We go ashore to walk along Front Street on Lahaina’s shoreline. The tenders take a long time to move people ashore…in fact, we initially give up on it, but eventually take a number and wait almost an hour to leave the ship. Returning to the ship just before noon presents no problems. We are glad to leave the hot and crowded Lahaina street for the air conditioned ship.
After having our afternoon beer, we have dinner in the main dining room. I have Kauai-Style Poke, which is raw tuna and salmon marinated in sesame, tomatoes, ginger, avocado with a sesame kalbi dressing – very good! My friends find the Macademia Crusted Lamb Leg is also very tasty.
The glitzy production on the main stage tonight is called One World, featuring Eurodam’s singers and dancers. It doesn’t appeal to me much, despite being well-performed with some aerial spinning. The concussion sounds they use finally drive me out of the theatre. Back in my cabin, I pull out my snorkel and mask, and prepare my GoPro camera for underwater use, since tomorrow morning I’m taking a snorkel excursion on Kaua’i.
I go to the Explorations Cafe this morning for a cappuccino, muesli, and blueberry cake, and then I disembark the ship early. I walk a few blocks to Kaka’ako Waterfront Park, however I really have to screw up my courage to walk through this park, since there are so many homeless people camped out. The shoreline is beautiful, and when I get to Panic Point, I’m rewarded with a beautiful view of the Honolulu boat basin, Waikiki Beach, and Diamond Head in the distance (see above banner image). A local guy tells me the park will be closed this evening at 10PM by the city until further notice while they evict the squatters and clean up the park. I see the eviction signs as I leave the park and head back along Ala Moana Boulevard to the ship, which is only a few blocks away.
My lei floating in Honolulu harbour
I have brunch in the Lido after returning to the ship, and then go for a swim in the Sea View Pool. I buy a dozen beer from the bar on my way back to my cabin, since they are selling some pretty good beer from Alaska 2 for 1, although at $6/bottle, it is still expensive! I toss the lei I received upon landing in Hilo into the harbour. It floats, which tradition tells us means I will return to Hawai’i some day – a pretty sure thing!
Melanzane Ripiene – eggplant roulade – Canaletto
My friends and I have dinner at Canaletto Italian restaurant aboard ship this evening. I have the Melanzane Ripiene – eggplant roulade as a starter, and Banzino al Fiere – grilled Sea Bass as a main course.My friends share some antipasto and Mozzarella Bufala – buffalo mozzarella with salad for starters, and Costoletto alla Griglia – lamb cutlets and arugula salad. They also have a carafe of Montepulciano D’Abbruzzio.
After dinner, I go to see the main stage show : This is Hawaii – a show troupe from Maui. It is a pretty good modern song and dance showcase of the islands.
Monday, Oct 9, 2017 – Honolulu
Throne Room in the Iolani Palace, Honolulu, Hawaii
This morning, we walk the few blocks to see the Iolani Palace, which is quite spectacular inside. Last time I cruised to Honolulu, the palace was closed because it was a Sunday, so I”m glad I have lots of time to see it this time. We also walk around in the vicinity, seeing the outside of the State Legislature, the Mission Houses and Kawaiahao Church.
We are beat by the time we return to the ship just before noon. The heat and humidity are building, so I am glad for the air conditioning aboard ship. I’m turning into quite the wimp! My friends and I have a beer before we go to the main dining room for dinner. It is Canadian Thanksgiving today, so we order turkey dinner and pumpkin pie along with our other Canadian table mates from Quadra Island, West Vancouver, and Brandon, Manitoba.
We don’t leave port until late this evening, bound for Maui.
I luck out this morning, since I’m facing northwest as the Eurodam enters Hilo Bay early this morning. I have a perfect view of Mauna Kea as the Sun lights it up from the top down to sea level. The bonus is a Full Moon shining brightly above the sacred mountain with so many telescopes at the summit. Despite the early hour, I call my friends to come over to my verandah to share in the wonder. I setup my GoPro to capture a 4k time lapse video of the sublime view while I take still photos with my dSLR. The Eurodam slips into the dock and ties up while many are still asleep, however the Sun has risen and the day is warming.
