The MoHo and Other Traveling Tales

There is some vague maritime law that requires ships to port in a foreign country before returning to the US. Very vague! I will need to go read about it again, I guess. We are at the moment docked on the new cruise ship pier in Ensenada. We only landed at 4 and now at 5:30 it is already dark.

Mo and I have been to most ports on the Mexican Riviera and decided rushing around the port section of this little Mexican town and rushing back to the ship in 3 hours was a waste of energy. Instead we are relaxing, watching the lights of the city from our balcony and enjoying a movie on the stateroom tv. We are getting this relaxing thing down pat!

By 2:30 this afternoon the gray clouds lifted and after five days at sea, it was sort of nice to see the arid hills of the Mexican coast show up on the horizon. We managed to find a part of the ship we hadn’t previously discovered. From the outdoor walking deck on the promenade there are stairs that go up to the 8th deck at the front of the ship. We were protected from the chill winds and enjoyed the warm sunshine as the captain rotated the huge ship in the tiny harbor and basically performed a parallel parking maneuver to put us next to the dock. It was the best entertainment of the day.

Dinner was less than exciting, with some different choices that were a bit obscure, but Mo’s pork chops were extremely tender and my simple fettuccini in a Parmesan basket was comfort food at its finest.

It is now mid afternoon on our last day and we have again retreated to our stateroom for the peaceful sound of the sea and the western sun on our balcony. Too coolish to sit out there, but still wonderful pouring in the windows. The sea is almost glassy still, the skies are a bright whiteish overcast and I plan to fully take advantage of these last few hours right here.

The channel Islands and the coast of California is on the starboard side of the ship, but when we went down to the promenade deck to check it out, they were just faint echos on the distant horizon. Nothing worth giving up our sunny stateroom for.

Tomorrow we will be home, all of it just a memory, but definitely a good one. I miss my cat, I miss the ability to fast forward the television, and I miss virtually unlimited access to the Internet. I miss my phone so I can check in with friends and kids, too. It will be good to be home and get back to normal life and my own cooking! It might take awhile to catch up on blogs. See you then.

 

As I write, we are beginning our fifth day at sea on the Star Princess. A few years ago, my lifetime friend Maryruth thought about going on this very cruise to Hawaii. I said, “omigosh, Maryruth, you don’t want to do that, there are too many sea days!”. She decided instead to fly to Hawaii and cruise around the islands with Norwegian. This is the same friend who for years tried to convince me that cruises were great. I said with that same haughty superiority that I often hear from non cruisers, “I could never go on a cruise, it seems so boring. I would rather go camping, kayaking, hiking, etc.”.

Here I sit on my fifth sea day, loving it. And those of you who know me or read this blog, know that Mo and I aren’t sit around types. We still hike and bike and kayak AND love to cruise. Somehow the forced slowdown of days at sea are especially good for type A’s who always have to be on the move. Although I do know that reading about sea days could be terminally boring. It all runs together, with a few memorable moments here and there and the delight of completely forgettable moments.

Always in the background is the sea, gliding by with the faint rumble of the ship engines and the rhythmic rush of waves against the hull. We are rocked to sleep each night and lulled by the sound of the sea all night long through our open door to the balcony. Mo has finished the two books she brought along, necessitating a trip to the ship library for something to read during these last two days at sea. I am two thirds through Barbara Kingsolver’s new novel, “Flight Behavior”, good enough that I remember why she is one of my favorite authors. What a luxury, reading for hours during the day instead of a few minutes before falling asleep at night and dropping the Kindle on my nose.

We have managed some sunny deck time, watched a great movie in the Princess Theatre, “People Like Us”, enjoyed our workouts in the gym. I treated myself to a luscious manicure, and spent some time at the Crooner’s Lounge knitting with a group of women who meet daily to knit and share conversation, projects, and patterns. We enjoyed a couple of lectures from the ship naturalist, one about oceanography, and one about sea turtles.

Most often we start our day with room service coffee, juice, and a pastry, but we did go up for breakfast one morning. We have made it to dinner in the dining room on most evenings except for our one special dinner in the Crown Grill. For a $25 service charge we had truly magnificent steaks seasoned only with pepper and served with three types of finishing salts. I still can’t figure out how they could make a steak taste that good with just salt and pepper.

Our late seating has been ok, well worth the table for two that we couldn’t get at first seating. We go to the early show, then down to dinner, and then of course we have to participate in the ritual of checking out the portraits or candid photos for the day. Every other day or so we head for the casino. So far I am still ahead with $20. still on my players bank.

