South American Adventure - February 8, 2014

The start of our trip of a lifetime was anything but smooth.  It had been snowing in Salem for a couple of days.  By this morning we had ten inches of snow on the ground and it was still coming down.  And the forecast was for it to turn to ice in the afternoon.  

  

We had planned to call a cab to take us to the train station.  There we would board an Amtrak bus at 1:05 to take us to Portland in time to catch the Empire Builder at 4:45 p.m.  But in spite of calling starting at 10:00, we were unable to get a cab.  So we asked Ryan, the 23-year-old son of our neighbor across the street, if he could take us in his little four-wheel-drive car, and he agreed.  In the meantime, we learned that all the Amtrak buses to Portland were cancelled.  Our only hope was that the Coast Starlight would be close to on time, and that we could get on it.  So at 11:45 we jumped into Ryan's car and headed out.  The roads were terrible, but he plowed ahead, and we arrived safely at the train station.  When we got there, we were told that the Starlight was running late, but a bus was chartered to take about eight of us to Portland. 

We left Salem at 1:25.  The freeway was pretty clear, and the driver made good time, arriving in Portland at 2:45.  So far so good.  The Empire Builder was there, and we were told we'd board at 4:20.  We were a little late boarding, and once we got on we were served a very nice cold supper.  

 And then we sat.  It turns out that we had to wait for the Starlight after all.  It finally arrived several hours later.  We left Portland at 8:00.  After 20 minutes underway, we came to a stop and sat for two and a half hours.  It was the first of many delays, which our car attendant said were to be expected.  He told us the Empire Builder was averaging ten hours late in Chicago.  Mostly it has to do with the increased rail traffic from the oil fields in North Dakota.  We were supposed to meet up in Spokane with the other half of the Empire Builder out of Seattle at 1:00 a.m.  We arrived at 9:30. 

Bridgetown, Barbados - February 20, 2014

We arrived at 10:00 in Bridgetown, Barbados.  We had a walking tour mapped out, but we did a lot of free interpretation of it.

Bridgetown is larger and a lot more civilized than either of the last two cities.  It is a popular vacation place for Brits, so it feels very English. 

We walked into town, the last part on a boardwalk along the water.  

There are several lovely buildings downtown, including the Parliament building. 

We saw lots of well-dressed citizens, presumably on their lunch hour.  But there were some striking contrasts.  This modern building

was directly across the street from this block of buildings. 

St. Michael's cathedral was built in 1789 as a replacement to its predecessor, which was destroyed by a hurricane in 1780. The site has been used for religious buildings since the first wooden structure was built between 1660 and 1665.  The cemetery has some wonderful old headstones. The cathedral itself if in sad shape, but efforts are underway to restore it.

The Montefiore Fountain was a gift to the city by John Montefiore, a leading Jewish trader, in 1865.

Across from the fountain is the old library, which was a donation from Andrew Carnegie.

No rain this afternoon, but we did have a little excitement.  Several decks of the balconies are stepped, so that we can see down into the one below and several decks above us can look down on us.  We were out on our balcony waiting to sail, when we looked down and the man below and one balcony over was outside stark naked.  Who knows whether he just wasn't aware of us or he's an exhibitionist.  We'll see if he reappears later.  Sorry, no photo.  Maybe next time.

We sailed at 5:30 for Trinidad.

Ft. Lauderdale - February 15, 2014

I called the Amtrak agent this morning one more time to see if she had heard anything from FedEx, and she hadn't.  She said she had been calling all morning and there was no answer.  She figured they did not work on the weekend.  I gave her our home address, and said if she heard from FedEx to ship the suitcase back to Oregon.  I have a feeling I'll never get it back.  So I decided it was time to go shopping.  I bought two pairs of shorts, two tops, and a casual dress.  Since we had put David's lightweight walking shoes in my bag, we had to replace those as well.  I didn't replace the formal wear.  We'll just eat our meals in the Horizon Court buffet, which was our plan anyway, except for the formal nights.

We arrived at the cruise terminal at 12:30 but the lines were very slow.  We finally boarded at 3:00.  We were told that it took so long because there were so many documents to check for each passenger.  Besides passports, there were visas from Brazil and Argentina.  But we suspect it was more a case of understaffing.

There were five other ships in Ft. Lauderdale.  They all left before we did.

We were scheduled to leave at 4:00 but we actually left at 7:10.  We're off to St. Thomas.  

Back to San Francisco - November 10, 2013

From Hilo we started for home.  We spent four days at sea.  During that time we saw several groups of dolphins.  The first three days were cloudy and cool, but the fourth day was sunny with very calm seas.  On the fifth day, early at around 3:00, we arrived at Encinada.  This was just a four-hour stay, required by law.  There wasn't much of interest there, and it would have been a rather long walk to get into town, so we decided not to go ashore.  We were glad we did, because soon it became cold and foggy. 

One more day at sea and we arrived early in the morning in San Francisco.

After a day in San Francisco we took the train home.

Hilo (Hawaii) - November 3, 2013

After another night at sea, we arrived in Hilo.  Because we arrived at the port about 45 minutes late, there was total chaos on shore, with people trying to get rental cars and others trying to get to tour buses.  David took the shuttle to the airport to get the car, and we finally set out to visit the Hawaiian Tropical Botanical Garden. 

