: ( Last Port : )
It is so frustrating when this happens. Our email system is not very reliable. You get so close to finishing a huge email that you are sending to your blog about your whole trip and it times you out. When you get back on nothing saved and you have to start all over. This time was the worst. I learned my lesson from the times before so I started copying it when I finished. I was just about to finish and copy when it freaked out and logged me out. I lost the whole thing I spent an hour writing.
Anyway…
The trip is almost over. That is good and bad news. As you can tell there are some things (like my email) that I will be ready to get away from but there are many things that I am going to miss. Hawaii was a great last port and I would really like to journal about it (again, but this time in Word processor to save me some frustration).
In Honolulu we went to the Dole Plantation and to the beach. Dole is the major producer of pineapples and they have the world’s largest maze on their grounds in Hawaii. It’s a fun maze. First you get your ticket and they mark the time you start. You have to go through the maze and find all eight secret locations that have boxes on your ticket. When you find each secret location you get the secret code from the booth that is there. It’s cool because it has a slot that lines up perfectly with the corresponding box for the code. Each code was some kind of Hawaiian figure that you stenciled. After you were done you timed out and see if you got done faster than you friends. We finished in thirty-six minutes.
In Hilo we went to the beach again and to the hot ponds. We went to a black sand beach in Hilo. The sand is made from the lava that flowed through there at one time but has been turned into sand from being hit with waves for a long time. At this beach (Richardson’s Beach) we swam with a sea turtle! It was huge but a local saw it and told me it was a medium sized turtle. I was proved wrong but I had never seen a turtle so big.
Later in the day we went to the hot springs. They were natural hot tubs that were the size of ponds. The ground water runs past lava flows and warms the water that dumps into the ocean. They had the area blocked off in a way that channeled cool water in from the ocean and kept most of the hot water in. It was not exactly like a hot tub. It was not as hot. It was so much better. The water was more like a perfect bath. Not too hot and not too cold. We also brought glow sticks because we got there at sunset. By time it got dark the glow sticks added to the atmosphere. The water was so clear and shallow enough that you could put the glow stick in the water and see everything in the water. We all got different colors so all you could see was a bunch of colors in the water.
In Honolulu and Hilo we spent most of the time relaxing. We were either relaxing on the beach or on the “The Bus.” The public transportation was not the best but it was the cheapest way to go. The cabs were ridiculous (ten dollars for two miles in a cab or $2.25 for two rides on “The Bus” that took forever to get anywhere).
Also, we got a surprise day in Honolulu. A storm has been coming from Japan across the Pacific to Hawaii. To avoid it we were rerouted back to Honolulu and got an extra day in Hawaii. Unfortunately, we still have finals tomorrow so all day today, even though we are in Hawaii on a beautiful day, most of us had to study. However, studying on the beach beats being cooped up in your cabin. The storm was not anything to worry about, it just would have made it difficult to take finals. Now we will be behind the storm and will not have to worry about the current being as big.
Well, next stop San Diego. I can’t wait to see everybody. I’ll be home soon!
