Salt Touched

They say Kaui is the most beautiful of all the Hawai’ian islands. I would be tempted to agree with that statement.

They filed the Jurassic Park here, and you can see why – it looks like another world the deeper you drive into the island.

Four of us took a taxi from the port; since the free shuttles proved somewhat disorganized, and since we always have to give priority to guests on said shuttles (understandably so), it was unlikely that if we hadn’t gone for a cab we may not have gotten anywhere at all!). Split between four people the fare to one of the most popular beaches on the island didn’t work out to that much, and it was so worth it.

Miles and miles of brown-sugar sand and not a passenger (or heck, even another crew member) in sight as far as the eye could see. And the surf I have never seen waves like that, except in the movies. There were monk seals just lounging on the beach, like they owned the place – which they may as well have, as they are an endangered species and it was two staff member’s job to continually move the fences around them to see that they were not disturbed in any way.

We rented snorkel gear for the day and plunged into the Hawai’ian surf like kids. I too often forget just how much I love snorkeling. I don’t get to do it often enough. There is nothing but peace under the water, all you can hear is the sound of your own breathing, and below you is a whole other world. The colours…fish in all the colours of the rainbow, flashing through the murky sand-choked visibility (kicked up by the high current) in rose pinks and neon yellows, even pitch black, like living jewels in the water. This was one of those days where – despite the poor visibility – I was grateful for my underwater camera. I was also grateful to have Amras next to me, as snorkeling requires me to take off my glasses and without someone alongside me I would miss so much, not to mention I’d risk getting lost!

I will also admit that I’m a bit nervous in high surf, much as I trust the mamma ocean, you’d be a fool to underestimate her power, and the rip tides around the beaches here are fierce. Since I don’t weigh much and I’m not as strong a swimmer as I’d like to be, keeping someone next to me was a good idea.

Once we’d had our fill of surf, we packed up the beach towel and headed to the beach-side resort for lunch, from the patio of the restaurant we could see the surfers riding the waves just off shore. One of these days that’s something else I wouldn’t mind checking off my bucket list. Not this day though.

There are days when this job takes everything out of you…and doesn’t often seem to give much back; then there are days when you have the sun on your face, and the taste of the sea still on your skin, and really really good friends…those days, make a lot of things worthwhile out here.

After five days and six nights at sea, we finally drew into Honolulu harbor this morning. Granted, it was rather grey and overcast, and on and off the rain erupted all day, but…it feels so good to just be on land!

Early (and I mean exceptionally early) this morning the entertainment team rose bright eyed and bushy tailed to be on the gangway and “lei” all the passengers (yes, make all the jokes you want, I guarantee you they’ve already been made many times!) – the leis they gave us were fresh flowers and smelled absolutely heavenly. Surprisingly there wasn’t a huge rush to get off the ship, which is a shock after so long at sea…the guests seem content to take their time on things, if they chose to get off at all.

The crew on the other hand; having worked a 5 day slog with maximum hours a day as we plowed our way across the Pacific, I’m surprised that we didn’t run down the gangway!

We’re here on an overnight, so thankfully most of us are working minimal hours (there really aren’t that many passengers who stay onboard on an overnight), split shift bracketing the day. In other words, I had to come back to the ship to close up, after that my evening is my own; as long as I’m back in time to open up the library tomorrow morning (which also coincides with when IPM begins for the next day).

It may not be the sundrenched shores of the postcards just at the moment, but that doesn’t mean it’s not Hawaii. The air is heavy with humidity and plumeria flowers and everything smells of sunscreen. The rain didn’t particularly bother us, like a few other places I know, this is a port where if it rains, it’s tropical rain. It may soak you to the skin and you laugh as you try to unsuccessfully avoid getting drenched, but you don’t end up being cold. The big floppy straw hat I probably paid way too much money for actually took care of keeping me surprisingly dry.

Lunch found us at the Hard Rock Café, eating friend plantains and watching a huge festival parade go by (I’ve never seen so many horses in one parade!); which means that I acquired yet another Hard Rock Café glass for my collection, I think that makes 5 now. By the time I finally have a proper place to keep them I’ll have enough to serve a small but respectful gathering of people!

We ambled our way through a sprawling outdoor market, mostly run by Chinese merchants, which seemed to feature everything from beach towels and Hawai’ian shirts to bottle openers. I ended up adding another charm to my bracelet, one that I didn’t ever think to find but am very glad I stumbled across. Soon enough I’m going to have to start stacking bracelets!

Sitting up to our necks in a hot tub, sipping something with an umbrella in it, the last thing we wanted to think about was going back to work…so we didn’t. The ship became an undiscussed topic for the duration of the day, except for when we were bragging about how awesome a job we had to other people who happened to be in the hot tub with us.

You guys live on a cruise ship?

Ye-ah, rough job, someone has to do it…

One of those moments when you realize that yes, right this very second, you are being paid.

That, my dear friends, is pretty bloody awesome…