Farewell To Friends

After a 5 1/2 hour flight from HON to SAN and then another 4 1/2 hour flight from SAN to ORD, Peg and I have just completed our journey home. We walked in the door, realized we were back in the real world, and I decided I wasn't quite ready for the real world so I am writing one last blog entry that will officially end our vacation. If this is the first time you are seeing this blog, you need to scroll down several stories to the one that begins the vacation. The stories are in chronological sequence and were recorded as the days went by. The vacation entries start with our flight to San Diego and finishes right here. In between these entries, you will see a number of pictures that document our adventure. The pictures help illustrate the stories and show what it was like to be on this vacation. What probably is not perfectly clear in the pictures and stories is that we met and dined with 8 other people that we have never met in our life. The group is shown in this photo but the picture doesn't justly depict the fact that these are some of the best people you will ever meet. In our 10 days together we shared stories of life, of children, and other cruise experiences too.

One night in the theatre we saw comedian Norm Crosby on stage (now 80+ years old). He drew an analogy of how people on a cruise (that know nothing of each other) will sit together and talk, and by the end of the cruise become best of friends. He compared this to two similar people who pass each other on the sidewalk, look down, and wouldn't give each other the time of day if they asked. There is something about being on a ship.....

To Joe and Cookie, Ray and Denny, Chris and Janice, Jim and Donna, Aloha friends....and Mahalo for helping to make our dream vacation so wonderful!

Leaving Honolulu

We spent the remainder of Wednesday lounging at the hotel and enjoying the great views of Waikiki from our hotel room. We started packing for the long two day journey home. Our vacation was starting...... to come to an end. We flew Hawaian Airlines back to San Diego and I am sitting in the San Diego airport at this moment waiting for our flight back to Chicago. It took 5 1/2 hours to cross the Pacific via 767 but 5 1/2 days via Radiance of the Seas. The voyage is one we will never forget. We will likely never get the same opportunity again.

Visiting The Past

We woke up Wednesday morning and headed to Pearl Harbor. We were determined to visit the Arizona Memorial.I was previously un-successfull in getting out to the memorial due to the masses of people that line up to go there each day....that's right, each and every day the memorial is visited by 1'000's of people. I heard one park service ranger claim there are 4,000 people per/day. Each boat ride out to the memorial holds about 100 people. Peg and I arrived at 9 AM and we were told that we would be on boat 14 leaving at11:00 AM. When you do the clock math, you quickly figure out that 4k people is pretty accurate. When we received our boat tickets (completely free by the way) we were stampeeded by a group of Japanese people who we quickly learned have little regard for who they step on and bump into and through. There were as many Japanese people at the memorial as US Citizens.

We decided that with a two hour wait, our time would best be spent by visiting the Punch Bowl which is a National Monument. Thousands of service men are buried in the punch bowl along with my own Uncle from whom I got my name. We stopped at the entrance information office to find my Uncle Harold Olson is buried in Section P lot 1044 (very near the entrance) and his body was placed there when the monument first openned in 1949. Harold was killed on April 4th, 1945 (at the age of 22). I was unable to find out what was done with his body for the 4 years after he was killed. In any case, the office worker there told me that the records show Harold was buried there in 1949 when the monument first openned and he has been there ever since.

The monument is a dormant volcanoe which is high on the mountain overlooking the city of Honolulu. It is a gorgeous site and a wonderful tribute to people who served our country. Every war is represented at the monument, including the Korean war. I never knew Harold, but I know he was my mother's brother and that she lost her brother when he was 22 years old. I also know she named me..... after him. It is difficult to imagine the pain felt by his loss back in 1945.

Visiting Harold's final resting place (thousands of miles away from where he grew up on Sumac Ave. in Waukegan, IL) gives me a very warm feeling inside. The picture shown was taken by Peg with me kneeling at Harold's headstone. What is not apparent in the photo, is the hundreds of headstones that surround Harold's and say only ... UNKNOWN

After taking a few pictures, we headed back to Pearl to meet our tour boat. The tour was preceeded by a 23 minute movie of actual footage taken back in the time leading up to and including the attack on December 7th. The film was very educational. I guess I didn't realize the US placed an oil embargo on Japan and refused to lift it unless they stopped their aggression in Southeast Asia. I also didn't realize that one of the Japanese commanders responsible for planning the attack went to college at Harvard University here in the US (and actually was opposed to attacking the US because he knew what the US retaliation would be like).

