It has been mentioned by some the curiosity of traveling at sea. This is not in relation to the activities or pass times, but a question of the physical and mental effects of rocking and rolling in a contained community for long periods of time.
I am one of the lucky few where I feel very little seasickness. On our first stretch, from San Diego to Hilo, the ship experienced large swells that moved the ship up and down and back and forth in such strength that drawers in my room were opening and shutting constantly. One night my nightstand unhooked from the wall and fell over three or four times. I found that sleeping was made difficult from all the noise of drawers and nightstands falling over, but nothing else was really keeping me awake. During the rocky times I found it fun to walk through the halls and see if I could walk straight. At other times I went through public areas just to see people walking at forty five degree angles to the floor or getting pushed into the walls as they made their way from one room to another. I, in the worst of weather, only experienced a dull headache
Global studies is a class that everyone is required to attend. Unfortunately for some, global studies is held in the Union, a very large room toward the bow of the ship. The bow is the front of the ship. Not only does the bow sway back and forth, but it also bounces up and down in the water. Every now and then I feel like I am on a roller coaster going off a steep drop. In one of my classes in the Union, a wave moved the ship so much that all our chairs slid across the room. I was at the end of the chairs and had to brace myself with my foot so as to not fall over. What Fun!! Unfortunately, others don’t think it is as great. I know many people who missed orientation and many of their classes in the Union because of the motion of the ocean. Even now, in much calmer waters I can walk around and see people with a half-circle patch placed behind the ear. These patches are a strong form of seasickness medication, but not as strong as the shot, which other people received.
Going from Motion in the Ocean to Land:
People have talked about getting on land after being used to constant motion and getting reverse sickness. I figured I didn’t get sick originally so the reverse wouldn’t bother me either. Upon arrival in Hilo I was proved wrong. My experience in Hilo was not “getting sick” but when I stood still (and sometimes when I moved) I felt as if the land was swaying. The best word I can use to describe it has to be stolen from the 70s: it was trippy man. I went to a few banks in Hilo to see if I could get some yen before arriving in Japan. At one bank I was just smiling as I wanted to adjust my balance because the teller’s desk just seemed to be moving up, then down and up again. Erin and Elena laughed at me the whole after noon, as I would randomly stop, smile, and try to balance. At one point I stopped and said, “the island is tilting like a skate board.” It was a very strange sensation that faded as I got used to being on land. I looked forward to experiencing this “trippy” feeling again when I was in Japan, but my body is a fast learner and I felt nothing out of the ordinary when I touched land in Japan, bummer!
Stir Crazy:
I have found that this ship is large enough that I don’t feel very confined. There are areas that I rarely visit, but could should I need a change of scenery. In the evenings there are many things to do. I usually do one or two activities, such as working out or dance. Then there are explorer seminars where people who know about subjects have a more focused seminar. These can include subjects of oceanic sharks, shield volcanoes, the Chinese language, a talk on the Peace Corps, or even a class in swing dance (that was fun!). But by having all of these opportunities along with homework from classes, I rarely get bored or feel like I am trapped on the ship. Nonetheless it is still wonderful to get off of the ship and see dirt, trees, and grass.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Seasick? Landsick? Stir Crazy?
2/11/2010 ? Transit Day
Transit day was wonderful! I slept in. I slept in until 8am, the latest I can remember sleeping to since San Diego. Then we (Elena, Erin and I) watched the lion king. Eventually we got up to get hot chocolate and lunch. After lunch we went to the wellness center (the onboard spa).
The spa was having a “party” where each person could pop a balloon and receive a free ten-minute massage. I got a scalp massage from my balloon! Because my feet were killing me from the previous day, I also decided to take advantage of the 10% off sale the spa was doing. I got a reflexology (foot) massage and then my free 10min scalp massage. I made the appointment for this special treat right before dinner.
The rest of the day was spent writing about the previous day, sleeping, and talking with Elena. Then I was off to my massages!
Each massage was wonderful. My feet felt the love, which made all the difference. Then my head… that was amazing. This was my first scalp massage and it was blissful. My body was very thankful for the attention. After the massages I went down to dinner, which was done in a special way for the 200 students traveling between ports on board the MV Explorer.
