Hawaii Day 1 and 2

My first day of Hawaii started off at 8:30 AM. I quickly got up, got my hat, got in shorts, and went outside of the warehouse which was beside the ship. I sat and checked out the internet on the iphone, checked email. Then I called Nick. We got caught up on what’s going on on the ship, since we hadn’t spoken in 6 days due to sea days.
Afterwards, I got on a free trolley which would take me to Walmart. The difference of ports in Hawaii and in Alaska, is most towns in Alaska are built around the port, but in Hawaii, everything is very spread out and far away. So your best bet is to rent a car, if you want to see the islands the best.
The trolley, which was a huge tour bus, drove us through the town for 10 minutes. First things I noticed was that the island looked too dip and rise in the distance, so the island wasn’t flat in the slightest.
When we got to Walmart, I took a look around inside, and it looked like every other Walmart I’ve been in in the last couple years. I walked out across the street and saw a mall. I took a walk inside and looked around. It had a Radio Shack, which so far I’ve seen one in every town we’ve been too in America. I took a look around Gamestop, and decided I would trade in my PSP and games for some extra money. Which I would have to get later.
I saw an Ihop in the mall, which I haven’t seen before (in a mall.) So I was craving Pancakes, and an omelet. So I went and got some. It was absolutely delicious. I called Felicia while I was waiting for the food and got caught up with her.
After I got my fill, I went back to the bus and rode to the ship to get my psp. I decided to call Mary and Dick since I haven’t spoken with them since I left. I filled them in on what I’ve been doing, and I wished Dick a happy birthday.
I got my PSP, got on the bus, and rode back to the mall, traded it in, and the games and got a couple hundred dollars worth. I got a smoothie from DQ, called my dad, and filled him in on the 6 days. Then I went to walmart, got The Office Season 5, and went outside and waited for the bus. As I waited, Greg sat and talked with me a bit about skydiving.
As we rode back, he told me we had a drill the next morning... Which kind of sucked... but regardless. When I got back to the ship, I messaged Kamille on AIM, and caught up with her for a bit. Afterwards, I went to my room and just watched some of The Office, The Haunting in Connecticut, then I went and did my gig for the night. It was a quiet gig, and a lot of people weren’t around, probably because everyone was worn out from the day on land.
At the end of the gig, I heard there was a huge party on the deck... but I didn’t feel like going. So I went back to my room, watched some more of the Office, and fell asleep.

The next morning, I woke up at 8:30, made a couple phone calls to friends, and was interrupted by the drill. I went down to my room and waited for them to call for the general emergency... Which took a long time to happen. After 30 minutes, we got called up to the deck, and we, as in the crew, were up there for another half hour.
When we finished, I went down to my room, got my bag, which had a camera, towel, bathing suit and sunscreen in it. I went to breakfast. Glenn came in and informed me he and Val were going to go get the van we’d be driving in. So as he walked off, Claire and Thomas (A couple who play piano and Saxophone) came in and got some breakfast, then we all walked out of the ship and met up with Glenn and Val. Enterprise hadn’t been by to pick them up at that point. So we waited another 15 minutes or so, then the enterprise van picked us up. At that point, Natalia joined the group. The guy who was the driver, explained that he moved here 12 years ago. He had a job in Alaska and saved 13 grand. He came to Hawaii for a vacation. By the end of the vacation, he called his parents, said he wasn’t moving back, bought a year lease, bought a car, and has been there ever since.
We went tot he Enterprise building, and Glenn filled out some stuff. We in the car waited, and eventually he came out, we were given a ride to a satellite parking lot, and we got a Chevy SUV.
Funny enough, instead of getting Hawaiian food, we got Mcdonalds to talk about what we would do for the day. During us eating, we decided we were going to go to a Biontical Gardens, go to the Luau, check out the clubs, and see the sun rise on the top of a volcano.
After we finished eating, we went and picked up the Shopping Specialist, Cleo. She’s a pretty cool girl and lots of fun. We rode to the gardens, which took a little over a half hour. I took tons of pictures of the mountains and ocean around us. It was a beautiful and scenic drive. We took many U-turns and such. I helped navigate with my iphone google maps. It was very helpful.