Joy, Joe and John having lunch at the Hilo Bay Cafe
A mutual friend who lives on the Big Island picks us up at 11AM just outside the gate to the wharves, and gives us a beautiful lei to welcome us to Hawai’i in the traditional manner. Our first stop is to have lunch at the Hilo Bay Cafe. Our table on the patio gives us a wonderful view of the bay while we have a beer and fish and chips as we catch up with each others’ lives.
After lunch, we walk along the shoreline by the Lili’uokalani Gardens and over the foot bridge to have a look at Coconut Island. Since it is Saturday, there are lots of families enjoying picnics and swimming and paddling in the bay. We have a look at the tsunami flood levels marked on a coconut tree, which illustrates just how high the water level has risen in past years within the shallow bay.
We decide to go see the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden, which is along the coast just outside Hilo. It is quite a hike down to sea level and then back up the hill to the parking lot, however the foliage, spectacular flowers along the walls of the gulley are breathtaking. I remember this spot from my previous visits, however I used the public access to the shoreline, so missed the best parts.
We return to the ship by 4PM and sail out of Hilo Bay at 6PM, on our way to Honolulu tomorrow.
There is a Deck Sale this morning beside the Lido Pool, which is always a good time to buy Holland America Line apparel at discounted prices, but I don’t find any t-shirts or golf shirts I like. The ship’s photographers are also there selling photo albums and cameras – a new sales angle for them!
Ginny Stibolt’s talk this morning: How Modern Farming Changed a Civilization – Beginning in the 1800s, farming crops such as sugar, pineapple, and others changed Hawaii in many ways. What I learned:
The last sugar mill in Hawai’i closed in 2016
Pineapples don’t ripen after being picked
Not much pineapple is commercially grown in Hawai’i now – new crops have taken over the lead, including Roundup-ready crops, GMOs, seeds, papaya, Macadamia Nuts, Cacao (source of chocolate), coffee, floral crops – native and exotic.
I go for a swim in the Ocean View pool in the stern of the vessel after lunch today. It is the first day which is warm enough outside for swimming. The water is cool, but I enjoy the exercise!
Atlys quintet at the Lincoln Center Stage biographies
My friends have been raving about the quartet playing chamber music at the Lincoln Center Stage venue aboard ship (see banner image above), so I join them this evening. The Masterworks by Brahms is an absolutely stunning performance! People are raving about this group, and the venue is full for virtually every performance.
I have been setting my clocks back an hour most evenings before I go to bed since we are sailing westward. As of 2AM we will now be on Hawaii Local Time, so there will be no more time changes until we start sailing back to Vancouver.
Ginny Stibolt’s talk this morning: Hawaii: A Timeline of Paradise – The origins of the beautiful Hawaiian Islands, the nature of their plants and animals, and how the natural aspects of this paradise have changed over time. I learn that native species in Hawai’i are rare, and even rarer now that many invasive species of plants and animals have been brought in by settlers.
Anti-crepuscular rays at sunset
My friends and I go up to the Lido for lunch, but can’t find a table, so we go down to the dining room and have a very nice lunch with a couple from Langley, BC, and a woman from south Florida.
Oct 5, 2017 – Fourth day at sea
As is my habit while aboard ship, I go up to the Explorations Cafe for Continental Breakfast: the essential cappuccino, a blueberry cake and some muesli. I find a chair in the adjacent Crow’s Nest Lounge with a forward-facing view and chat with a woman from Parksville and a man from Seattle. The man from Seattle is folding US Dollar bills into origami figures he invents. One is a dress shirt and a tie – very clever!
