So today was our first day back on the ship, We are docked in Honolulu so we can refuel, and staying longer than expected to avoid a storm. So I have been on Facebook and enjoying the internet before we leave for Japan hopefully tonight!
Hawaii was amazing, but not what you might expect.
Hawaii Day One:
My roomies and I woke up pretty early, as the ship pulled into port it made our cabin shake like crazy. But we got up, realized we had phone access and then quickly got dressed for breakfast. While eating we called families, said hi and then headed to our room to pack for the day! The process of getting off the ship took a good chunk of time. First we were called up to the top of the ship by our cabin number to go through immigration (we go up, SAS hand us our passport, we stand in line and the border patrol looks it over and we give the passport back) and then once every person on the ship has done this, they allow everyone off based on field labs and programs. I was first off because of my field lab. To start the day we took a bus up, 30 miles into the Volcanoes National Park. It is amazing because even though the whole way to the park we traveled up the mountain, it is such a gradual slope you don’t feel it. The first stop we made was to a lava tube. While lava travels, the tops of the flows can harden while below lava flows quickly through the tube. What I found most interesting though, was what was inside the tube! Locals of Hawaii who believe in the volcano goddess Pele, leave her offerings wrapped in banana leaves on this mountain (I learned this in my religions class). So while just looking around the cave I found an offering in a corner and got so excited! I figured it was something I would never actually find.
Anywhoo, After we looked at the Lava tube we headed to a huge area where lava had flowed about 30-40 years ago. The while area was black, there were very little trees, the only plants were small green and red flowering bushes in the cracks of the ground. There were “pillars” of lava that formed over trees that would show how think the lava was over 16 feet tall. After exploring around the “wasteland” (It was literally a large field for as far as the eye can see that was once rainforest but destroyed by lava), we headed to the museum. By this time is began to rain pretty hard and so we didn’t get a good view of the top of the volcano. We did get to go into the government observatory though because our tour guide works there! So it was cool to see some of their machines that record data and look out onto the big “crater” that is on the top of the volcano. Basically picture a large dome, now on top of that dome there is a dip. That is the shape of the volcano.
We ate lunch after and headed toward a beach in Hilo called Richardson’s beach. It is not a huge beach, and not really known for its coral reefs, but! It had a reputation for being a great place to swim with sea turtles! So we got out snorkeling gear on and explored the reefs. The reef was very pretty, lots of colorful fish, sea cucumbers, sting rays and sea turtles! I saw 5-6 of them while I was snorkeling and attempted to get a pictures of my swimming near one (a friend took it for me). After snorkeling, our field lab ended and we headed back to the ship. To save money me and friends ate on the ship after showering and changing cloths. Me, Kim, Cindy and 5 others then got a van to take us to Wal-Mart and Starbucks to get some wifi and snacks to bring back on the ship. While In Starbucks locals were playing poker out in public, which on mainland USA would probably not be allowed haha. After a long day we headed back to the MV explorer and went to bed.
Hawaii Day Two:
We woke up early to grab breakfast and headed to the farmers market. I was blown away by the beauty and uniqueness of the market. I thought it was really cool to see people selling a he variety of fruit and goods. One man had a pile of coconuts, and was making a hole in them, and selling them for people to drink the juice. Other people sold crafts, animals and more. Me and Bridget got freshly made smoothies and I bought a picture from a man who did photography. We spent a lot of time really just walking around and enjoying the nice weather. We grabbed some wifi again and then headed back to the ship for some lunch. After lunch we walked on the coast and enjoyed the beach. We had to be back to the ship by 6 (although to avoid lines were told to get back earlier so we don’t get “dock time” (if your more than 10 minutes late you get penalized… every 10 minutes is an hour you must stay on the ship in the next port before you can get off )). So we got back and did schoolwork, then we left Hawaii at around 8pm!
Last night the ship got yelled at because of students behavior in Hawaii. Apparently a resort near the ship had 32 rooms booked through SAS students. On the night we were there, 200 students all took over the hotel with on average 6.5 students per room staying overnight. The hotel had to kick students out destroyed the hotel rooms. Just say that SAS did not get a good name In that hotel after security had to maintain them. Luckily the hotel didn’t make any arrests, but the Dean of students was pissed. Out of 600ish students, 200 had to give us a bad name in the small town of Hilo, Hawaii. But after we got to hear more about the Unreasonable companies that are trying to expand or grow their companies! They each had the challenge of giving us a “pitch” with 20 slide, 20 seconds a slide. It was really cool to see them do this for the first time and see what exciting companies they are creating.
Today I am trying to catch up on schoolwork, enjoy the sunshine and enjoy having a phone for another day! Hehe
Love ya
Casey
PS: I plan on writing later or tomorrow with a list of things I particularly enjoyed about Hawaii and or what I found different or interesting!
No comments:
Post a Comment