Once outside Hilo we took a short scenic drive to the garden.  The road was narrow, with several one-lane bridges, and very jungle-y. 

Much of the drive was along the coast.

After several miles we reached the garden. The Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden was founded by Dan and Pauline Lutkenhouse.  They purchased the 17-acre property in 1977 after discovering it's overgrown beauty and wishing to preserve it.  For the next 8 years Dan and three helpers worked by hand clearing out invasive plants, establishing paths, and planting tropical plants from around the world.  Today there are over 2000 species of plants.  The garden opened to the public in 1984 and later a foundation was established to ensure that the garden would be preserved for the future.   

From the entrance visitors go down a rather steep boardwalk to enter the garden.  There is a lily pond and a lovely waterfall.

The garden is full of beautiful and unusual flowers and foliage.   Here are just a few samples.

By the time we left the garden it was lunch time, so we went back to Hilo.  The downtown area was not very interesting, and because it was Sunday, almost everything was closed.  We had a really terrible meal at Ken's House of Pancakes.  We had hoped to see some of the sights around Hilo, but many of them were also closed.  The weather had turned rainy, so we just returned the car and went back to the ship.

Nawiliwili (Kauai) - November 2, 2013

After another night at sea, we arrived in Nawiliwili, which is the port near Lihue.  The name means 'twisted,' which describes the entry to this port.  There is a long breakwater that we had to navigate around, making several hairpin turns.

The first thing you notice about Kauai is how lush it is.  It's called the garden island for good reason.

The second thing you notice is all the free range chickens.  When hurricane Iniki came through in 1992 all the chickens on the island were blown out of their coops.  Ever since then there has been a large population thriving on the loose.  They are literally everywhere.

Once again we had to pick up our rental car.  It was a short walk to the Kauai Marriott, where the rental office was.  The grounds at the hotel were beautiful.

From there we set out for another wildlife refuge. This one we were sure was open.  The road going north (pretty much the only road going north) goes through lots of small towns.  When we got to the town of Kapaa, we discovered that the road was closed for a parade.  Fortunately, there was a bypass road, so we were able to get past it.  It was actually a nice country road, so we didn't mind.

We finally got to the Kilauea Point lighthouse, where the refuge is.  It was a beautiful spot.

The big attraction is the nesting site of hundreds of red-footed boobies.  If you look really closely at the photo you'll see lots of white dots on the hillside. Actually, you probably can't see them. Those are the birds.

There is also a colony of Laysan albatross, but not at this time of year.  But we did see a baby bird in the brush next to the trail.  He was all fluff, so we were unable to tell what it was.

Just as we were leaving, we saw a red-tailed tropicbird, which was gorgeous.

Our trip back was uneventful.  By the time we came back the parade mess had been cleared.  This had been a thoroughly enjoyable day.  The weather was nice and the scenery was spectacular.  We returned the rental car and walked back to the ship.

Honolulu (Oahu), November 1, 2013

After an overnight sail, we arrived in Honolulu in the morning.  The weather was warm, about 82, with a few light showers.

The Celebrity 'Millenium' beat us to the dock near the Aloha Tower, so we were a little farther from downtown.  The Aloha Tower is a lighthouse, built in 1926.  At 84 feet tall, for forty years it was the tallest structure in Hawaii.

Our plan here was to visit the James Campbell Wildlife Refuge, which is on the northern side of the island.  We had arranged to rent a car, but we had to get to the airport to pick it up.  We had asked our port expert what the best way was to get to the airport.  He suggested a taxi, costing about $20.  We asked him about the bus, and he told us which one to take.  We figured we weren't in any hurry, and the bus is sometimes a good way to see a city, so we walked a couple of blocks and caught the bus, oddly enough called 'The Bus.'  It cost us $1 each, and we had about a 45-minute tour of Honolulu.

We drove north, passing through pineapple fields.  The Dole pineapple plantation is here, the only commercial pineapple grower left in Hawaii.  They no longer export their fruit, but sell it locally.

The road was lined with some very strange-looking trees.  The branches looked like giant toothbrushes.

We came to a private park called Waimea Valley, where we had lunch.  This is a botanical garden and wildlife sanctuary.  Since we had planned to go to the botanical garden near Hilo, we decided not to pay to go through this park.

As we continued north we passed Waimea Bay, where there was a big traffic jam caused by a surfing competition that was taking place. 

We finally arrived at the wildlife refuge, only to find it was closed.  So we continued around the island.  We returned the car to the airport and took 'The Bus' back into town. 

We did a little exploring on foot downtown.  The supreme court building, completed in 1874, was originally designed to be a palace but the king decided the government needed a place to meet.  The statue of Kamehameha that stands out in front was erected in 1878.

Nearby is the Iolani Palace.  It was built in 1871 and is the only royal palace in the U.S.  The coronation pavilion was built in 1883.  When Queen Lili was overthrown in 1893, the palace became the capitol building and was used until 1969.

We found a Starbuck's for tea and then returned to the ship.