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Hello World,
The MV Explorer got to Hilo, Hawaii [where any of you are more than welcome to buy me a home] really late on Sunday, 24 January. Early Monday [5:30AM] we had to wake up and go through customs since we technically departed the trip from Ensenada, Mexico. My sea [the ship is divided into seas and my section is the Baltic Sea] was not called until a few minutes after 7 so I was forced to watch the sun rise over Hawaiian surf while not being able to get off the ship or do anything about it but become extremely impatient. Once the one straggler who was ruining my life was located, the ship cleared customs and we got off into Hilo.
My friend Carson turned 21 on our first day in Hawaii so the two of us and our recent friend Thomas walked about 2 miles into downtown, rented an 8' soft-top board from Orchid Land Surf and took a cab two more miles down to a local beach called Honolai'i [I believe is how it was spelled]. It was beautiful, obviously but the waves were fairly small [Folly sized]. Thomas went first and was unsuccessful since he had never surfed before. I floated in behind him and Carson went out for a little while. We both got one strong ride in but really didn't accomplish much, but floating around was awesome anyways.
From there we took the board back and went to lunch at Puka Puka Kitchen and I had a really good Chicken Pita. Then we walked around some of the shops to kill time and got a shaved ice [strawberry ice with vanilla ice cream inside] from the Hilo Sugar Shack. After we had successfully wasted enough time we got on the free city bus and rode to Rainbow Falls. Unfortunately Hilo is not getting much rain so the waterfall was pretty dried up, but it was still neat to see. There were a lot of huge trees around so we climbed them for a good hour or so.
From there we went to a local grocery store, Wal-Mart, and stocked up on goods for the ship since they don't have snacks on board for cheap and you can only eat during designated buffet meal times. The smoothies on the ship are amazing, and slightly overpriced, but more so amazing so I am slowly getting addicted even though I have only had 3. Carson and I made a deal to try every single flavor by the end of the trip.
After that we met up with more people and turned into a group of 8 and went to dinner at Ken's House of Pancakes which was awesome and gave us entirely way too much food [especially the birthday pancakes with sparklers in them given to Carson after she had just unsuccessfully attempted to eat what she ordered]. I got strawberry pancakes which I have learned I do not like or dislike but no not really prefer, and Kieki Moco, a kid's sized serving of Loco Moco [which is hamburger, brown rice, scrambled eggs, and gravy]. It was good buy Bobby made me Loco Moco before and I actually liked his better, which is kind of odd since it's a Hawaiian dish. It was good either way. Afterwards we went to a local bar called Shooters. It was sketchy and loud and not for me, so I left her with the group and headed back with Lydia and passed out in order to wake up early for my trip the next morning.
This morning I had an FDP for my Biology of Sharks class with Professor Abel [who ironically graduated from College of Charleston and now teaches at Coastal Carolina - so he said I get an automatic A] where we went on a research boat to watch Humpback Whales. We got on the bus and went to a tide pool for a while and I saw a big juicy sea turtle and crabs and some starfish and stuff. Then we got on the boat and went out to the whales and were surrounded by like 20ish of them. They would breech and splash and come up and smack their fins and tails on the water near the boat. On the way back in three of them popped up right behind me like 2 feet away and surprised me but it was awesome.
Afterwards I got more shaved ice then went back to the ship and watched whales from the top deck while I read a book and talked to some peoples and drank a delicious smoothie. We left Hilo around 8 and I am now on the way to Honolulu. Chris is going to meet me in Japan so from there I will upload pictures because I am having a hard time doing it from the ship for some reason.
Until we meet again.
:]
- comments
Tammy Provence Wow!.....Now that's what I call a "busy day." Congrats on the auto-A! ;-) LuvU...Mom
Auntie Peg I r envious: of waves, whales and mostly strawberry shaved ice.Peg