I meet my friend in the Explorations Cafe for coffee at 10:30AM, and then sit outside on the Upper Promenade Deck 3 to listen to the first four chapters of my Margaret Atwood Audible book The Handmaid’s Tale. I go down to the main dining room for lunch, and sit at a table with the woman from Richmond and her mother from Sidney again – even on a ship this big, you can bump into people more than once! I have a lovely spinach and mushroom salad with grilled salmon on top and some frozen yogurt for dessert.
Ginny Stibolt’s talk this afternoon: Ancient Farming: Roots of a Civilization – she follows up yesterday’s talk by describing how Polynesian wayfarers brought seeds, cuttings, and root stock of plants they’d need in unknown lands (Hawai’i).
This evening, my friends and I have dinner at Tamarind, a Pan-Asian restaurant featuring the cuisine of Southeast Asia, China and Japan. We are all very impressed with the food and service. Our selections:
Jewels of the Sea – shrimp-filled wontons with sliced baby bok chop, lemon grass-sesame broth
Crisp Fried Soft Shell Crab with Thai dipping sauce
Hoisin-Lime Glazed Sea Bass – pan-seared, wok-cooked Asian greens
At Ginny Stibolt’s talk this morning: Rainforest: The Most Diverse Ecosystems in the World, I learn:
Photosynthesis and respiration are equal and opposite natural cycles
Only about 20% of oxygen produced is supplied freely to outside the rainforest, 80% is consumed internally to the rainforest
Forests only temporarily sequester carbon, unlike oceans where carbon is more-or-less permanently sequestered
In Borneo, 700 tree species are found in 25 acres
80% of insect species are found in tropical forests
Old cellphones are being used in the Amazon to detect the sounds of chainsaws cutting trees, and transmitting reports back to authorities. They are powered from solar panels.
Costa Rica is restoring their rain forest by planting at least 15 native species of plants and trees
It is 19ºC at noon today, but when I was outside on Promenade Deck walking four circuits, I was wearing my fleece jacket zipped up because of the cool breeze. I go to the Explorations Cafe at noon for a cappuccino and have a chocolate chip cookie and a couple of little cocktail sandwiches for a lunchtime snack, since I’m skipping having a big lunch today. This afternoon the mv OOCL London container ship sails very close to the Eurodam (see banner image above).
I go to see an hour-long video this afternoon produced by the BBC: Earth Inside Earth: A Privileged View. This is very interesting, highlighting wildlife photographers working in the Empty Quarter of the Arabian Desert in Jordan, with Capuchin monkeys in SE Asia, and with breeding Adela Penguins in Antarctica.
I have breakfast in the main dining room this morning. I am seated at a large table with five other British Columbians from Sidney, Richmond, Nanoose Bay, and Vernon. Obviously this cruise appeals to Canadians, especially those of us from the west coast, since it departs and returns to Vancouver.
Speaker: Ginny Stibolt
My friends and I are very pleased with presenter Ginny Stibolt, a botanist, naturalist and dedicated gardener. She gives wonderful talks about the natural world around us almost every day we are at sea on this cruise. This morning’s presentation is: Oceans: The Real “Lungs” of the World. – “We can thank the oceans’ plants for the oxygen in our atmosphere”.
This afternoon, there is a presentation “Make the Most of Your Visit to Hilo and Honolulu” by the onboard EXC Guide Eve. I’ve visited Hawai’i so many times, I could probably give this presentation, however I attend anyway so I can pick up any updated information about our first two ports-of-call in Hawai’i.
Joe sipping some Prossecco in the main dining room on Gala Night
It is Gala Night this evening aboard ship, which means most people are dressed in their best. My friends and I go to the main dining room at 5:30PM, and although there is a long line to get in, we are given a window table on the top level normally reserved for fixed seating guests. I order escargots, arugula salad, and beef tenderloin steak with prawns (see photo in the banner image above). We have a bottle of Proscecco sparkling wine, which goes nicely with pretty well everything we order, including my steak and prawns.