We have had two formal nights during these sea days, but on the last one we skipped the lobster dinner and spent our dress up time having free cocktails at the Captain’s farewell party in the piazza and checking out the last production show, “British Invasion”. It was OK, and I love rock and roll from that era, but the best thing going for the show was the over the top production aspect. Neither of us were particularly excited about any of the star singers, and after watching “So You Think You Can Dance” for a few seasons we are pretty particular about what good dancing looks like. The Princess dancers were entertaining, and good enough for a cruise ship at least. I put a couple of the dress up clothes photos in here because you asked.

I even did the formal night portrait thing. We bought just one photo out of all the candid shots taken during the cruise, but we have learned to not shy away from those roaming photographers any more. Half the fun is finding the sometimes funny, sometimes awful, and once in awhile good photos of ourselves having fun. The next two photos we took ourselves on our own deck. The other photo is my formal portrait, which I actually really like. You are seeing the iPad copy. Even if you buy photos, it is an extra fifteen bucks for EACH digital copy of a single photo. I saw people there laying down a few hundred dollars for their entire stash of photos.

Yesterday afternoon I enjoyed a middle brow wine tasting with five nice wines, including Kendall-Jackson Chardonnay, a great Pinot noir, a decent Cabernet, and a dessert wine, complete with cute little Princess glass to take home. The $9. cost was acceptable. I sat next to a lady who had more than 1100 cruise days on Princess, and more on many other cruise lines. I have no clue how you do that. I think 15 days is enough unless maybe you are seeing the Mediterranean with a lot of interesting overnight ports.

Are you bored yet? We aren’t. A couple of news channels on the stateroom tv are a bit of a connection to the mainland. My biggest peeve with it all are the exorbitant fees for wireless Internet access. I think they are into me for a couple hundred bucks so far, which is why this won’t get posted until we are in San Francisco day after tomorrow.

There are lots of things going on every day that we don’t bother doing, dance classes, line dancing, karaoke, late night parties, trivia contests, juggling lessons, bingo, art auctions. I have to admit that all those social things are a bit boring to me. I would rather watch the ocean and knit.

This afternoon we will port at Ensenada, Mexico, for all of four hours, just long enough to stretch our legs and hear some mariachi music. We will be back on board in time for another dining room dinner if we don’t succumb to some really good Mexican food at port. Our waitress, Elena from Romania, is an interesting person, very professional, but a bit strong willed. She works hard to get us to buy wine every night (which we don’t) and to get Mo to eat dessert (which she doesn’t).

The seas were a bit high when we first left Honolulu, but for the last couple of days we have felt very little movement. I put on another patch this morning, getting ready for our northern route along the coast from Ensenada to San Francisco. We have had mostly sunny skies while California has been inundated with storms. The Captain warned us that our last day at sea, tomorrow, could be rough, with rain and wind on the decks.

I took a moment this morning to check the home weather, trying to gauge what our drive home might entail. We hope to get off the ship in time to drive to Klamath Falls and arrive before 5:30 so I can pick up Jeremy from his two week adventure at the vet. With him being elderly, I felt better about the vet boarding than our usual Double C boarding place.

Yes, I can feel the type a thing returning. We have one day to get the MoHo down to Grants Pass, with emails from the contractor telling us that the RV shed is completed. We have rain predicted for Thursday with snow coming by the weekend. Often by this time of year, the MoHo would be snowed in at Rocky Point and we would have to chain up to get her over the mountain. Blind luck!

I am going through in my mind all the steps needed on Friday as I decorate my table for the annual Ladies Luncheon in Rocky Point on Saturday. The men cook and ladies volunteer to do a table for eight and there are usually close to a hundred women at the luncheon.

Then on Sunday I’ll be off once again. Sigh. I would have preferred waiting until January, but friend Bel was in the hospital for six weeks and is now home alone. Time for my annual trip to Florida and I will be flying out from Sacramento airport on Monday morning for a week in Ocala. I must say that when all this is over I will be more than ready for a quiet Christmas at home and some home down time.

Although that down time has become a bit complicated with the request by NRCS that I add 500 hours to my work schedule for the rest of the fiscal year. I cut back to a week a month in October, but will be going back to half time and a bit more. Something to do with dollars allotted for contractors and a mix up. Mo and I agreed that I should probably step up to the plate one more time. The savings will be good for future travel plans even if the work time interferes a bit. I am hoping that the MiFi is fast enough at the Grants Pass cottage that I can spend some of the work time there at least. With funds and budgets always under the gun, who knows if there will be any left for next year. So work it is.

 

Have you ever missed your sailing deadline on a cruise ship? You know the drill…the ship is ready to sail and over the loudspeaker comes the captain’s voice, “Will Mr and Mrs so and so please contact the service desk immediately!” You roll your eyes and look at each other wondering just what kind of people don’t get back to the ship. We came very close to being a couple of those kind of people.

