Live from the Westerdam-Join the "Pearls of the Pacific" gang's South Pacific Cruise

[kazu]

I noticed a big difference in the room service form for the Neptune Suites. Mimosas are included and the room service menu is clearly marked Neptune Suite. (Now, who is going to get a mimosa at 6 A.M. Is beyond me. LOL).

 

Here it is...

 

 

Our room stewards are making the larger intricate towel animals for us :). I'm sure you have all seen them before....but.....last night's was smaller and one I hadn't seen before. I thought it was really cute....

 

 

 

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[Vict0riann]

We had the little guy on our bed last night, too. [emoji99][emoji3]

[kazu]

It's a sea day, so going to do a bit of catch up and get the rest of the On Locations and Menus up so that is up to date.

 

A lot easier that way.

 

 

Here is April 10th's On Location and menu:

 

 

 

 

And here is last night's dinner menu. Our dining room steward has been very good advice wise. I was going to try a dessert last night (DH and I split it) and he shook his head and recommended the crumble instead. He brought us both. He was absolutely right. The crumble was delicious and the other - not so much.

 

 

 

 

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[kazu]

And here is today's On Location (April 11th).

 

Lots of things to do on this sea day for sure!!!!

 

 

 

 

Tonight is Gala night!!! We will miss it as it is also the Master Chef Table tonight and we have that booked.

 

Here is the dinner menu for tonight

 

 

Be on the alert for some food porn later !!!!

 

 

 

 

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[Krazy Kruizers]

Natalie Toro was also on our cruise.

[kazu]

Yesterday we were in Kona.

 

Kona is much drier compared to Hilo. It is on the leeward side of the island. All islands have a "Kona" which actually means leeward side.

 

There was no place for our vehicles to stop so I had to take the pics while the vehicle was moving but as we began our tour in Kona it was obvious what the lava had down to the island on this side.

 

 

 

 

 

It was quite a long drive up the mountain - longer than I had anticipated.

 

But we got there...

 

Our first stop was the Kohala Reserve at the Pololu Valley. Here there is a magnificent look out.

 

Things were a bit greener here but you can still see lava in the distance.

 

You can get an idea of how high we were.

 

 

 

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[kazu]

Here are some more views from the look out for you.

 

 

 

You could actually walk down (if you were brave). It was a pretty steep decent and very tricky. I sure wouldn't have wanted to try to walk back up!! That's for sure.

 

 

Of course, Kazu loves flowers and couldn't resist a pic of the hibiscus.

 

 

I had to chuckle when I saw this river and the bit of land that went with it was for sale!!!!

 

 

 

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[kazu]

Then we were off to Hawi town, The birth place of King Kamehameha the Great. this town has the original statue of King Kamehameha (copies and others abound in several places, but the original is here).

 

 

His exact birth date is unknown but it is believed to be around 1753 and he died in 1819. The statue dates to 1880.

 

We had lunch in this little town, just a quick sandwich and we decided to try a local beer. Thank heavens gigianne's DH was looking at the bottle as we discovered that the beer was expired!!!!!! DH returned them I would hazard a guess the restaurant knew it since they came with two replacement beers when they saw him coming.

 

But the bite was good. Across the street were coconut trees. I was reminded that more people are killed by falling coconuts here than anything else when I saw a warning posted on one coconut tree not to walk under it due to falling coconuts.

 

We took a different route from our rest stop when we were walking and came across this fabulous tree. It was huge and absolutely gorgeous. My pic won't do it justice I fear.

 

 

Then we were off to Lapakahi State HIstorical Park.

 

Here you could see original artifacts including a house that was built by the fishermen way back when.

 

 

 

Some of our intrepid roll call members on our tour followed the path down to the water.

 

 

 

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[kazu]

The Rock that you see here is lava. Many of the trees that can grow here are bent to one side by the wind.

 

I had to admire the intrepid trees and shrubs trying to grow amongst the lava rock.

 

 

 

Our guide was a little slow to help people out so one of our roll call members jumped in to help. LOL.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[kazu]

After that it was time to head to Pu'ukohola Heiau. Here you find the Temple on the HIll of the Whale.

 

The story of this place is amazing. King Kamehameha want to build a temple to the God of War (Ku) so that he could get the blessing to conquer all the islands (he United Hawaii). There was a prophecy about this and, in order to build the temple properly, they had to have stones from the place we had just visited which was 20 miles away. So, he lined up his warriors for the 20 miles and they passed the stones one at a time. They were not allowed to put the stones down. If they touched the ground, they had to start over!!!! They started construction in 1790 and completed it by 1791.

 

Here is the view we had from the ground of the Heiau (temple).

 

 

The Ranger gave us a nice presentation and showed us how it looked from the air

 

 

We were on a private tour with Mauka Makai tours. Josh and Jill own it. It was quite a good tour BUT one thing that concerned me greatly so I will share for anyone who is considering doing this tour.....

