Day 11 in Kona

I spent more of the morning than I wanted to fighting with the internet and google photos to try to get the blog out. I also had nice chats with Mo & Bro, preparing to head off onto the deep blue ocean. Dave went to the gym and did his walk while I fought with technology. We had a little excitement when we discovered that we couldn’t open the safe, since without our driver’s licenses we wouldn’t be able to get back on the ship. Dave went down to guest services and they sent someone reasonably quickly to deal with it, so that was good.

Our ship is too big for the Kona port docks, so this was a tender port. It’s fun to watch the tenders zipping back and forth. Our shore excursion met on shore at 12:15, so we got on the 11:30 tender and had a little time to look around before it started. There was an ABC store right where you get off! If you’ve been to Hawaii you know that the ABC stores are ubiquitous, but this was the first one we’d seen on this trip. We did a quick recon to prepare for later shopping.

Back to the dock to meet up with our group. There were 11 of us total, and 2 tour guides. Our first stop was just across the street for chicken salad sandwiches on sweet Hawai’ian bread rolls. They were delicious! We continued on through ahi poke (super fresh and tasty), avocado fries (probably my favorite), local mushroom & sausage pizza (yum! Would recommend) and Dole Whip (tastes almost exactly nothing like pineapple but always a special treat). There were drinks at each stop, and also chocolate tasting. A fun experience and much more enjoyable than I expected. I would do it again.

We did a little shopping on the way back, ending with excellent purchases at the ABC store (dress for me, shirt for Dave, and more sunscreen). We were close to the last ones onto the tender, which is excellent because it means not a lot of waiting in the bouncy hot little boat. Also the tender was lucky #13, which is the lifeboat we’d be on if things were to go totally wrong. Yesterday we tried on and adjusted our life jackets (surprisingly complex) and today we tried out our lifeboat so we’re feeling very prepared.

It was 4:00 by the time we got back on board. I did a little hula practice while Dave showered and then got ready myself. Everyone was happy to be back together at table #1, and I made a meal entirely of appetizers, since we’d only stopped eating a couple hours before.

We did not get to see the volcano on this trip. This is sad.

After dinner, blogging and a show. Both good. After the show we went out on 6-forward – we could see the southern tip of Hawai’i off the port side. Next stop Avatoru, Rangiroa, French Polynesia on November 1!