We sailed into Honolulu before dawn with the city lights sparkling on the shore. By the time we were docked the sun was rising over Diamond Head. It was beautiful and clear except for a few clouds and the temperature was already in the mid 70’s. To skip the middleman, we had previously purchased tickets and transportation to the Polynesian Cultural Center on Oahu’s North Shore, about a 90 minute drive from the Aloha Tower where we got off the ship.

We planned our departure with plenty of time for the 2.5 mile walk to the Ala Moana Hotel, designated pick up location for our bus to the center. When I was five, our family moved to Oahu, and I remembered the Royal Hawaiian as the only hotel on Waikiki. I knew that Honolulu was a huge city, so was tickled that I got a tiny glimpse of the famous landmark through the bus windows as we passed by.

The drive to the North Shore was gorgeous, with the rainy side of the island lush and green as I remembered it. We arrived at the Cultural Center just before the noon opening, and decided to explore on our own without the benefit of a guide. Since we had to be back to the ship for a 9:30 sailing, we paid for an early departure at 6:30. We would miss the nighttime performances, the fire dances, and the big dinner, but had plenty of time to immerse ourselves in what is essentially a theme park version of the Polynesian Island culture.

The day was wonderful, with visits to each of 8 different island cultures amidst gorgeous landscaping. Each area had scheduled performances and we managed to get to all of them. I leaned a lot about the various cultures, the different languages, the history, and the different styles of dancing.

Hawaiian dances are lyrical and gentle. Tonga was a big hit with a great drummer who brought up folks from the audience to perform. The dances of Figi were dramatic, especially the men, and the audience was involved and played the bamboo sticks to support the dancers.

We continued to explore the exhibit until mid afternoon when the canoe parade was scheduled to begin. Each island group was represented in the parade with colorful costumes, music and dancing. Tahitian dances are always popular because of the fast hip action, unlike the gentle Hawaiian hulas. The other interesting thing I noticed is that there were no bare midriffs or coconut bras to be seen. All very G-rated and family friendly.

What we learned as the afternoon went on is that the Polynesian Cultural Center is an LDS venture, associated with the adjacent Brigham Young University Hawaii campus. Most of the employees are attending university and this is the creative solution of the church to help the students pay for their education. The students come from 72 countries, and the dancers and musicians are native to their respective islands represented at the center. That explained the lack of bare midriffs.

The Samoan exhibit was the most entertaining in my opinion. The guy was a kick, a great low key, very dry comedian who kept us laughing as he started fire with a stick and some dry coconut husks. He was pretty impressive when he whacked open a coconut with one blow, offered the juice to a spectator, and proceeded to grind coconut and wring out the milk while he told funny stories. The entertainment climaxed with an young man skinning up a coconut palm. Pretty amazing to see, actually.

We then took advantage of the free tram tour that went out of the park to see the BYU campus and the Mormon temple that is adjacent to the campus. Interesting tidbit: the Mormon church bought more than 6,000 acres here in 1865 planning for the education of the Polynesian peoples in the Pacific islands.

We decided on a simple snack bar super while we waited for our bus departure. As directed, we waited out front at 6:15, and waited, and waited, and waited. No bus. We went back inside to the customer service desk, and no one could seem to figure out where the driver was. We were told that if we missed the bus, the taxi fare back to Honolulu was $80. The minutes were ticking by, and we started to panic while the park staff hemmed and hawed and tried to find the bus and driver.

Mo was furious, I was panicked, and finally we said, “Get us a cab!”. The problem was that there are no cabs on the north shore and if they called for a cab, it would take more than an hour to get there. We were pretty much out of luck if someone couldn’t find a bus. I said, “Surely someone here has a car to take us back?!” But we were informed that was impossible due to liability issues.

I proceeded to come very close to throwing up on their service desk, when finally a bus driver appeared. Elizabeth, the customer service representative, was great, staying calm through the whole process, and she went on the bus (operated by a different company) and convinced the driver to take us directly o the ship rather than to the Ala Moana hotel we had paid for. We actually got dropped off right at the ship with an hour to spare.

I have heard of folks missing their ship, and the usual solution is an expensive flight to the next port of call. Our next port was five days out in Ensenada,Mexico! Our passports were safely on the ship, the car key in the safe as well. I couldn’t envision a solution if we had missed the ship. I am sure we would have figured out something, but I am sure glad we didn’t have to.

Another lesson learned: take the emergency contact information from the trip insurance with you! I tried calling Princess from the number on our cruise card and got a message saying to call back during business hours! Of curse it never occurred to us to take our passports when disembarking in our own country.

Once back on the ship we dropped off our stuff in our cabin and headed directly for the bar. A stiff shot of Jack Daniels was my cure for the still wobbly knees. All is well that ends well and we are safely on the ship ready for the next few days at sea.

