I need to begin by saying I hope my dear daughter Betsy has had a great birthday today.
Our Cruise Critic roll call set up a private tour to see the Kohala area of the big island. We met at 7:30 and were on the first tender to Kona. We had two vans with 18 people.
We started out into the mountains with lava fields about as far as you could see. We passed through the large land holdings known as the Parker Ranch. We drove to the end of the road to the Pololu Valley Lookout. Beautiful views in all directions.
We then drove to Kapa`au which is reputed to be the birthplace of King Kamehameha. It is also the place where the original statue (which had been lost for a while on its way to Hawaii) is located (there are three others - one in Hilo, one in Honolulu in front of the police headquarters, and one in the Capitol Building in Washington). Lunch in a local cafe. I sat with a couple from Williamsburg!
Our next stop was the Lapakahi State Historical Park. This is the site of a village settled over 700 years ago. There is a reconstructed house built of bamboo with thatching made of pili grass.
Last stop was Pu`ukoholā Heiau, a temple built by Kamehameha as a tribute to the war God, Kū. It took Kamehameha and his warriors a year to build using water-worn lava rocks brought from Pololū which is over 20 miles away across the mountains. One of the park rangers gave us an excellent description of the building of the temple including showing us the type of weapons used by the warriors.
Then back to Kona, on the tender and back to the ship where I had my afternoon ice cream (actually today it was mango sherbet).
We had three play afternoon trivia with 14 out of 18 correct. The "Artichokes" won again with all correct.
1.In regards to cell phones, what does "WAP" stand for?
2.Which movie featured the song, "It's A Hard Knock Life"?
3.What is the technical term for the making and displaying of fireworks?
We started to sail away from Hawaii just as we ended trivia so I stood out on deck 10 to watch.
Evening trivia was just Susie and me. We had 11 out of 17. Those darn artichokes won with 15.
1.What was the name of the mythical utopia in Hilton's "Lost Horizon"?
2.What country sold the Virgin Islands to the US in 1917?
3.What was Roger Moore's first Bond movie?
All seven present for dinner. I had delicious brisket and my favorite creme brûlée. I skipped the comedian, Tom Briscoe.
Three views of downtown Kona as seen from the tender pier
Lava, lava, and more lava as we climbed into the mountains
The view from the lookout - notice the black sand beach
A view into the mountains
Where we had lunch
The library
A middle school
One of the few scenes with little lava to be seen
The reconstructed house
Plumeria smelled wonderful
The ranger holding one of the types of weapons used by the Warriors - the white things were sharks' teeth - they also used something that looked like brass knuckles, also with sharks' teeth
The temple
And on the way back to Kona - even more lava!
1.wireless application protocol
2.Annie
3.pyrotechnics
Evening trivia
1.Shangri-la
2.Denmark
3.Live and Let Die
Smooth sailing until next time!
No comments:
Post a Comment