The film was filled with real scenes from those days in 1942. It showed the band from the USS Arizona performing in Honolulu (having fun) the night before the attack. The film also recorded the armor piercing bomb dropped onto one of the 4 gun turets of the ship. Below the turets lie the ammunition stores and explosives so the single hit took by the Arizona was immediately devastating. Walking over the memorial was a little erie knowing that so many men were still entombed by the rusted walls of the ship below.

We were asked by the park service officer before heading out to the Arizona to remain as quiet as possible while visitng because it is a MEMORIAL site that we were visiting and that doing so, should be done with respect. He specifically mentioned no loud talking, calling, or yelling. My only regret is that Peg and I ended up on a shuttle boat filled with a touring group of Japanese people (as in about 90 of them). When we got to the site, it became clear to me that the Japanese people didn't understand a word of English.

The film taught me a few other things I didn't know.....After the attack, the USS Utah was stripped and turned into scrap metal. The Arizona was left untouched as a memorial. Every other Naval vessel in Pearl Harbor that day was repaired, restored, and re-entered active service duty.....every one of them. The film mentioned that Japan never anticipated the spirit of the American people and how they would ban together......and come back after them.

Sailing on the Shores of Waikiki

After lounging all day Tuesday we decided to go on a catamaran sail off the shores of Waikiki. We boarded the MaiTai Cat down the beach and had a great time taking in the city views and meeting new people. Peg's newest friends were a group of college girls from Villanova on their way to Tokyo. The girls were great fun as was the Mai Tai experience. There were places off the beach that we could see right to the bottom even though the water measured 40' in depth.

After sailing, we headed back home because Wednesday we were headed for the Arizona Memorial with a stop off at the punch bowl cemetery to visit Uncle Harold.

Arrival in Oahu

After sailing out of Hilo Monday evening, we went to dinner and I noticed the lights starting to flicker. Soon, the entire ships power went out and the captain announced that we are experiencing a blackout. The only lights on the ship were powered by batteries and the Radiance of the Seas was floating / blowing in the wind. Fortunately, the wind was taking us OUT and further from land. My first fear was being blown onto shore! After about an hour or more, they got it all figured out and we were sailing for Honolulu.

We arrived about 7AM into Honolulu harbor and soon realized our cruise was coming to an end, but the good news was that our vacation was not. We said good byes to all the great people we met on the cruise, disembarked, and then headed for our hotel on Waikiki beach. Tuesday was a very relaxing day. We lounged around, took a long walk down the beach and passed all the hotels. Most of the day was spent enjoying the resort we were at, the Hilton Hawaian Village.

Volcanoe Alley

Our bus tour Monday afternoon took us to the Volcanoe National Park. You are looking at a view of Halema`uma`u from the Jaggar Museum overlook. The plume color switched from brown to white some weeks ago.... and has been mainly white since. The white plume still carries ash, but the rock fragments are hydrothermally altered lava that is white in color.

One of the primary components in volcanic gas is water. At the vent, the plume is transparent, because it is very hot and the water is in vapor form. A short distance above the vent, however, the plume cools and the water vapor condenses into tiny droplets. This makes the plume an opaque white, just like regular clouds in the sky. These clouds basically cover Kona (other side of the island) each day and make it seem like a rain storm is coming. The cloud like matter though, is simply from the volcanoe.

On this day, Peg and I walked through a lava tube from a volcanoe that erupted years ago. The tube was 15 feet high in some places. The night before heading into Hilo, the ship pulled up close to where the lava from another volcanoe is flowing into the sea (and making the island bigger). The dark night picture with the fire inside is a scene from our cruise ship balcony at 1AM in the morning. We were actually much closer (and scared some people) but I was a little late with the camera as this picture was taken after the ship started sailing away from the shore.

Our tour bus driver should be working as a geologist, and not driving a bus. It was a VERY informative tour and I know more about volcanoes now than I can even describe. This experience was much like watching glaciers break off in Alaska and fall into the ocean.

They Don't Grow Like This in Wisconsin

We arrived in Hilo, Hawaii on Monday morning and we had a long day planned aboard a tour bus. Our first adventure on the tour bus was a stop at Rainbow Falls where there was also a forest of Banyan trees. I didn't know what a Banyan tree was until I saw this. Basically, the branches grow long then sag to the ground. They then re-root themselves and the process begins again. This picture shows the base of ONE Banyan tree. The shade created by these monsters is un-real. One tree creates the shade of a small forest. These trees are common in all the islands. In Maui there is a Banyan that occupies an entire acre.

