From Bob: The following picture was taken from the sliding door of our stateroom. It will be different tomorrow (while it does change every day; there simply isn’t a lot of variety).
Weather update: The captain warned us yesterday that rough seas might be ahead. He encouraged everyone to be proactive with motion sickness relief measures. We really lucked out. The following image is a colorized wind map. Green indicates lower winds; red indicates higher winds. In the center of the green, the black dots represent the Hawaiian Islands. Our ship is approximately 100 miles east of there in the green area, where we will remain until we dock tomorrow. If the weather to the north had moved south, the ride would have become difficult, to say the least. Dodged a bullet (or at least a lot of big waves).
Cheryl and I both attended a presentation on volcanoes in the Pacific. The speaker highlighted, but did not focus exclusively on, Hawaii, given that we arrive there on Saturday. Hawaii has multiple active volcanoes. The talk was both enlightening and educational. The presenter, a former college professor, possesses extensive knowledge of the Pacific’s geological features. A high-quality talk given by a talented speaker.
I attended a presentation on Pacific Island land ownership. Probably not the most exciting topic I have chosen, but it is either go to a talk or watch all the water go by (one can only read so many books). After the slides, my takeaway: Never, never, buy land on a Pacific island (except Hawaii). Too many potential ownership issues.
The topic for the final presentation I attended was Humpback whales. Again, a very educational talk given by an energetic speaker. Humpbacks were discussed as the northern whales are wintering in Hawaii. Richard was very optimistic that we would see humpbacks tomorrow and beyond. Whales are very cool creatures. Northern hemisphere whales have slightly different coloring and size compared to southern hemisphere whales, who knew (click here)? The presenter and his wife also help cruisers find and identify wildlife from the ship. Slim pickings so far as far as mammals and fish go, but a few bird sightings were reported.
Finally, the real world beckoned yet again. The NFL playoffs started today. I couldn’t stream the games live, but I was able to view the recorded games later in the day (I almost always watch delayed anyway). Yes, I know I am on a fantastic cruise, but I simply must follow these games. YouTube TV finally determined I am in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, bummer.
From Both of Us: We ate at the Italian restaurant, Manfredi’s, last night. We both think it has the best food on the ship so far. We have enjoyed both of our meals there a great deal. Based on feedback from our family, we are increasing the number of images in the blog, so I included a lot of photos of the restaurant (and will add more photographs of all types in the future).
From Cheryl: Bob covered many of our activities on this final day at sea before we have a 1 1/2 day stop in Hawaii. I spent the day eating, reading, attending an interesting lecture on Hawaiian Volcanoes, having a pedicure, and then eating again. The captain navigated the ship away from the highest waves, so we had a smoother ride than anticipated. We’re getting acclimated to living at sea and the freedom of time that we have. There’s very little on the must-do list each day, except what we choose to do. It is peaceful and relaxing, making it easy to meet other passengers. We all know how fortunate we are to be able to experience a trip such as this (and to prove how incredible the cruise is, many people on this ship have done it before!).