Normally our dinner is buffet style; you grab a plate and walk past the dishes as you serve yourself. This night a menu was prepared. Everyone was seated family-style and our orders were taken for a five-course meal. Appetizers were fried calamari or a fruit bowl (of course I got the calamari). Then there was a cream of broccoli soup and Caesar salad. The entrées were a choice between black snapper with mango salsa, breaded pork with curry, and vegetarian pasta. I got the black snapper and it was very tasty! For the desert we had cherries jubilee. It was the best meal offered on the ship so far.
The day was relaxing and wonderful! It was exactly what I needed to get ready for a day in Kyoto and the following day in Kobe.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
2/10/2010 ? Tokyo
Today we went to Tokyo. The greatest challenge of today was to take the train. I have the feeling that after a few days of use I would begin to understand the system. But for the day we had to ask directions to platforms, and how much fare we needed to purchase, for each destination.
First we went to Shibuya where it is supposed to be very popular for the younger generations. Lots of clothing and electronic stores were in the area. We found lunch on the 6th floor of a building. This was interesting. We went into a little walkway, toward the elevator, where plastic creations of dishes were displayed. Next to the dishes were prices. There were three cases of dishes and each display had a title of F# at the top. The dishes we thought were good, and decently priced, were in the F6 case. This is how we knew to go to the 6th floor for the restaurant.
After lunch we began to wander around. Up and down the different streets, we saw more people than I have seen in a year. At least that is what it felt like. There are so many people in Japan! We found one ally that had a music studio, a vinyl record store, and a 70s clothing shop. That ally had the most unique character we found. We also found a little shop selling crepes with fruit, ice cream, and chocolate. I got a strawberry one. It was delicious!
Next we went to Shinjuku, an area of Tokyo known for its electronic shops and video arcades. Here is where we were told we could see people dressed up as manga/anime characters. Unfortunately we did not see anyone dressed up until we got on the train to go back to Yokohama. Here we saw a guy with silver spiky hair like Cloud from Final fantasy. He had the long black pants and a black button down shirt. It was really like he had hoped out of the television.
After walking around in Shinjuku for a while we decided to find an Internet café. I heard some people talking in English and asked if they knew where to find an Internet place. They were from Australia and said that we could go to a hotel and use their business center (English computers) for 100yen/ 15min. So that is what we did. We found a hotel and walked in to use the Internet. It was here where I could finally put some pictures on the blog.
We then went back to Yokohama, absolutely exhausted from figuring out Japanese, asking directions, and walking all day for the last two days. Our feet hurt, and our heads were filled with an overload of information. As tired as we were however, the taste of pork baos was calling to us. We went to china town in Yokohama and walked down the main street eating pork baos and sesame balls (with bean paste mmm…). It was cold and beginning to rain, so the experience was even enhanced with all the lights bouncing off the shiny street. One of the lady’s, who was selling us pork baos, invited us inside to her small, heated little grocery, as the baos steamed. We walked back to the ship with sesame balls and pork baos in hand. Everything was in our tummies before we got to the terminal.
Side Note: As we exited the Kennai train station in Yokohama, I saw (again) a man urinating just outside the station; it seemed no one else paid attention or cared.
2/9/2010 ? Yokohama in the Evening
The evening in Yokohama started with Erin, Michael, Michael, Elena, and me all going out to find sushi. On our way out we ran into another group of SAS-ers. In my opinion this was unfortunate, because it made our group over twelve people large, and we became “the loud noisy Americans”. The other thing was that no one knew where we were going. Finally, when we asked for directions, we were told all the sushi places were closed because it was too late in the evening. After a little more walking I was able to pull our group away from the mass. We eventually pulled out a map to find a place to eat before everywhere closed (at the time it was 8:30pm). The map pointed us to china town again. Michael (the second) had not been to china town or had any good Chinese food or dim sum, so we went into china town again! The food was great and we decided to get sake. It started out incredibly strong, but as the meal continued, the warm sake became quite tasty.