We eventually got to the Gardens. There was a dark storm cloud over it, but we could overlook the whole island from where we were which was absolutely stunning. We walked through the gardens, and there were many beautiful flowers, birds and other little objects. We all took lots of pictures.
After about an hour and a half, we got going to the Luau. It took about an hour and a half to get there. It was an even more scenic route. When we got to the hotel, we got out and got our tickets and got in line. There were a lot of people from the ship waiting. When we got in, there were a bunch of rows of tables, a stage, and lines for food. You could overlook the beach and see the sunset.
I had a couple drinks since it was an open bar, but nothing severe. I took TONS of pictures of the sunset. It was amazing. I saw the pig they were cooking. For food I had pork, Banana Salad, noodles, turkey, some coconut pudding and cake. Then dancers came on stage, and musicians and we heard Hawaiian music. It was definitely a cool show. Something cool to see.
When we were done with the Luau, we added another girl named Claire to the van. She’s Australian and works in Club 02. We went for a walk on the beach. The stars were gorgeous. The tides were a little crazy. Every once in awhile water would just shot for the top of the beach. At one point I noticed the water coming, and I ran and everyone else got soaked. I was dry.
We went to Safeway and got some drinks for the sunrise, and I got some green tea, and Starbucks drinks to keep me awake over night,
After we got done purchasing everything, we went to Lulu’s, which was a Salsa dancing bar. We all sat down and talked with each other for awhile, and everyone at some point got up to dance. But me.. I wasn’t really feeling it. I got to talk with Cleo about her job, and Val and I had a conversation. Val’s a cool girl. She’s 34 and sells the Credit Cards on the ship. Real pretty and such. Talking to her though reminds me of talking with someone my age. Maybe because I’m just getting to a point in my life where everyone at every age just kinda blends together.
After a few hours of me drinking water and them drinking and dancing, we decided to get going. Glenn and Val went back to Safeway to get something. Cleo and I walked out side and talked for a bit. She was pretty tired and wanted to go to sleep. So we all got in the car and drove an hour to drop off Cleo.
There were no parking spaces to park, so we parked in a no parking zone, since most of us would be staying with the car. Glenn, Val, Thomas and his girlfriend Claire went inside to drop some stuff off. The other Claire, Natalia, and I sat by the car and waited. The security guard, who was a complete asshole, said he was calling the tow truck to tow us since we wouldn’t move. So we drove down the street, and waited near a warehouse for a half hour, awaiting a call. Eventually I drove us over to check to see if they had gotten off the ship. Luckily Claire and Thomas were coming off, so they joined the car, and we waited another 10 minutes before Val and Glenn came.
They were late because Val forgot her room key in the car and room service took their sweet time going to let her in.
We drove an hour and a half to the top of the 10000 ft. volcano. Val fell asleep against my shoulder. She’s about 5 foot tall, so her head came right to my shoulder. As we were on our way up we looked off the mountain and you could see the lights of the city, which looked like they were floating in the clouds. Quite breathtaking. We saw fire in the distance which we assumed was a volcano letting out lava. Because after a little bit it stopped. Quite beautiful to see though.
We stopped for a bathroom break at a visitor center. I’ve never seen so many stars before. The over look of the city was just great. The temperature dropped rapidly as we got higher. It went from 73 to 40 in a matter of a few minutes.
When we got to the top, we were there about an hour and a half before sunrise, so we all parked and took a nap. At about 5:30, I could see the light coming from the horizon... Dimly but quite beautiful. Glenn, Claire, Thomas and I went to the top, and my GOD it was FREEZING. There were a lot of people up there. James showed up, and Jennifer, and Melody, and lots more! I took over 100 pictures as the sun rose and it was so beautiful. At one point, a random girl asked me to take a picture of her with my camera... I did... but not sure why... As the sun came above the horizon, Glenn, Claire, Thomas and I ran to the car to get a leg up on the drive down, since traffic would be terrible, and Glenn had to be back by 7:30 for Port Manning.
I managed to get a ton of pictures on the drive down. The way the mountain shadows over the island, and the sunlight against the rocks and the next highest mountains in the distance.
After an hour and a half of driving winding roads, we finally made it... and when I got to my room... I passed out... Slept for 4 hours... Called a couple friends, and came to my room and watched the Office. Probably going to catch one more nap, then play tonight at 8.