Home at Last

We're back home now and have been greeted by the cat and a few people who still remember who we are.

This is the best port of the trip... and everyone speaks English. This port features an island with sweeping views of a quiet harbor, snow capped mountains, green trees and beautiful sunsets. All we need is some souvenir peddlers and the cruise ships would all want to stop here.

We even have natives who could welcome them by playing quaint local music at the dock. Why there's even a brand new dock being built right now.

California

The end of the cruise was in San Diego. We spent a week in La Jolla and Thanksgiving at "cousin" Randi's house. I visited the Getty Center in Los Angeles before we flew back to Seattle and Vashon Island.

The Ship at Sea

After leaving our last port of call and with four full days at sea, I thought I'd take some pictures to show you the ship and views of the sea. You can see that it's a big ship with lots of room for shows, sports, lectures, bars, casino, library, pools, internet cafe, art sales, etc, etc, etc. 

You can see our hallway and our "mailbox" for room 6151. There is also an electronic chart with "real time" navigational information and up on top are domes over satellite antennas for television, telephone and internet.

Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii

We had only about eight hours in Lahaina on Maui. It was a "tender port" where we had to take the life boat type "tenders" in to shore. As in other tropical places we had a mix of rain-sun-rain-sun but it was always warm enough that it didn't feel uncomfortable. It was just a bother on bus windows and camera lenses. In the rain forest area the rainwater caused spectacular waterfalls that were not there on sun only days.

I took a tour that went to the rain forest area with the famous Iao Needle, a tall lava tower in a dramatic, steep sided valley. The tour also visited the Maui Ocean Center, an aquarium that features a transparent tunnel through a giant tank of sharks, rays and other fish.

Leaving Lahaina, we headed out for five days at sea on our way toward San Diego and the end of our 65 day trip.

Honolulu, Hawaii

We had two days in Honolulu. I went on a tour to Pearl Harbor where they have the sunken battleship Arizona Memorial and tours aboard the "Mighty Mo" which used to be at Bremerton. We walked on the beach at Waikiki and went by the Hawaiian Royal Palace.