After dinner, we go to the main showroom to join the captain in a toast to a successful voyage, and then stay for the Off The Charts – Billboard Hits Rewind show, which is excellent…performed by the ship’s entertainers. This show is quite a big step up from the ship-board shows I’ve seen on other Holland America ships. I don’t know if HAL is upgrading all their shows, or this is unique to their larger ships like the Eurodam.
My friends and I take the BC Ferries Connector bus service from Victoria direct to the Vancouver Cruise Ship Terminal. This is a great service, since once your checked (and tagged) bags are on the bus, they will be delivered right to your cabin on the ship! Since there are quite a few tour groups jamming the public areas, we go to the Seawest Lounge aboard the BC Ferry Coastal Celebration. A modest fee is charged in this area, but it is nice and quiet, getting us away from the crowds, and snacks and beverages are included.
It is a cool and cloudy morning as we cross the Strait of Georgia to Tsawwassen Terminal. The bus goes directly to the cruise ship terminal at Vancouver Harbour and takes us right to the entrance, where we pre-clear US Customs and Immigration, go through ship’s security, and finally check-in to receive our cabin key cards. Boarding the ship after that is simply a matter of walking the gangways until we are aboard the Eurodam and have ship-board security scan our cabin key cards for the first time. Within 10-15 minutes after entering my cabin, my checked bag arrives at the door, so I’m all set for the upcoming trip!
Wendy and Joe on Deck 5 Forward as Eurodam departs Vancouver
I meet up with my friends in their cabin this afternoon while the ship is still docked. My friends found the bars aboard ship have a dozen beer on sale today, so we sit on their verandah watching the loading activity before our departure. I decide to find some lunch in the Lido, bringing a nice vegetarian sandwich back to their cabin to eat and have a beer with it!
Later, we go out onto Deck 5 forward to watch Eurodam leave the dock and depart Vancouver harbour under Lions Gate bridge. I try out my GoPro Hero5 Black camera by taking a video time lapse all the way until we clear the bridge and sail past English Bay into the beautiful sunset. I’m also shooting with my Canon 6D dSLR since it is so beautiful as we leave port.
When we go for dinner in the main dining room by 7:30PM, there is quite a line of people waiting, however we are seated within about 10 minutes or so and have a lovely dinner as the ship sails down Georgia Strait and the Salish Sea. I return to my room and work on my computer since I still have LTE and later 3G connection with my Canadian cellular service as we sail past Victoria to drop off the pilot and continue out the Strait of Juan de Fuca and into the open Pacific Ocean. The signal from the 3G lasts a surprisingly long time past Sooke! I guess it’s because I’m on the side of the ship facing the Canadian shoreline.
I am always gathering information about travel that appeals to me – filing away websites, possible locations, modes of travel, and tour companies that can potentially quench my lust for travel in the style I’m accustomed to. Some of that information eventually translates into trips that works for me. As it turns out, my next three trips take me to Pacific Rim countries and locales.
I have observed three Total Solar Eclipses, starting back in 2006 from the Libyan Sahara desert. My fourth time in the shadow of the Moon will happen this summer in Oregon, USA, which I will share with several of my astronomy buddies from the Royal Astronomical Society. Our plan is to meet in Monmouth, Oregon. Unlike most of my other travel, this time I will drive south from my home in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada to Oregon. I also plan to do some road tripping both before and after eclipse day on August 21, 2017, exploring Washington state, Oregon, and northern California.
If you explore this JoeTourist website, you will soon discover that I love going on cruises, and in the last few years Holland America has emerged as my favourite cruise line. The other fact that many will not know is that my 65th birthday happens this year in October. Since I’m not one to particularly enjoy big celebrations on birthdays (as an adult), I have “run away from home” for several of my birthdays in past years. So this year I decided to run away on a 16 day cruise to the Hawaiian Islands which departs out of Vancouver and returns to Vancouver. Although I have cruised to Hawai’i several times, I always enjoy the islands, and I also enjoy several days at sea and shipboard life. This becomes a perfect get-away for me because a couple of friends have decided to join my on this cruise who are also celebrating birthdays – icing on the cake, as it were!
