Day 6 at Sea - Sept 22

Got up a little earlier today.  Don't know why, but I was wide awake by about 6:30.  The ship was moving around a bit, so I thought it might be rougher out.  I could also hear what sounded like wind, but I wasn't sure.  Turns out the noise was our air conditioner, and the sun was shining, but there were some wave this morning, as opposed to the almost glass smooth waters of yesterday.

Breakfast was as usual.  Karen, you will be pleased to know that I had waffles again for breakfast, but this time with strawberries and whipped cream.  Yum, they tasted great.  However, I feel that I do like them with the syrup they serve here, so will likely continue tomorrow with them.

There was a presentation in the cabaret room this morning.  The Chef and the Maitre d'Hotel were doing a cooking presentation.  It was a lot of fun.  They had good senses of humour and made a lot of fun of each other, while creating a full course meal, including desert.  We wondered if that is what will be on the menu tonight, as it is formal night tonight, and we will be going to the Horizon Buffet, rather than the restaurant.

 We decided to attend, but didn't go on the tour of the galley because we were concerned about having to go down or climb stairs, which just wouldn't work for Dawn.  So it was back to our room to sit on the deck and read.  It was hot out there, but once the sun got off my legs, it wasn't too bad.  I brought the GPS out onto the balcony, and after a while, it finally was able to locate some satellites, and when I zoomed out far enough, I could see the Hawaiian Islands.  I guess we are about 250 miles away from Hilo, but that is just a guess, at this point.  We should arrive some time over night.

For the rest of the afternoon, we spent time in our cabin, reading.  I finished another book that will be donated to the ship's library, and began the 3rd of those we got from Stella.  It was very nice out on the deck.  With the sun having moved on so that our deck was in the shade, it was very pleasant out there.  There was a bit of a breeze, mostly from the ship moving ahead, but I think there was also some from the weather.  A couple of times, there were flocks of small birds that flew by.  They were quite noisy, which is what drew my attention, but I didn't see any of them land on the water.  I'm sure they must have at some time, but not while I could see them.  They sure seem to be a long way from land.

Finally, my rear end got too sore from sitting in the deck chair, so I went in to watch the Monday Night football game with Dawn.  We watched until the end of the 3rd quarter, and then went up to the Horizon Buffet for dinner.  Tonight is a formal night, and we didn't want to chance that we would be told we couldn't come in without formal clothes on (even though we were told that we could go anyhow).  Again, it was set up as a Bistro, which basically means that it was like a regular restaurant.  We had to be taken to a table to sit, we ordered from a menu, and they brought us our orders.  The menu wasn't on the scale nor order of the dining room, but it was pretty good.  We were certainly full by the time we were finished.

Then, it was back to our room to wait for the evening performance to begin (not until 8:45 tonight), which is a little late for us old folks.  The show was quite good and very energetic.  It was the last night of performances for this group who were moving on to another ship after they had some holidays.  They sang and danced to some oldies from the 50's and 60's  We quite enjoyed it.

Then back to our room, despite there being more things going on tonight.  We turn our clocks back another hour tonight, so that when we arrive in Hilo, we will be on Hawaiian time.  Apparently we dock at about 8:30 in the morning, and we will be there for the whole day.  Dawn and I don't have any tours planned, but we will likely get off the ship and spend some time on this island.