After eating food we began to walk around town. At first we were looking for a bar with karaoke. At one point we found a bar, but the outside gave out a bad vibe so we moved on to explore Yokohama. As I may have mentioned, there is a very large Ferris wheel in Yokohama. Unfortunately the Tokyo suburb does not have late hours and we were too late to ride it. We did, however, find our over to where the Ferris Wheel is.
On the way found an old sailing boat that had two masts and all the ropes and rope ladders necessary to pull everything up and down. It was beautiful. We also noticed the street lamps were in a modern cubical shape. We began leaving the area where the ship was, when we noticed that across the bridge were some boys peeing into the water. It was a little shocking that, in this society where the streets are clean and rules are important, guys are also urinating in public. We continued on and crossed the bridge.
Then we came across a Hard Rock café with a large guitar out in front. As we approached the café we noticed a huge courtyard shaped like the hull of a cargo ship. It was amazing. As you approach it the only thing you see is some blue light. Then you get closer and look down into this huge pit lined with rough stone and tiled on the bottom. Blue light filled it and then orange lights, like torches were on the top. There were stairs that went down and we walked down to the bottom of this amazing courtyard. We were right next to a large building so we all lied down and looked up. It was absolutely beautiful!
After the courtyard, we continued walking for a little bit until we were outside a hotel and there was a water garden with little egg statues in the water that changed color. We sat there for a while to take things in before heading back to the ship.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Communications Reminder
Just a reminder: I can't receive any e-mails over 50KB. This limit also applies to attachments. My Gmail accounts can receive any regular e-mails but I am only able to look at those through internet I get in the ports (if I can find some). However, my semester at sea account can only receive and send emails totaling an amount under 50KB.
Love you all!!!
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Honolulu - Night Out
Here we split most of our dishes and got amazing food for an amazing price. Then, at 10pm, we waited outside in a cold breeze for a taxi to take us to Waikiki and Zanzabar! When we got there almost our whole ship was lined up to get in. I feel pretty lucky because, since I am over 21, I didn't have to pay a cover charge. Haha to all you young'ins! 
We got into the club, and there were scantily clad girls who were "cage dancing" on some platforms. I had not been expecting that. It was a crowded space, but really fun to just let loose and dance for a bit. At one point a kid from the ship cleared a space and did some very talented break dancing moves, with some head spins and a few windmill things. Then we all went back to dancing. While we danced, I was surprised when a Hawaiian lady, of about 60 years of age, began to weave her way through the masses. She was happy and smiling, having a blast with all the kids. Michael (the second) got me take a picture of him dancing with her. She saw the flash and asked me to e-mail it to her. Unfortunately verbal communication of e–mail in a club is a little impossible. The whole scene was just awesome. Every Hawaiian I have met on this trip is welcoming, and fun loving. This just symbolized that for me… Or you can think of it in a freaky-old-lady kind of way, but I choose not to.
Most of my group (including me) had to be up early the next morning so we left at 12:30am, got a taxi to the ship, and called it a night.
Yokohama - Day 1
I arrived in Yokohama on February 9th. I woke up and went to breakfast on the ship as we entered the harbor. After eating and watching the fog of the bay lift as the sun rose I got ready for a day on the town in Yokohama.
Originally I was going on a trip to Kamakura where I would see a Zen temple, meditate, and have lunch with Zen monks. However, for the last few days we have been having bad weather and maneuvering around storms (this is why there is a time where none of my posts went up, our satellites were having issues connecting us to the rest of the world for student e-mail purposes). So it had been anticipated that the ship would be a day late into Yokohama, but thanks to an amazing crew, we were only a few hours late.
At about 1pm, my friends and I got off the ship and entered the terminal for Yokohama. When going through customs I had my fingerprints taken, a thermal scan, and a photo taken before I could go into the city. The terminal in terms of architecture is amazing. The roof is a maze of walkways and benches where one can sit and watch the harbor or see the cityscape. At one point there is even grass on the roof that the walk ways move between.