Random Shots

It occurred to me today that there are a few pictures I have not yet shared but do a better job telling the story of our vacation here. I thought I would post a few of the pictures for those who don't care to read my boring descriptions, and instead just want to see some of the pictures.

Kailua Kona...The Big Island

Deep sea fishing in Kona, Hawaii was something I could only see on Saturday morning fishing shows until now. This morning I was on the first tender off the ship and heading for the fishing harbor where there are more charter fishing boats than I have ever seen. Maui Jim sponsors an annual Blue Marlin classic here in June where the biggest Marlin caught in the 4 day tournament will net the winner 500k. The King Kamahamaha Hotel sports two Blue Marlins (mounted of course) over 1,000 lbs.

Today I went fishing with Captain Billy and his first mate Tim. There were 4 other people fishing with me and we all got along great and had a good time. For 4 hours we rotated out of the fighting chair every 15 minutes. If you were sitting there when any of the 5 poles got a bite, you reeled in whatever was on the hook.

The picture here is a 28lb. Mahi Mahi (also known as a Dorado in Mexico and Dolphin Fish in Florida). Here in Havi He, they call it Dolphin Fish. I wish I could tell you I reeled this in but I didn't. The fish was caught by another guy on board named Paul. It was a bit early in the year for the Blue Marlin but we had great fun anyway.

One day I will catch my Blue Marlin, I don't know where or when, but catching a Big Blue is on my bucket list.....

Golfing to Remember

Before heading for our Luau yesterday we stopped at the concierge and made arrangements to play golf in the morning. They set it all up for me and I was given an 8:44AM tee time on the Emerald course at Wailea. The annual skins game is played on the Gold course at the same location but I opted for the Emerald course because it only had 84 sand traps instead of 94 (and they just airated the greens on the Gold course)! I was shuttled up to the Emerald course about an hour early only to find I had my own cart with GPS on board and a hot coffee waiting in the cup holder (I was paired up with three other guys) .

They gave me a set of Nike SQ to play with and plenty of time to warm up on the range before we started. The other guys and I were amazed at how each hole was overlooking the ocean from high up on the hillside course. The course was truely more beautiful than anything I have ever seen. Just to give you an idea, the Merrit club was not even close! The fairways were lined with flowers, lava rock formations, and about 20 different breeds of palm trees. What made the day so great was the fact I was able to play from the fairway almost the entire round! I had one birdie and one par and the rest were mostly boggies (OK, maybe a double boggy here and there). In the end, I shot a 99 and considering the championship course I was playing, I was very pleased!

While I played golf, Peg just lounged at the pool and enjoyed the resort. At the end of the round, Peg and Imet up at the resort and we jumped back in our car for the ride back to Lahaina. We turned in our car and tendered back to the ship. We felt the need to pinch ourseleves just to see if we were really awake or only dreaming (it was that awesome).

The entire Maui experience was just fabulous and I am not sure my words can accurately describe just how wondeful it was. Simply said, it was an experience of a lifetime (not so much the type of experience that makes you want to come back and do it again....too expensive, just the type of experience you will always remember and enjoy every time you think of it).

While getting ready for dinner aboard the ship on Saturday, I looked at Peg and said, "Oh My God, I have to get ready for tomorrow morning because we are pulling into Kailua Kona, Hawaii and I am going deep see fishing on the Kona coast!".

A Grand Arrival

We arrived at the Grand Wailea Resort about 12PM and were greeted with flowers around our necks and the now all to familiar word....ALOHA! We spent the afternoon walking the grounds in amazement and swimming at the pool. We took the picture above from the Lanai and enjoyed relaxing before walking to the resort next door.... to a Luau. The resorts in Wailea are absolutely beautiful and at least one step up from the Kaanapali Beach resorts which are also very famous. I made arrangements to play golf in the morning. We were so tired after the Luau that we ended up crashing at about 8:30PM and got a good night of sleep for the day ahead.

Land Ho...

After days at sea, we finally have the image of land outside our stateroom balcony. We never really made much of a deal out of seeing land, but I woke up early before sunrise just so I could sit outside and watch as the ship sailed between Molokai and Maui and eventually into Lahaina harbor on Maui. You never saw so many happy people as there were this morning....because we were able to load onto tender boats and step foot onto land once again. Ironically, it was on some of the most beautiful land anywhere to be found on earth.