I cruised to southeast Asia in 2016 to observe my third Total Solar Eclipse from aboard the ship in Indonesia. That cruise introduced me to SE Asia, a region of the world I had not traveled to previously, and I found some fascinating locales I wanted to visit again. Although the cruise was 30 days long, I missed a great deal of what SE Asia has to offer. Touring on land is the only way to dive deeper into a region, and Michele Burgess from Infocus Travel notified me a few days ago that she is running a photographic tour to Borneo: Saba, Sarawak, Brunei. I had previously let Michele know that I was interested in this tour, so it only took me a few hours to decide to book it for April 2018.
My first two flights (Victoria to Vancouver and Vancouver to Hong Kong) are both about an hour late departing. This doesn’t cause me any major problems since I have lots of time between my flights into and out of Vancouver.
The Cathay Pacific flight from Vancouver to Hong Kong takes over 14 hours of flight time. We fly up the coast of British Columbia and Alaska, over Russia, and then south across central China, and to Hong Kong. I get a beautiful view of Venus off the wingtip and also of the lights of Wuhan, China.
Venus over the wintip in the pre-dawn with Wuhan, China’s lights below
In the Economy section where I am seated, the flight crew serves dinner shortly after we leave Vancouver, and breakfast before we arrive in Hong Kong, but otherwise completely ignores our cabin. They never check on passengers, or offer any water or other refreshments or snacks. This is completely unacceptable. I have flown many long duration flights, and all airlines take much better care of their passengers than I experienced on this flight.
I am anxious about my late arrival in Hong Kong, since I have to go through security and change gates for my onward flight to Singapore, and accomplish all of this within an hour in an unfamilar airport. Deplaning in Hong Kong goes surprisingly quickly, but I immediately have to re-clear security before I can proceed to my next gate. The security guy operating the scanner screws up his face when my computer bag goes along the belt, so at the end, a young woman asks to see inside my bag. It appears she doesn’t know what binoculars are, but is satisfied once she inspects them. She even asks me how to pronounce the word “binocular”!
Cathay Pacific does redeem themselves on the Hong Kong to Singapore flight, where the cabin service in Economy is very good. They serve us breakfast after departure, and ensure the passengers are comfortable throughout the four hour flight.
After over 30 hours elapsed travel time, and losing a day in the process, it feels great to get to the Pan Pacific Orchard hotel, have a shower, and get some sleep for a few hours in my quiet hotel room. This hotel is not new, but it is very nicely appointed, and is located in the fairly quiet Orchard district of Singapore. This area is not downtown, but there are lots of malls, hotels, embassies, and residential towers in the area, and a subway station is close. I sleep soundly overnight. This property is now being redeveloped (opening in 2023), however the other Pan Pacific hotels in Singapore would all be good options.
Feb 16, 2016 – Singapore departure aboard Volendam
Freight yard cranes in Singapore harbour with Volendam’s bow
I have some cappuccino and breakfast this morning at the hotel, and then repack before taking a taxi to the cruise ship terminal just before noon. As usual, Holland America Lines (HAL) are well organized. After filling in a few additional forms to allow me to exit Singapore, I check in at the cruise ship counter, receive my personalized security card for the ship, and walk my bags and myself through the concourse and along the gangway, board the ship and find my stateroom.
The ship is docked in Harbourfront, a busy area of Singapore. When I return in 15 days mid-cruise, I will have some time to explore Singapore, since the ship stays overnight before departing for Indonesia and the Solar Eclipse. I attend a welcome reception for three and four star Mariners, where snacks are served, along with champagne and orange juice. The Cruise Director and Hotel Manager welcome us as repeat HAL cruisers. After some delays caused by Singaporean authorities, the ship pulls away from the dock around 4:30PM into the busy harbour. We have a day at sea tomorrow before our arrival in our first port: Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia.
