Hilo, Hawai'i

Today is our first port day, in Hilo, Hawaii. We woke up to overcast skies, but anxious to get out and about to...WalMart. Yep. Every Hawai'ian port of consequence has a free shuttle to WalMart. Perfect for the additional aloe vera, the watercolor brushes and a few other "essentials". Isn't it odd? We flew 6 hours, sailed countless nautical miles only to find ourselves at WalMart. LOL! We also visited Hilo Hatties where the girls and I shopped, Dad and Larry bought chocolates and mac nuts and all generally had a great time. The highlight of the tour? Watching my niece Katherine perform the Hula Dance. We went to the class taught on board yesterday and Katherine has a natural ability to groove...even the Hawai'ian way. Grammy asked her to do the hula while singing the story song that goes with it. Soon enough, outside Hilo Hatties, she and her cousin Ellen were performing the Hula with several ship-bound guests in observance. They got a round of applause for a job well done.

We're back on board and ready to participate in the afternoon activities. I just finished making a ti leaf lei - very fun and I learned lots of fun trivia from the Hawai'ian "Aunties" (although my "auntie" had a particularly low male voice). More relaxing on board tonight with no real plans, other than to be on deck for the evening passing of Kilauea in eruption/lava flow stage. I'm setting my camera lens to take a time-lapse photo, so hopeto post when complete.

Until next time...Aloha and Mahalo for reading!