First order of business was to exchange money. I had taken a lot of American $1 and small bills with me because it had been recommended by past SAS-ers. This is not necessary and a bit tedious. Debit cards are probably better, or getting currency before you arrive. Any ways, I needed to get some yen. So we walked down to a bank and saw that foreign exchange was on the second floor. I went up stairs said "konichiwa" to a lady then said "exchange"? She spoke a little English and was able to direct me, through hand gestures and a note pad, how to fill out the exchange form. Then I waited in line to go up to the counter and exchange my USD in to yen. Another teller, who spoke less English told me had filled out too many forms. I said "ok" and nodded that all I wanted was yen. She then tore one of the papers and proceeded the process of exchange. I gave her my money (USD), she counted it, then told me to wait. I went back and waited, was called up and asked to give a phone number to be reached at during my stay. I don't have a phone number, but I was able to borrow a friend's number for the purpose of the bank. Finally after more waiting I had yen! This was awesome, I was very happy. I was thanking everyone, "arigato gozaimasu". On my way out I saw the lady who helped me originally. She was curious if everything had gone okay (this was indicated by hand and head gestures with a smile) I nodded, smiled and said "hai, domo arigato gozaimasu" (yes, thank you very much). I am now very thankful for even remembering that much from my freshman year of high-school Japanese.
At the bank my friends met a guy who spoke English very well. We asked where a good place to get lunch is and we were directed to "china town." We went there, trying to locate the specific restaurant, and failed. However china town is filled with places serving amazingly delicious food, so we just stopped at a place that looked reasonably priced and had an English menu. The food was so wonderful I did not want to stop eating. We had cashew chicken, green beans, beef and peppers, steamed pork boa, shark fin dumpling, sesame rolls and more! It was wonderful, delicious, and magnificent all rolled into one.
After lunch we strolled around china town, looking at the wonderful colors, the food, the people, the bikes, and anything else we could soak in. When we left china town we went to Yokohama Park where there is a large baseball stadium. Outside of the stadium are trees and a beautiful pond with turtles, coy fish and lots of ducks and pidgins. The interesting thing about the park is that, besides being beautiful and serene, it is also the emergency gathering spot in case of an earthquake or tsunami. We walked through the trees and around the pond over toward the train station. Here we took note of different things, as we would need to use the train tomorrow in our adventure to Tokyo.
We then went to the post office where Michael could use the ATM. Apparently his card was not being accepted at any of the banks we passed, but the post office accepted it and he was able to get some yen as well (yay!).
We went back to china town and got street vended pork buns. Then we went to a walking mall where there is a block of pavement with some trees lining it. Here we saw people walking their small dogs or meeting after work in their business suits, or walking somewhere from somewhere else. Around the trees were little fences that also were made to serve the purpose of a bench. These types of dual purpose and visually friendly fences, or dividers and such could be seen everywhere.
We also saw garages that were stacked with three or four cars on top of each other, connected by a pulley system. This was awesome. To get your car the cars would have to rotate until yours is on the ground.
As the sun went down and lights turned on, we headed back to the ship to rest our feet a little before heading out into the night life of Yokohama. We walked on the terminal roof and stared at the beautiful lights defining the cityscape. In front of some skyscrapers is the Ferris wheel of Cosmo Land, one of the largest Ferris wheels in the world. We saw the wheel light up and the turn as its lights were reflected in a rainbow on the dark water of the harbor. Then we returned to the ship and got ready to meet at eight-thirty for sushi, a Ferris wheel ride and more…
Classes
Global Studies:
This class is required for all students. Many professors and life-long learners also attend. The purpose of global studies is to provide a base of knowledge about the different countries and cultures we are visiting. The theme of our voyage is sustainability. After learning about where the country is, and how it developed, we usually have a panel of inter-port experts and our professors who discuss the sustainable developments and issues we should be aware of. Our textbook is a geography book. Recently we had our first exam during an especially rocky night. It focused a lot on what the panelists from our classes said and information from a world population data sheet. The reading for global studies, from the beginning of the trip to the first exam included 81 pages and extensive study of the population data sheet. In global studies we have split into groups of 6 to do our final project. The final project is to choose an aspect of sustainability and gain as much information as you can across six different countries, then put all the information in an easy to use bundle for a lessen plan.
