… to the steaming lava fields of the Big Island …

… near our port in Hilo, Hawaii. Hawaii’s second-largest city (after Honolulu), Hilo seems like a small town, nothing like bustling, cosmopolitan Honolulu. We took a taxi to the market, selling mostly handmade items. Our favorite stand had fascinating “portable beaches” inside heavy glass enclosures. In search of sketch books and pencils, a vendor mentioned Hilo’s Ben Franklin store. Our wonderful Bens (Gaithersburg and Damascus) are long closed, but this one was great, with a bit of everything.

    

We headed back to the ship for our afternoon excursion: a helicopter ride over Kilauea, the world’s most active volcano. Continuously erupting since 1983, the evidence of its power is stark against the rain forest foliage. The ribbon of lava stopped snaking its way toward the city about two years ago. On the coast, the red-hot lava boiled through a lava tube into the sea, sending plumes of white steam and occasional chunks of debris high into the air.

  

 

We circled around the center of current activity, an almost flat field, with vent holes steaming along the path of underground lava tubes.

  

 

When the lava emerges, it goes from 2500 degrees to 500 degrees in 2.5 seconds, forming the black crust of rock in these photos, inexplicably leaving behind small islands of trees and fragments of roads unscathed.

    

   

Volcanoes, waterfalls and rainbows - the Big Island has it all! Literally flying through a rainbow as Izzy Kamakawiwo’ole’s “Over the Rainbow” played in the background, we suddenly had a postcard-worthy shot of our ship from the air!

… to spend time at sea!

18 days into the 111 day trip, we’ve settled in. Our wonderful cabin stewards, Febri and Putu, take care of the cabin, close by is the Neptune lounge with comfy seats and tempting snacks, the Lido Grill for quick dining is just one floor up, and the dining room three floors down. We’re at the back of the ship, so floating in the back pool is only a short flight of steps away.

 

Sea days are lovely. Too many port days in a row don’t give you time to digest what you’ve seen. A perfect cruise would have a sea day after each port. You can rest on sea days - or get busy. We’re taking drawing classes offered each sea day by the ship’s artist in residence, Ben Pack. We’ve tried to get into the twice-daily watercolor classes, but they’re always full. So far, we’ve taken 8 of 38 great Microsoft-sponsored Windows 10 classes.

          

We’ve floated, and spent time in the spa’s thermal suite, mostly sleeping on the heated ceramic lounges.

    

We’ve done a wine tasting, and a special Le Cirque Dinner in the ship’s Pinnacle Grill.

  

We also saw talks on coffee (neither of us drink coffee…) and Panama Canal rolls. During the voyage to Hawaii, we’re taking ukelele lessons. The ship has a large, modern library, sponsored by the New York Times, with 12 computers, games, puzzles, books and magazines.

    

There’s an arts & crafts project every afternoon. Yoga and tai chi, meditation, fitness classes, flower arranging, pickle ball, beginner and intermediate bridge, ping pong, guest speakers, shuffleboard, twice-daily trivia, cooking shows, blackjack, slots, and Texas hold ‘em tournaments, Spanish lessons, basketball, chess and scrabble, dance class, bingo. And entertainment options: movies, live performances, lounge singers, dancing.  There’s something for everyone!

… home to Coronado!

We’ve been looking forward to our stop in San Diego ever since we set sail – a chance to visit with family, check on the condo in Coronado and shop for anything we might have forgotten. It was a quick stop; with passport procedures, no one left the ship until 9 am. And it was pouring! In Southern California... Zoe was waiting for us at the condo, and helped us make quick work of the things on our list. Even with her help, and the rain over, our errands took longer than anticipated.

  

By the time we climbed in the car with Zoe, Frank’s sister Chris and her husband Dennis for the trip across the bridge to the port, it was already 3 pm.

    

We had special guest permission for everyone to board the ship and look around. When we arrived back at the dock, the port official didn’t know the procedure for guests. We were kept at the curb as the minutes ticked by. Someone finally waved us through, and we reached the ship at 3:35 pm. The guests were not allowed to board because it was now too late, even though passengers didn’t have to be back on board until 4:30. Frank and I ran to the cabin to unpack our load of 8 dozen Lipton green teas (to last the rest of the cruise), then returned the cart to our patiently waiting guests, who had by that time been exiled to the terminal building. It was an extremely disappointing conclusion to the day.

We did get some lovely views back at San Diego as we sailed away. If you look closely at the second photo, you can just make out the Hotel Del Coronado with its red roof in front of the white buildings in the center background.  

  

… to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico …

… to look for humpback whales in Banderas Bay. We were a bit surprised to find our boat was a small inflatable Zodiac. We climbed aboard, sitting on small benches with no restraints and only tiny life jackets for the 19-mile ride.

