miles of road. That is a lot of molten rock. Most of the lava flows out to the sea and as a result, the island is increasing in size every day. In hind sight, I should have gone on the day long excursion to the Volcano National Park where you hike some of the lava fields. I find that sometimes I don't cease the moment as I always feel that there will be the opportunity when I return. Pity really, as I am sure it would have been really interesting. With our arrival into Hilo, after 4 sunny days at Sea, we arrived to have a crew drill and find the skies overcast and spitting rain. Nice. I waited for Akis and Nikos and headed out to 'run the errands'.
While we were out I made a stop at Hilo Haddies. This has to be the biggest 'Hawaii-ana' store. Everywhere you looked there were clothes made out of the loud Hawaiian print, statues of dancing Hula dolls, Macadamia nuts ~ yummm, and grass skirts everywhere. The day proved to be a bit challenging with our transportation where it seemed that there were only 4 taxis that were working that day and 2800 people from a cruise ship looking for one. As it turns out, there was a Hula competition going on at the stadium which has a huge draw and this is where all of our transportation had gone.
posted by Carrie @ 8:41 PM
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