Pacific Odyssey - Leg 7

Today was our last day in Kauai and it sounds like trainees made the best of it, continuing to visit the various beautiful places in their rental cars.  Raven, Adam, Steve, Jordan T., and Tristan and Jordan C. were able to make it to Barking Sands and agreed that it was spectacular, a place not to be missed.  The surf was huge and we spent hours playing in it, body surfing, letting the force of the water push and pull us.  We brought 2 boogie boards and several pairs of fins and rotated them through the group; they had incredible rides. Steve made an amazing sand castle with Simon and they watched it slowly disintegrate as the tide came crashing in.  On the beach there were ´candle nuts,´ little black walnut shell-like nuts that have a high oil content.  I was introduced to them years ago when we were on Pitcairn.  The island people told me that before fuel, kerosene etc.,´candle nuts´ were used as a type of light to see by.  I think on the beach they are used as fuel in the many beach fires we see the remnants of.  We have done our best to find eating and drinking coconuts both on the island of Oahu and Kauai; we haven´t found any that we could bring back to the ship.  I enjoy the older eating nuts and like to give the trainees a chance to see how the coconut is husked, cracked in half and how the meat is taken out.  It tastes delicious and it´s nice if they can have a chance to try it. We also were hoping to see more fresh local fruit stands; the few stands we saw were outrageously expensive, especially after all the delicious and cheap fruit we enjoyed in the South Pacific, we have become spoiled.   The flowering trees on the islands are beautiful; I will miss them. A favorite flower is the ´plumeria´ or ´frangiapani.´  The smell of this flower is strong but lovely; it comes in various colors from white to white/yellow, to lighter and darker shades of pink.  The white ones smell the strongest; many women wear them behind their ear, this too is something we will miss. Returning to the Grace today we noticed that everything on either side of the road was covered in a fine red dust.  The wind blows the dry dirt from the fields over everything; the buildings, shops, houses, telephone poles, street markers, road signs, everything . . . anything that remains stationary.   A large group returned to the ship for supper tonight, Caesar Salad Pitas, delicious.  It was good to see everyone; we´ve been quite separated, seeing the island in different vehicles.  I´m looking forward to everyone being together on the ship, finding our routine at sea and getting to know each other; it´s always rewarding and so much fun.  We celebrated Rona´s 18th birthday today; she had a great day in a van of mostly women (James was the lucky male), cruising around, and visiting several southisland beaches. At 2130 hrs everyone gathered on deck and Rona held a ´caley,´ a dance in Scottish.  She taught us 6 dances; line dances, partner dances, group dances, all very fun; there was a lot of laughing and a lot of bumping into each other as 35 people tried to dance in a small space. Afterwards we had iced brownies made by Blake, Adam, and Arwen.  We sang ´Happy Birthday for the 3rd time and Rona blew the candles.  It was a very fun evening.  Gillian, Katie, and Christina did a final food shop today. The ship is beginning to feel close to being ready to leave.  Today several of us commented that we now feel we are actually going home. Leaving Hawaii is a real indication that leg 7, the passage from the Hawaiian Islands to British Columbia, is underway.  We are ready to start. Until tomorrow, good-night, Bonice.