    

Our knowledgeable captain quickly found a large humpback whale who spouted a few times, then dove deeply. A few minutes later another whale spouted, large and playful, and waved each of his flippers in turn before diving.

 

There were suddenly multiple spouts on the horizon: it was a courting group, three males pursuing a single female. They surfaced repeatedly, tussling each time. The female selects a single male to mate with, and determines whether or not the mating results in pregnancy (presumably based on the male’s performance).  We only got one blurry fluke shot.

  

The last whales we saw were a mother and a small baby. The most productive mothers have a calf every 3-4 years; the average is closer to 5-7 years. After the one year gestation period, mothers return to their birthplace from the summer feeding grounds in Canada and Alaska to give birth. The humpbacks, both male and female, don’t eat during their four-month stay in Mexico, and mothers can lose half their body weight of up to 40 tons. Babies weigh a ton at birth, and gain up to a ton a week for their first month, drinking 30 gallons of milk a day. In the bay, the only danger to the calves are orcas, which aren’t actually whales, but very large dolphins. Humpbacks, who are usually solitary animals, will group together to protect mothers and babies under attack by orcas.

  

The captain stopped the boat briefly and tossed a microphone over the side so we could listed in on the courtship songs of male whales in the bay. Amazing! Every male has a unique song which remains the same every year. Another fantastic day!

… to Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala …

… and from there to the mountain town of Antigua, a favorite retirement retreat for Americans. Antigua is about 1 1/2 hours from the port, and at an altitude of almost 5000 feet. It was another lucky pick of excursions because the heat and humidity in the port were oppressive, but the temperature in Antigua was 65 degrees. Along the way we saw Guatemala’s two active volcanoes, spewing smoke and steam every few minutes. The horizon was ringed with volcanoes, a pretty awesome sight.

  

In Antigua, we started at the Jade Museum, owned and operated by Mary Lou Ridinger, an American geologist who discovered the jade quarry used by the ancient Mayans for their “Imperial Jade.” Her success, documented by a TV show, magazine cover and book, required great determination … and the backing of National Geographic. Mary Lou speaks to visitors, and personally showed us her “retirement rock” … a boulder of solid translucent jade. After her find was verified, she built a jade factory and taught local Mayan people to create facsimiles of ancient jade artifacts found in Mayan tombs, as well as modern jewelry. The factory and showroom are open to visitors.

   

Another “guilty pleasure” lunch – this time at Domino’s pizza – slow but delicious!

  

From the Jade Museum, we walked a few blocks to the city park. Walking is difficult: the sidewalks are narrow and in precarious condition, there are large, barred windows jutting into the walkways, traffic is heavy, and the persistent vendors accost you at each step.

  

Our final stop was the Chocolate Museum, where we sampled the chocolate – and became part of the picture. Although many streets are an almost unbroken row of walls, most buildings have lovely interior courtyards. The souvenirs offered for sale were hand made in Guatemala, with outstanding workmanship. Hand-loomed textiles were everywhere, along with leather goods, painted wooden ware, paintings and pottery.  Prices were very reasonable, and it was hard to say no. Our cabin now has touches of Guatemala in every corner …

… Corinto, Nicaragua …

… and the 1611 Spanish colonial city of Leon. Nicaragua is the largest country in Central America – and was a possible location for what is the Panama Canal until they discovered the country’s 27 volcanoes – 7 of which are still active! The port of Corinto handles 70% of the country’s exports, mostly beef, coffee, sesame seeds and peanuts. The sesame seeds go primarily to McDonald’s for those sesame seed buns, and the oil for fries. On our way to Leon, we visited the Chorotega Museum, sponsored by the Coen family, with a collection of 1500 amazing pre-Columbian pieces.  I thought the vessel on the left was stunning until learning it was used to hold the uteruses of virgins sacrificed to the volcano gods; those “feelers” are fallopian tubes … The next statue undoubtedly shows said virgin upon learning the plan … And who can’t relate to the next piece? Oy vey …
    
Our next stop was an hour away in the lovely city of Leon, to see La Asuncion Cathedral, a World Heritage Site. Along the way we saw several of Nicaragua’s volcanoes, including the formidable San Cristobal, and its neighbor, San Casitas. The light streak shows where thousands of people were killed in a 1998 disaster.
  
The cathedral is beautiful, inside and out. Hidden within the interior artwork are three “eyes” in triangles, similar to the one on the back of a US dollar bill. Good luck comes to those who find all three with no help. Here are two of the eyes – one in the ceiling, and one just visible in the triangle above the dove in the pulpit. We found all three! The Madonna in the pink niche is beautiful; the Madonna in the main altar was made in China.
  
    
After admiring the Cathedral, Frank and I had a guilty secret lunch – at a new McDonald’s which opened recently across the street. It sure tasted good!