I called Enterprise who quickly came to shore to get me from a local resort hotel and within 45 minutes, we had a Mustang convertible for 39.80 per/day! I picked up Peg as she landed on her tender boat and we headed for Wailea which is about 25 miles down the coast from Lahaina.

Somehow, being on land made us feel normal once again.....

Endless Days at Sea

5-8-2008 Ships Log (Really Bill's Log) Thursday 287 nm Northeast of Maui, 2023 nm from Ensenada Mexico

Well we have learned first hand what it is like to be at sea for a week. The ocean surely is massive. A couple of days ago at about the 1/2 way point of the journey, we spotted some sea gulls flying over the water. We later leanred that the only way such life exists this far from land is by ship. The gulls latched onto a ship somewhere and eventualy left (at the wrong time). They find after flying for hours that there is nowhere to land and live except in the water! We were told the birds eventually just perish. It was a very weird feeling to be 1,000 miles from any sort of land whatsoever.

There is today, much anticipation amongst the people on the ship because at sunrise tomorrow we will be anchored off the shore of Lahaina, Maui. There has been Hawaian hula dancers and performers on the entire trip with us so they have everyone in the Hooky Lau mood. We will be anchored in Maui for two days as the ship will not leave for the big island until very late Saturday night. The time is now 5 hours earlier than CST (Chicago). The captain had us turning back the clock (an hour) every other night. Peg and I are now exhausted and ready for bed at about 9PM each night!

I spent an hour in a golf simulator yesterday and played Pebble Beach (18 holes) and learned that the damn simulator is very acurate and measured my game very much like it is in real life...I shot a 105 for18 holes. I would love to have one of those things in my basement!

The ship is beautiful and we have come to know it well. Peg and I took a walk around deck 5 today and saw the Helipad. The captain told us that medical emergencies is the primary purpose of the Helipad and also noted that if an emergency ocurred at sea while we were 1,000 miles from land, he could only hope that the medical staff on board could handle the situation as no helicopter would / could make the 1,000 mile trip to the ship. We have had two emergency announcements this week known as "Alpha Alpha Alpha" over the intercom system. They say "Attention...Attention.....Alpha Alpha Alpha...Dining Room, Port Side Table #408or Casino". An emergency team rushes to these locations and does whatever they can. When we first heard the call, someone at dinner said, "What does Alpha Alpha Alpha mean?". I said I don't know but it didn't appear the call was for a Triple AAA gathering of some sort! We still don't know what happened and how the poeple involved are (the crew is very quiet about such things). For all we know, there is more than just food in the on board refrigerators!

So today we are relaxing once again and enjoying the thought of being on land tomorrow. It hasn't quite sunk in that we will be walking on some of the most beautiful land anywhere to be found. Peg and I are staying at the Grand Wailea Resort for both days (about one hour from Lahaina) Our dinner table friends have been there and tell us it is one of the most beautiful resorts anywhere on earth. I tell business associates everywhere I go, that I only work for one reason....and that is to go on vacation. We laugh about it as they see a picture of an island and a cruise ship on my powerpoint presentations, but those closest to me....know it's TRUE! If you are reading this blog, please know that my only regret about this experience, is that you are not here with us to enjoy it together.

Time on My hands

5-6-2008 Radiance of the Seas (Somewhere in the Pacific Ocean)

It is now Tuesday morning (I know because the floor in the elevators has a DAY Plate telling everyone what day it is). We woke up this morning and saw our geographical position on TV. Peg said "It looks like we are about half way there". The screen changed to show that we have travelled 1,154 miles and we have 1,159 miles to go! I would say are half way there!

We didn't realize when leaving that it would be cool the first couple of days. I figured Mexico is warm, Hawaii is warm, our trip should be warm...NOT! The last two days felt like we were heading for Kodiak Isalnd instead of a Hawaian Island. Each day though, is getting warmer outside. Monday's belly flop contest has been rescheduled for Thursday. When you take mental note of such things, you pretty much realize you are on vacation.

Peg and I are like gym rats in the morning, and ship wanderers in the afternoons. RCCL brought on a bunch of Hawaian dudes and dancers in CA so we would be entertained at sea. I went to a historical presentation of Hawaii where I learned that ALOHA means Hello, Good Bye, and I Love You. The presenter said the word Family is really an acronym for "Father and Mother, I Love You". I am not sure how true that is, but the thought is a good one.

