Oct 10, 2022 – Day 2 at sea aboard Koningsdam

2022 Hawai’i cruise

We changed time zones last night to Alaska time – back 1 hour. I go down to the Grand Dutch Cafe for breakfast: cappuccino, blueberry muffin and a fruit & yogurt parfait.

Seabirds of the North Pacific – Naturalist John basically takes us through his biology thesis during his 45 minute presentation in World Stage. No doubt it was too deep for most of the audience, but he certainly knows his oceanic species, as my notes reveal.

• Cold to warm water – San Francisco to Hawaii
• Diving birds close to the North American coastline
  • Shearwaters – surface and swim underwater
  • Brant’s Cormorant – diver
  • Tufted Puffin – skimmers
  • Common Murre 
  • Pigeon Guillemot – red feet, divers
  • Brown Pelican – plunge divers very close to shore
  • Western Gull – eats anything
• Subsurface Predators near Hawai’i
  • Humpback whale
  • Spotted, Striped & Bottle-nosed dolphin
  • Elephant seal
• Hawaiian ocean birds
  • Black-footed Albatross- dynamic soaring
  • Layson Albatross – 7-8′ wingspan
  • Leechy
  • Hawaiian Petrel
  • Wedge-tailed Shearwater – sensitive to artificial lights – collisions
• Hawaiian shore birds
  • Red-footed, Brown, Masked Booby – diving, plunging
  • Frigatebird – stealing food, don’t have webbed feet so they drown if they land on the water
  • White, Red-tailed Tropicbird – long tail feathers
  • Brown & Black Noddy – plunge divers
  • Sooty Tern – most abundant
  • White Tern – urban nesters

I attend the Kahului, Maui Port Talk, but I don’t pick up any useful information that I don’t already know. Since there are no lines at 1PM, I have lunch in the Main Dining Room. I’m seated by myself between two server stations, so it’s very noisy. I have a Heineken beer and a rather uninspiring Croque Monsieur.

On Music Walk: La Musica Latina – the art of the Tango. This performance by the Lincoln Center quartet reminds me of my visit to Argentina and Uruguay in 2020.

Later in the afternoon, I return to the Crow’s Nest to enjoy the Aloha Sunset Music Hour again. I have some good conversation with my fellow Canadians while enjoying two very nicely made Tanqueray 10 Martinis.

I have to wait for over an hour to be seated in the Main Dining Room for dinner, since it is Canadian Thanksgiving today. I find the turkey, stuffing and vegetables are nothing special, but I appreciate the effort by the chefs and enjoy the company of my fellow Canadians while seated at a large table for dinner.