 

Our decision to do our own thing in Lahaina on the island of Maui was perfect. There are so many amazing things to see and do on this island, and we know that we plan to return someday for a longer visit. The ship tours of the island included the Road to Hana, cycling down the road that leads to the great Haleakana volcano, lots of snorkeling trips and various other adventures.

We looked at Google Earth and decided that Kaanapali Beach would be a good outing. We knew that this world famous sandy beach was easily accessible by bus from the port town of Lahaina. The best laid plans are open to change, and the lovely little town of Lahaina charmed us so completely that we spent the entire time in port exploring the town, walking along Front Street, and topped it off with a couple of hours in the sun on Baby Beach, just a short walk north of town.

This was our only port that required tender service, and Princess had a decent tender system. When we were ready to go, we went to the Capri dining room to get a tender ticket number, and then waited maybe ten minutes before we were called to board our tender. Even though the seas were only moderate, it still required a bit of agility to jump from the ship to the tender, and there were two nice strong young men helping folks with the timing of the leap.

Once on shore, we discovered that we were right in the middle of the town, and across the street from the historical court house. The visitor center is right there, and the young woman working at the desk was incredibly helpful. She told us which beaches in town might have good snorkeling, how to use the bus system, how to get to Hilo Hattie’s for the free tram, and how to get to Whalers Village and Kaanapali beach.

The first thing we saw right behind the court house was a lovely park with huge banyan trees. The day was warming up perfectly and the shade was wonderful. I lived in Hawaii on Oahu from 1950 to 1952 and my favorite memory of living on the islands as a child was the banyan tree where I climbed and played to my heart’s content.

We took our time walking through the town toward the beach, and after seeing how beautiful it was, we decided that staying right where we were was the very best option. The town of Lahaina itself is wonderful. Of course, it is very touristy, but in a way that is delightful. There were lots of interesting shops with beautiful clothes, and dozens of galleries with all kinds of amazing art. We even found a good place for shave ice, my favorite Hawaiian treat. Shave ice is incredibly fine textured and flavored with wonderful fruit syrups. It is nothing like a snow cone, even though it might look like one.

The path to the beach at the north end of town goes in between houses in a residential area, and we almost missed it until a nice woman sitting in her front yard motioned us back to the path. We saw lots of babies and young children and thought maybe it was called Baby Beach because it was shallow and gentle, with no waves at all. The island in the distance is Lanai, and we could also see Molokai to the north.

We walked to the far northern end and found a perfect spot for our beach towels. We were dressed in swim suits under our sundresses, with water shoes and our snorkel gear. The bags were a bit heavy but we had no plans to return to the ship during the day, so had to carry it all with us. I chose to leave the big camera behind, but did pack along the iPad so I could at least take a few photos.

The water felt cold at first, but once we were in it was fine. There was very little wind, and we snorkeled from the beach with shallow canyons of coral between sandy bottoms so we could stand up on sand any time we needed to rest. Our reward was Hawaiian Trigger fish and some lovely yellow and white butterfly fish. There weren’t a lot of them, but I would imagine if we had gone farther out on the reef we would have found more.

After a couple hours on the beach we decided it might be prudent to get out of the hot tropical sun. We were both ready for a cold beer, and within a few blocks of the beach we found Bubba Gumps. The restaurant is one of my favorites and the open air atmosphere was perfect. We settled in to a booth with a view of the water and our ship in the distance and had beer and an appetizer of fries for Mo and fabulous coconut shrimp for me. I tried a Kona amber ale that was a bit hoppy but settled in really well after the first few sips.

We learned that Whaler’s Village is a very high end shopping center, with all the fashion name stores that Melody and I saw last month in Vienna. No need to do that on this trip. Also, we could see the famous beach in the distance, and could also see all the high rise hotels on that beach. The laid back vibe of Lahaina town was much more to our liking.

I had always imagined Maui to be more like the hi rise beach, and was delightfully surprised to find this old town so lovely. It of reminded both of us of Key West, which we love. We decided that when we come back to the islands, we will plan on spending at least a week on Maui. We will then drive the famous narrow, crooked road to Hana and go to the top of the Haleakana volcano. I had no idea that I would like Maui as much as I did.

Sail away was at five and we were on board in plenty of time to relax and clean up before dinner. Our towels, swimsuits, shoes, and everything else we had with us was covered in fine, sticky sand. We dressed for dinner and were treated to another great meal. I had prime rib that was excellent, with a mushroom tartlet and a perfect green salad. Mo had a pork chop with a fig demiglace and a caesar salad. I tried the cheesecake for dessert and Mo once again had “nothing” . Our waitperson Elena decided it was time to actually give her nothing, and surprisingly above the “nothing” word was a delightful fresh strawberry sweet thing.

Our day on Maui was very nearly perfect. Tomorrow, Honolulu.