International Management:
My international management class is pretty awesome. We have gone over basic corporate strategies and SWOT analysis. After Japan we are going to begin a business game called STRATEX. Mostly, I like this class because of my professor. Dr. Guenther is from Germany and has a lot of academic and practical experience with international management. He is an accountant, and builds his lectures in ways that I really enjoy. He shows and explains the parts of a concept, how they go together, and why. The 'why' part is particularly awesome because he takes case studies from actual companies to show the importance of each concept. I am greatly looking forward to doing some trips with Professor Guenther in Shanghai, Hong Kong and South Africa. My final project for this class is to take pictures in each country and apply theories of business that we are learning to one picture for each country,
Law and Liberty:
My law and liberty class is fun too (really they are all a blast!). Law and Liberty looks at the relationship between established law and the value of liberty. This is really neat as a comparison course; moving through different countries and noticing through their law and behaviors the different (and similar) values of ones liberty. The field component of this class is a journal focusing on one of four aspects of liberty: guns, sex, environment (the commons), and religion.
Global Perspectives of Work and Family:
This class ties all my other classes together with a humanities twist. There are so many ways to look at work-family conflict (or family-work conflict, or positive spillover of both). I can look at it as a liberty issue, a business issue, and by going around the world I am getting a global comparative view that is just amazing. Right now we have been looking toward Japan and realizing that some would say they are in the middle of a silent feminist movement; apparently many women in Japan have been joining the work force and liking their independence and single income. Because of this, many women in Japan are not marrying and having children. The social expectation of a married woman is to stop work, have children and raise the children. As many Japanese women do not want to accommodate this expectation, they simply do not get married, or have children. This is leading to a very small generation to support the elderly in following years. Many have termed this situation a crisis.
In Work and Family I have three, three-page reflection papers due on observations from one of the countries (one paper on one country; three countries total). I also have a six-page research paper on a comparison of three of the countries we are visiting about one aspect of work and family
Sleeping and Room
I sleep in a cabin on the second deck of the ship. The second deck is the lowest deck for passenger cabins. This is good in a couple of ways: 1) the lower one goes in the ship, the less rocky it is and, because my cabin has a window, the ocean looks so close that I feel like I could touch it. As I have said before, my cabin has a window, meaning I am on the outside of the ship. Unlike the other decks, windows on deck 2 are portholes. So I have a large round window at the back of the cabin (other decks have your average square shaped window).
I am fortunate enough to share my room with my roommate Elena. She is originally from Bulgaria and now lives with her family in Chicago while attending college to get an Art degree. We get along very well. And, from what I have seen of other rooms, are pretty clean people.
The room is set up as follows: You open a very heavy fire door from the hallway to enter the room. Upon entry you see a small hallway that opens into a long rectangular space. At the end of the rectangle there is our porthole window looking out into the ocean. On the sides of the porthole are window curtains, which have a sort of trough below them to keep them from hitting you when the ship rocks. Elena and I have taken to storing our textbooks and school supplies in the trough.
In the center of the end wall, beneath the window and the trough, are our two nightstands. They stand side-by-side making a nice table platform. Each of us gets three storage drawers from our stand. Between the side wall and our nightstands lay our single size beds. The beds have a sheet, a blanket (its thin), and a bedspread. Occasionally I find myself wishing for an extra blanket, but a pair of socks and a sweatshirt get me nice and cozy again.
At the end of our beds are either: a table and a chair, or a desk station and a chair. The desk has a drawer and the electrical outlets, but they have the same surface area. The desk drawer is divided, so we share that. At the end of my bed is the table. Behind the table is a built-in storage unit with a TV in the top shelf, our food (snacks and such) in the middle, a mini-refrigerator, and then three large drawers. Elena and I decided that the top drawer would be a dedicated snack drawer and then we each would get one of the other drawers.
Our hallway, which is behind the desk and the storage unit, consists of our bathroom on one side and a closet on the other side. The closet is fairly large. We have our life vests in the top shelf in case of an emergency. Twenty hangers were provided, but much more could fit in there. Two shoe racks are also in the closet. They can hold about four pairs of shoes each. There is another closet door that is divided into five shelves. I have the top two shelves and Elena has the bottom two. The middle shelve is for whoever needs it as well as the complimentary safe.
If I was to make a comparison of size, this cabin is almost as big (if you include the bathroom, even bigger) than my second dorm room.
