Well, I am well on my way to being in love with Hawaii.
Since my last post, I have become a bit of a big thing on the ship. I would
venture to say, moderately famous. On Sunday night, we went to the Polynesian
Evening. Our host began by calling up a volunteer – a male. When no one
volunteered, I put my hand up and said I would do it. I was called up on stage
to help crack a coconut. Now, let me tell you – this was quite the experience.
I started out on my knees with my right leg up. Then I had to hold a sharp
spear at a 30 degree angle. Now this was fine when that was all I had to do.
But then the very muscular Hawaiian man proceeded to smash the coconut on the
spear to remove the husk. He was strong, I was nervous so the stick was
flailing. But I managed not to impale him and we got the husk off! (and I may
or may not have had a view up his sarong to the tattoos that covered his legs).
After that, he showed everyone how to crack open the coconut
with two taps of a rock. And then I was invited back up to drink the coconut
water. And let me tell you – it was delicious! Not overpowering, but so fresh
and refreshing.
Now normally, this would have been awesome. But in the 2
days since, I have had quite a few people come up to me and ask if I was Lisa,
the coconut girl from Edmonton. I feel moderately famous – should I be offering
autographs? (just kidding… but everybody has been so great!). We finished our
evening with dinner in the Skyline Restaurant. It was delish!
So, on Monday, we were in Maui for our second day. We were
up before the crack of dawn – actually up at 3am so we could be on the bus for
our journey up to Haleakala Crater for sunrise. We made it up to the crater
with an hour and a half before sunrise. Now, because we are so far up (10,000 feet)
and above the clouds, it was windy and cold. But in order to have a great spot
for the sunrise, we had to stand by the railing in the wind for 1.5 hours.
Thankfully, I had my toque, mitts and hoodie and I had brought my beach stuff
so my Dad could wrap the towel around his head.
But before the sun rose, we got to see Venus rise along the
horizon. Now that was cool! But once the sun peeked over the horizon, wow! What
a sight. The sunlight danced off the clouds and cast amazing shadows inside the
crater. It was a great view (and very quickly, I forgot about my numb toes). So
glad we made the trek that early to witness a clear sunrise (often, it is so
cloudy that you don’t see the sun rise).
The rest of the day was spent on the boat. We tried to get a
rental car to go back to Lahaina but alas, no rentals available with an hour
notice. So I lounged poolside, working on my burn and just having a great time.
I danced to the 50s and 60s music, ate pizza, drank a pina colada and relaxed.
It was a great afternoon. When my burn (even after sunscreen, what gives?) was
a little tender, I went inside and did a hula class. We learned two dances that
I can perform on Friday for the ship. It was fun and really easy! Then I did a
lei making class: we made kukui nut leis. Very cool.
Last night, we ate dinner in the Cadillac diner while we
pulled out of port in Maui and headed to the Big Island, Hawai’i. (This is also
where I met quite a few of my “fans”). After a very long day (without a nap),
we called it a day at 10pm.
So today, we were up for sunrise at 6.58am to watch the sun
come up on the Big Island and Mauna Kea. We even saw some blasts of water from
some whales. Then, while we ate breakfast on the lanai, we watched hundreds of whales blast water, come to the surface and have a good time! So beautiful! Today, we are heading to the volcanoes for our helicopter ride.
This should be a highlight of the trip! And I’ll post about it later!
Aloha and Mahalo for reading!
Love, Lisa
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