April 27, 2009
Honolulu, Oahu HI
I awoke this morning at 0400 with extremely sore hamstrings. I stretched them out and then tossed and turned until the wake up call rang at 0545. I had a 0600 appointment in the gym for a “workout plan” that was part of my Personal Metabolic Assessment. So, 45 more minutes of pain. I learned some new exercises that I can do at home that are real killers. The best part of the workout was when Steven was stretching my legs for me. My hamstrings were so tight and he really pulled them - which was quite difficult to tolerate, but made such a difference.
As we approached Honolulu, the travel guide came over the intercom and announced that there was a school of spinner dolphins on the starboard side of the ship. So, we rushed over and saw these little tiny (comparative to the dolphins that we expect to see) dolphins jumping up and spinning in the air. Very cool. We docked in Honolulu at 1000am and were scheduled to be there until midnight. The sun was shining. The water was blue. We walked off the boat in search of beach. I had to buy the little one a hat because her cheeks were pretty pink from yesterday. Also, my flip flops had broke yesterday and while were on our tour in Hilo I bought a pair of cheap flip flops at Hilo Hatties. Well, wouldn’t you know, they fell apart too, so I needed another pair. Lots of shops right when we got off the port, so we were in search of these things. I was surprised that most shops were run by the Japanese. In fact, all the signs are written in English and Japanese. It was rare to actually see a Hawaiian. Found a hat for my baby. Found a new pair of Croc flip flops for myself (I should have packed mine from home).
Then off to the beach. We could see it from the ship and anticipated a short jaunt. Well, it turned out to be quite more than that. And, of course, someone was getting hot with that big bright sun shining down on us. But that someone also left our water bottle in the shop where she was trying on her hats. We finally got to a beach and she undressed down to her bikini and was in the water to cool off. The beach was very calm (it had break away rocks about 200 yards out) and not very busy, but Bubby was looking forward to the boogie boards which were not available here. So, we let her cool off and then walked a couple more blocks to the bus line. I found out later that the bus driver ripped me off - he charged me $2pp and it was supposed to be $2 for adults and $1 for under 17 years old. I asked him to drop us off close to Waikiki Beach and he told me he was too busy to tell me and that I needed to just watch. Oh, such helpful people here. So, a very nice older Hawaiian man with gray hair told me to just get off where he gets off. We ended up having to walk about 3 more blocks after we got off the bus to get to the beach. We stopped at an ABC store on the way and Bubby was going to buy a boogie board but it was all foam and I talked him into just seeing what the beach has to rent and if he didn’t like it, I would walk back and buy the board. Turns out the beach did have better boards with a plastic bottom that were a bit heavier and he ended up renting one of those. How many people can you pack on a beach? This place was packed! Little dots of heads all over the water. The boogie boards and surf boards were so far away from the shore and in such a large quantity it was very difficult to keep an eye on my son. Thankfully, A.) he knows how to swim B.) for some reason salt water makes you more buoyant C.) there are lifeguards on the beach. He was out there for about 2 hours. Came in when he cut his toe on a rock. Not a bad cut - didn’t need stitches, but mister OCD had to get every last granule of sand out which took some time. I went and got a couple bandaids from the lifeguard shack. The little one had stayed back at the beach (only about 100 yards away) to watch our stuff because we were warned about theft on the beach. I bought some shaved ice for all of us because I knew she would be hot having not been in the water for a whole 15 minutes. Okay, so we made of with a haul on the pearls yesterday, but today I lost more than that because while I was helping Bub clean out his minor cut, a wave came high on shore and soaked our two bags which had my cell phone, Bubby’s cell phone, my camera, the little girl’s camera, and the ipod. And now NOTHING works. We stopped and bought an eyeglass repair kit on the way back to the ship and Bub was frantically trying to dry things out and fix them. Both cell phones turn on, but the screens go blank. Can’t get either camera to work and the ipod I’m sure is toast. So, looks like I will be looking for a new camera before I get home because we are just ½ way through our vacation. It was amazing to me all the sand that was inside those electronics! Bub reminded me that he fixed his Aunt Vickie’s VCR a couple years ago when we were visiting them and he is bound and determined to fix these things. I heard that salt water is bad though because it rusts the parts inside…we’ll see….
Oh, and for dinner tonight…we had Chili’s in downtown Honolulu…overly priced and not worth it. Should have waited to eat when we returned to the ship.
So to continue on the shoe saga. I had purchased those Crocs and now am wondering if I bought fakes from the Japanese because I got two humungous blisters - one on each toe. Now I have had several pair of Croc flip flops over the past 5 years and have NEVER gotten a blister - now I have TWO. So, I was far from the ship and had plenty of walking to do and both my feet were painfully stinging with every step. I went into an ABC store (they are on every corner) and bought a pair of those ugly foam sandals that have one strap across the top of your feet (nothing between your toes) to get me home. Ugh! Three pairs of shoes in the last two days and they aren’t even cute ones!
When we got back to the boat, I went straight up to the hottub because my legs and my feet needed some relief. The little one came to join me after she went to our dorm to use the bathroom because she was around public restrooms all day and she just doesn’t do those too well. We then went to see what was for dessert and she had a Chocolate Pie and I had a Coconut Cream Pie - yum! We ate on the back deck of the boat which was beautiful with the city lights of Waikiki Beach and Honolulu shining in the night over the calm waters.
No show tonight. They had a movie on the big screen playing in the Theatre titled “Australia.” We decided to call it an early night and rest up for the big day in Kona tomorrow.