Sleeping on the ship is important. We are in a state of constant stress from school, traveling, and being in a completely new environment. Rest is very important. However, either because of the new location, stress, excitement or many other possible reasons, most people I have met on the ship, including myself, have had many more dreams than we are used to (Elena is strange and has had less dreams than her norm). It is funny to wake up in the morning and have breakfast with people while we share our latest strange and vivid dreams.
P.S. For those of you who think we on the ship are being overly spoiled, I would have to agree. However, assumptions of television are incorrect. Yes, we have a TV in the room. However, there is no DVD player or VCR. We also only receive 6 channels. The first channel is a constant update of the ships course, speed, and location. The second, third, and fifth channels are movies requested by teachers for specific classes and usually are documentaries or dramas on historical events dealing with the countries we are visiting or the world as a whole. The fourth channel has a slide show of shipboard announcements. Finally our 6th channel is kids movies for all the faculty's children (and us, because really, who can resist Disney?).
On a Ship
On a ship
I have been on a ship now for the last nine days. The question has been raised, "what do I do while at sea?"
The answer, in terms of time consumption, would rank as follows: sleeping (my most time consuming activity), classes and studying, eating, socializing, and extra-curricular activities. That, in a nutshell, is what I do.
What? Not enough information? Well all right, I think I can expand on this a little…
Honolulu - Snorkeling
At 7am I ventured out with a large group of students and life long learners to Kaneohe Bay where we would explore the deep blue sea's majestic underwater beauty. Upon arrival rain was steadily falling and the sky was overcast. Many people were complaining, but I was quite happy; rainfall calms open waters, and the clouds give a slight protection against the sun. As I am a white red head with blue eyes, this helps me not get sun burned – UV rays are always present on the ocean, as I have already discovered, so massive amounts of sunscreen were still used.
Any ways… we got onto a little boat with a tour of Japanese people too. This was sort of neat, because as I listened my high school Japanese kicked in and I remembered how to say, "excuse me," in Japanese (sumimasen). The tour provided donuts (YAY!), and we slowly moved out into the bay.
When we reached our destination in the bay there were three activities. One was a banana boat (where you sit on a inflatable raft and get pulled around by a motorized launch). You could also play volleyball in the ocean (careful to not fall on the coral reef that is right behind you), and you can go for a leisurely snorkel. I went on the banana boat first and got so much seawater in my face that I could not open my eyes until the ride was over.
When that was done I got my fins, a mask, and a snorkel, and joined the fishes. This was my first time snorkeling so I didn't really know what to do. I began walking in the waist deep water, on the dust of dead coral reef, toward the coral reef that was still alive and multicolored. As I walked large military air transports (planes and helicopters) flew across the sky toward a nearby marine base. Then I heard someone talking about snorkeling, that you don't want to walk, but just float your way over. Instantly I took the overheard advice and plopped into the water. At first everything was murky and pale. Then I saw fish that blended in with the white sand and looked like sticks with big eyes. As I floated closer to the living coral I began to see more and more different kinds of fish. The water became clearer and I just floated and fish swam around me.
At first I was very scared to allow myself to float over the coral. Coral reefs are very sharp and at points this one was only a few feet below the surface of the water. I had no desire to hurt the coral, or (more of an immediate concern to me) my knees or feet. Eventually though, I just decided to take a big breath when the coral seemed too close (air in the lungs will increase my buoyancy). I floated and floated and took as many pictures as I could before the battery began to fail. I even got a few video clips. It was an amazing experience. I felt mesmerized by the calm social world of the sea, how everything just flowed with me as I floated with the waves. 
I got back to the boat, ate lunch and returned to the ship. There I cleaned up and took my computer out to find an Internet café. This was only half successful because so many other students were doing the same thing. The bandwidth was completely used up and my computer could not connect. I ended up using a friend's computer for a few things. I wrote some postcards and then boarded the ship to embark on a ten day journey across the sea to Japan.
Honolulu - Waikiki and Beaches
We went to Waikiki and walked around. Elena, my roommate, and I went to the international marketplace, and looked at all the interesting items venders were selling. As we waited for our friends Erin and Michael, we took in our surroundings. I bought a flower hair clip, and Elena bought a small ukulele. When our friends arrived we got lunch.
