When I awoke about 6am, I made a beeline for my iPhone and took it off Airplane Mode for the first time in a very long time. Oh, life is good. I had AT&T!!! Phone messages, some nearly three months old, started popping up, emails loaded automatically without delay. Text! I could text! Holy hallelujah!! I was surprised that G wasn't already up and at it too, but discovered later that he had left the cabin at 3am and gone out on the terrace behind the Panorama Buffet and found an AT&T signal that he went nuts with until after 5am. No wonder he was sleeping in.
Of course, phoning my dear mom was #1 on my list of things to do. OMG, it was so wonderful to talk with her without latency, and without the connection cutting in and out. It was the first significant conversation we've had in three months and it was the BEST!! Then I started texting and surfing the net and...well, I would have been happy doing that all day long. Even better, we had enough of a signal right in our little porthole cabin to allow me to do just that. But, the realities of immigration requirements and my needs associated with the cold I got yesterday forced us to move on. We had been assigned a 7:30am time to go though US immigration in the Cabaret Lounge, a process that, on this little ship, was a simple walk through. We were officially back in the US!!
After a very quick breakfast, we walked off the ship. Now, though we've been in Hilo (HEE-lo), on the east coast of the Big Island at least five times in the past, it's been awhile, and it always amazes me how things (like the port terminal) bring back memories. Even more amazing was the fact that this was the first time I've ever been in Hilo when the sun has been shining. Considering that Hilo is the third wettest town in the entire US (behind only Ketchikan and Yakutat, Alaska with 130 inches of rain every year), that's not too surprising. But what a gloriously sunny day we had today, about 81F with low humidity. Gorgeous! I believe that this is the very first time I've ever seen the top of Mauna Kea, the nearly 14000 foot tall dormant volcano that towers over Hilo, and was thrilled to see the snow near its peak. Actually, when measured from its base far below on the ocean floor, Mauna Kea is the tallest mountain in the world, much taller than Mt. Everest.
For more information on the interesting geology of the Big Island, see:
Almost as soon as the Pacific Princess was cleared by the local authorities, USPH and Coast Guard inspections were underway, as this was the first time the Pacific Lounge had been in US waters since very early October. They passed them all (no surprise) and the crew seemed to have had a weight removed from their shoulders tonight.
We have spent several days on the Big Island since 1995, and have covered the island by rental car including going up to the Mauna Kea Visitors Center and visiting Volcano National Park and the lava fields on the southern part of the island. Therefore, our only goal for today was to take a free shuttle to WalMart and the shopping area near the port. I was not expecting to be chauffeured to the store in a nearly brand new touring motorcoach, the kind that lowers down for boarding. After the more primitive buses in French Polynesia, this one was pure luxury. But nothing compared to walking into WalMart, the best shopping we've had in three months. Brands we recognized and an abundance of everything. It was heady stuff.
I needed several small things: Cepacol throat lozenges and guafinisin and gum and razors. G needed a few more things, and then, together we bought Chex Mix and macadamia nuts and Kona coffee. On the way to check out, I saw yoga-type pants and remembered I had brought only one pair of casual pants with me, intending to wear them home on the plane. I hadn't counted on cruising back to Los Angeles and then down to Mexico. Another pair of pants might come in handy. We left WalMart ladened down and waited out front for the return shuttle to the ship.
The whole experience was fairly surreal. We were surrounded by a store not unlike a WalMart at home, but every other customer was a member of the ship's crew. It was a collision of our life at home and our life on a ship, and felt very, very strange.
Now, THAT's a shuttle!
So fancy even the steps were covered in hardwood.
The snow capped peak of Mauna Kea
The day's weather was nothing short of perfect. 81F and low humidity with a light breeze. For the first time in three months, my curls were more relaxed and I didn't have a head covered in cotton candy.
After we put our purchases away in our cabin, we went up to the Panorama Buffet for lunch. Sitting on the terrace, we saw the first of what would keep us entertained for the rest of the afternoon. Whales! We saw at least five, spouting and breaching and taking our breaths away. That was as far as we went; we'd intended to go back off the ship, but with that kind of view, couldn't even bring ourselves to leave that terrace.
We stayed out there for sailaway, and, in addition to whales, saw a beautiful sunset over Mauna Kea. We went to dinner a bit late, at nearly 6pm, and only because tonight was waiter Jose's last night in the ship. Several crew members disembark tomorrow in Honolulu, Jose among them. We will miss them all! We enjoyed a scenic cruise along the northeast coast of the Big Island right from our dinner table until we lost the last of the daylight.
Following dinner and music by duo Chico and Dawn and pianist Jere Ring, we are back in the cabin. Our arrival in Honolulu is early tomorrow, at 7am, and it will be a full day, as the Pacific Princess doesn't sail until 11pm.
It's not home, but it's the closest we've been in a long time and we are loving our time in Hawaii.
