At sea again

Well, we've just left Honolulu, after three terrific days, and we're enjoying having the ship moving again, after being vitual landlubbers. Yesterday we went to Waikiki - saw the beaches from the local bus as we travelled, but otherwise we were almost lost in a forest of tall accommodation towers! All anyone seems to do in Waikiki is to shop, so we joined the masses, spending several hours at the International market, and thoroughly enjoying ourselves.

Today we were much more serious, and went to the wonderful Bishop Museum. There we were welcomed by Neil, an American botanist who spent some time in Brisbane, and married a Brisbane girl - John knew him through his friend Philip, and they were pleased to see each other again. After a tour of the Herbarium we explored the main museum - the refurbished Hawaii Room is absolutely world class - perhaps even a world leader! - and we enjoyed the Polynesian section, too, with artifacts from across the Pacific. After lunch with Neil we returned for a session on the history of hula and chants - it was so non-touristy, and impressive - a memorable day.

Now we're into the third cruise of our back-t0-back-to-back experience ... and we're being treated like royalty! Our room is full of chocolate covered strawberries, bottles of wine, and a fantastic fruit basket - yesterday we put in an hour or so working on the ship's library, and we've been so royally rewarded! And you should see the faces of our fellow-guests (new to this cruise) as all our favourite staff members race up to hug us! This is really like a family, and we love being a part of it!

We hope that family at home think of us on our 25th wedding anniversary tomorrow - we have a special trip planned - we'll report on it in our next blog. Aloha!