After spending a week on a ship that serves an exuberant amount of potatoes and pasta, all of us got a smoothie and a hawaiian hamburger (meet, lettuce, pineapple, and teriyaki sauce). Large hunks of red meet were in order.
The rest of the day was spent lying on the beach and playing in the ocean. I spent all of my time on the sand (I really am a sun baby), which was nice because in the afternoon it became a little overcast. While I rested and was caretaker of everyone else's towel and stuff, Michael, Erin, Elena, and another Michael who we met on the beach, went swimming in the ocean. After a time I saw Erin and Michael (the original) walking toward the beach with a wallet in tow. They had found some guys wallet enjoying a leisurely, oceanic float. A large effort was made to find the guy. A look at his ID found his name, after yelling that out for a while, to no avail, a second look found some credit cards and air memberships. Cell phones were immediately used in calling the credit cards and organizations, which could contact the owner of the wallet and let him know it had been found. A third look into the wallet found a hotel room key to the hotel that was directly behind us. Finally the wallet was taken to the front desk to be returned to its rightful owner. Then, as all was being taken care of Michael (the original) says, "I think that guy looks like him" and sets off running down the beach. Michael runs, and keeps on running… when he is a dot, he stops and begins talking to a couple. As he stays and continues to talk to the couple I realize he has found the owner of the floating wallet. Later we get informed that the man didn't even realize it was missing, or that he had gone swimming with it in the first place. Our good deed for the day was accomplished.
Volcanoes and Parks Oh My!
We went to Kilauea and the Jaggar Museum. Outside of the museum was an amazing view of Halema'uma'u crater inside of Kilauea Caldera. Halema'uma'u crater is the home of Pele (The Volcano Goddess). Halema'uma'u is "active" today and creates a thick cloud of vog (volcanic fog including large amounts of sulfur dioxide gases, ash, and steam). Sometimes one can see an orange glow in the vog from the hot lava sitting below. I was not so lucky, but it was still neat to see the barren landscape and a huge plume of vog billowing out of a crater below.
Believe it or not it was cold in Hawaii on that day and up on the mountain, in the morning, I was unprepared for the chilly wind. I ended up getting a sweatshirt with a picture of Pele on the back. Ahhh warmth.
Inside the Museum I saw the remaining clothes of a scientist named George Ulrich who was walking along the crust of a lava flow to get a sample of hot lava. Then he "saw the crust open up and felt it give way beneath" him. Next the lava covered his legs… what is amazing about this story is that he survived. His suit was seared and had only part of one leg remaining. One shoe was displayed and his pick was encased with lava.
I also saw different types of lava in the museum. Pele's hair is lava that looks like a clump of light brown hair. These thin, glassy, filaments come from lava being stretched in the wind and cooling. Pele's tears are little shiny drops of lava that cool as they fall to the ground and form the shape of a teardrop.
After the museum I went to Kilauea Iki trailhead. Here I was, standing in a beautiful rainforest, looking at a crater that is half as deep as it was with a smooth floor of old lava instead of the forest vegetation it had had previously. In 1959 a 2000 ft geyser of lava flew into the air for days filling the crater and destroying the vegetation. I continued along the rim of the crater and into the rainforest until I (and my group) reached the Thurston Lava Tube. We went through the large, cavernous lava tube and then boarded the bus.
At this point I was feeling satisfied with seeing volcanoes and craters. I was ready to go back to Hilo and see some more of the city before returning to the ship at 4pm and embarking for Honolulu. However, you can't really change group tours, so we continued to drive around the park. We visited a few more craters and drove past a couple old lava flows. At one point we stopped and walked on the 'a'a lava that is jagged and rough. In this field you could see where lava engulfed a tree and cooled before the structure of the tree was completely incinerated. These look like little stumps of lava, some as tall as me.
We also visited a field where, on one side of the road were sulfur vents, and on the other side were steam vents. I stood near one of the steam vent and it felt like I was getting a spa treatment: wonderful for the pores! After some more driving and site seeing, we returned to the ship and my time in Hilo had come to an end. 