When not wondering around taking pictures and writing, I find my way to the casino. I have discovered that the secret to winning at black jack is not to use any systematic approach to betting. The secret is simply have an incredible amount of time on your shoudlers, betting very little most of the time, and after losing about 3 or 4 hands in a row, betting the mother load.....cause it is now YOUR time to win! I won't say here just how much $ my tactics have earned me, but I will say this cruise continues to pay for itself!

The people we have dined with have been great. There are 10 people at our table. Janice and Chris from Pittsburgh, Jim and Donna from Denver, Ray and Denny from Austin, and Joe and Cookie from San Fransisco. Ray and Joe are both retired and have been for years. They never met in their life before sitting at our tabe but they both worked for United Airlines for many years before retirement. Joe was a mechanic, Ray was a pilot and both lived in CA. There had to be countless times when Joe was working on a plane that Ray was flying. What are the odds of these gentleman sitting next to each other at a dinner table on a ship with 2,100 people on it? Whatever they are, it cannot possibly be as good as the odds of me winning a little more money at black jack today!

Anticipation Becomes Reality

5-3-2008 12:45PM Sand Diego, CA Convention Center

After a hectic arrival amidst 6,000 cruise ship passengers at the airport, we boarded a bus for the San Diegoconvention center. There we checked in for the trip and received a bus pass for our transfer trip to Ensenada, Mexico. Thank God our bus number was #5 leaving at 3:45PM because we met people with bus # 51leaving God knows when. We had about 3 hours to ourselves in downtown San Diego so we wandered away from the convention center and walked about 5 blocks down to the sea port harbor. There we found naval ships, cruise ships, air craft carriers and the annual Red Bull Air and sea show taking place over the harbor!It was very festive and clearly attended by thousands of local residents. Peg and I watched sky divers jump out perfectly good airplanes and trailed smoke streams all the way to the waters edge. We took a few pictures of the beautiful sky line and eventually walked back to the convention center.

The bus transport was very interesting as we rode some 90 miles away from San Diego, across the heavily guarded border (in both directions) and very quickly noticed the poor improvished lands of Mexico. We could not see any people in what looked like hundreds of worn down towns and homes. We assumed they all crossedthe boarder in search of a better life. The ride down was often hugging the cliffs edge of high mountains overlooking the Pacific coast. Peg sat in the window seat and often had to close her eyes. We were greetedby an extra friendly crew at dockside as the crew was well aware that all the passengers went through one helluva day to get to the Radiance of the Seas. We walked on, dropped our carryons in the room, grabbed a drink and enjoyed what seemed like our own vessel. There were 46 some busses behind us but really 47. While we were bus #5, we passed bus #4 on the way down as he was struggling making up the mountain. Later in the evening, the captain announced one of the busses broke down, and that he had no idea when we would be leaving Ensenada.

After a great late dinner and seeing a very funny comic in the main theatre, we went back to #7036 to call it a day. We had been up for 21+ hours at this point, and we knew we were just not up for any sort of sail away party. The ship set sail very late as we were awakened with some rocking and rolling. We each took some motion sickness pills (just in case) and crashed once again. The ships log shows it is 2,243 miles to Maui. We woke up, turned on the TV, and discovered we only have 2,043 miles left to go!

Hawaii EPIC Begins

5-3-2008 09:37 AM Flying somewhere over North America

When planning an epic trip of distance proportions, you cannot help but think ofall the things which could go wrong. Maybe it's just all the miles I have put on that hasme always thinking pesimisticaly about travel days. What if I oversleep? what if the weatheris terrible? what if the flight is cancelled? what if I get a flat tire on the pot hole expressway that takes me to the airport? what if...? The waht if's are continuous.

As it turns out,there was no traffic, the weather was great, I pulled up to curbside checkin where a sky cap was standing and WAITING for us so he could grab all 4 of our 51 lb. suitcases and get them on theconveryor belt for San Diego. I parked the truck (right next to an elevator center where a spot wasopen to make it easy to find later). We quickly made it through security (after a TSA gal openned up the turnstyle section for Peg and I alone to drop out of a long line and right on through). After a Starbucks and an Egg McMuffin, we boarded our flight with more overhead room than we needed, some empty seats, and took off for sunny San Diego. Come on now.....one of our suitcases probably won't be there, I just know it.