 

They had 2 vehicles - 1 held 14 people and the other 7 people. When I asked about comfort I was told we were fine with 6 in the 7 passenger and 12 in the 14 passenger. Sorry, but Kazu disagrees. For comfort I would recommend no more than 5 people in the 7 passenger vehicle and 10 in the 14 passenger. I have NO idea where 14 people would go in that vehicle.

 

The other caveat is that we asked Josh where we could buy coffee reasonably and he sent us on a fairly hefty walk when there were tons of coffee spots closer. When I price checked the coffee was better quality and better price than the location he recommended IMO.

 

Those are Kazu's only caveats.

 

 

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[Krazy Kruizers]

Great pictures!!

[Vict0riann]

There were two little Hawaiian goldfinches at the State Historical park who were enjoying the sprinkler

system.

 

We enjoyed Kainoa's talk this morning on Fanning Island. He is so funny. He explained that although the island's sewage goes into the lagoon, it is flushed out rapidly with the tide, and he takes a tester ashore to check the swimming area, but he recommended "Don't swim with your mouth open" - [emoji15]!

 

There are a few whitecaps today - the Pacific Ocean looks very large.

 

 

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[1of4]

Lava is very fertile and supports rapid regrowth.

 

Hope you all survive "the day that doesn't exist". I got a morning chuckle out of the fleet location report for today ;). Sea dayssare probably needed after all the great tours just reported!

[Scrapnana]

Eleven of us had a great meal at the Master Chef's Dinner. Kazu wil be posting pictures (they are up on my blog halcruises2016.blogspot.com if you can't wait).

 

After dinner, I went to see "The Unexpected Boys" and their show "Oh, What A Night" a tribute to Frankie Valli and the Four Season. Great show!

[Krazy Kruizers]

A couple of the Master Chef's dinner that we went to were very long -- never left the table until well after 10 PM. No time for any shows.

[Krazy Kruizers]

There were two little Hawaiian goldfinches at the State Historical park who were enjoying the sprinkler

system.

 

We enjoyed Kainoa's talk this morning on Fanning Island. He is so funny. He explained that although the island's sewage goes into the lagoon, it is flushed out rapidly with the tide, and he takes a tester ashore to check the swimming area, but he recommended "Don't swim with your mouth open" - [emoji15]!

 

There are a few whitecaps today - the Pacific Ocean looks very large.

 

 

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Great picture.

[crucero]

Thanks everyone for posting. I just wanted to chime in that I am reading along. My mom is on this cruise too. It's freaking me out a bit that I won't have any contact with her for over 3 weeks! She isn't much into internet stuff and doesn't see the need to spend money for that. So, I'll just follow along with you guys. THANKS SO MUCH!

[Happily@Sea]

Lava is very fertile and supports rapid regrowth.

 

Hope you all survive "the day that doesn't exist". I got a morning chuckle out of the fleet location report for today ;). Sea dayssare probably needed after all the great tours just reported!

 

Today feels no different than yesterday, which was Monday. It's now 7:36 am Wednesday April 13th. Doesn't feel like I missed a whole day.

 

Think about doing April 15th - twice. That's going to be the strange day (s).

[rafinmd]

Today feels no different than yesterday, which was Monday. It's now 7:36 am Wednesday April 13th. Doesn't feel like I missed a whole day.

 

Think about doing April 15th - twice. That's going to be the strange day (s).

 

Shortest time I've ever seen crossing the Dateline.

 

Roy

[kazu]

Our Master Chef's Table was last night and it was very good. Started out in the Pinnacle Bar and we were escorted to our table.

 

The table is always set so beautifully for this event.

 

 

 

Flowers on the table were exquisite

 

 

 

Our menu is rolled up nicely and waiting for us on the table

 

 

And here is our menu

 

 

 

 

 

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[kazu]

Here is our roll call table from both ends.

 

 

 

 

Our Amuse Bouche

 

 

The Goose Liver (yummy)

 

 

This is our Frappe of Lobster & Porcini Bisque. The menu said it was Maine Lobster but the Cellar Master said it was New Brunswick lobster. No wonder it was so good!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[kazu]

Our potato-mustard seed crusted black cod

 

 

Lime and Candied Ginger granite

 

 

 

 

Due of Veal

 

 

Chocolate lovers including RuthC you might not want to look at this next pic. Here is our Dialogue of Chocolate Seduction and it was seductive!!!

 

 

Another angle of the chocolate....

 

 

 

 

 

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[Vict0riann]

Lava is very fertile and supports rapid regrowth.

 

 

 

Hope you all survive "the day that doesn't exist". I got a morning chuckle out of the fleet location report for today ;). Sea dayssare probably needed after all the great tours just reported!

 

 

I slept right through it, harhar!

[RuthC]

Chocolate lovers including RuthC you might not want to look at this next pic. Here is our Dialogue of Chocolate Seduction and it was seductive!!!

Doesn't do anything for me, Jacqui. Too fancy-fru-fru.

I'm a purist when it comes to chocolate. ;)

 

But happy that you had a lovely time.

[Krazy Kruizers]

We didn't do the Chef Rudi's dinner on our cruise.

We have gotten a little tired of the same menu each time.

Plus I like a lot more chocolate for my desert.