Coughing my way across the North Pacific!

 

Sunrise over Diamond Head, Oahu

We left San Franciso in the early evening and I took a video of us going under the Golden Gate as we left San Francisco Bay entering the Eastern Pacific.  I hope to post a link to it.

https://photos.google.com/search/CgZWaWRlb3MiCBIGCgQqAggBKPKjvMrPMg%3D%3D/photo/AF1QipMR11vRvNCwMTpthsY9VjeuRWhDS1fwQcoA-8gz

(Again, you may have to copy and paste the above link.)

My cough is getting worse and more persistent.  Thankfully we have five full days at sea before arriving in Honolulu on February 9th.  That should give me time to get through this and hopefully feel well enough to do some activities there.  We did not schedule any excursions as we explored the island very well when we were there for about 10 days two years ago.  We took in all the highlights such as Waikiki Beach, Pearl Harbor and the Memorial, Diamond Head and Dole pineapple plantation.  This visit we plan to do some geocaching, and Sue hopes to get together with a former Air Force friend and his wife that live here.  They worked together in the same shop at Beale Air Force Base in California.

Unfortunately, my condition goes downhill, and I experience coughing fits that leave me exhausted and my chest and stomach muscles aching from all the heaving.  Consequently, I spend most of my time in the stateroom as I don't want to go coughing all over the ship.  We order room service a few times to further restrict my movement.  Nights are the worst as my wheezing keeps me awake and I make good use of my Albuterol inhaler.  I can't help but think that rainy day to Alcatraz contributed to my pneumonia-like symptoms.  Between my inhaler and ibuprofen, I survive and start to feel better as we approach Honolulu.

Sue and I are on the balcony watching the sun come up over Diamond Head and I hear the now familiar sound of a humpback whale clearing its blowhole. 

We look aft about 100 yards and see the spray, then it's humpback as it dives down.  We witness this several times, not sure if it is the same whale or a pod of them.   

We enter Honolulu Bay and get tied up at Terminal #2.  We have a nice view of the Honolulu skyline and are looking forward to getting off the ship for a while.  Cunard makes available continuous shuttle service to the Ala Moana Center, the world's largest open-air mall.

Honolulu from the bow camera.

From Wikipedia:  "The Ala Moana Center, commonly known simply as Ala Moana, is a large open-air shopping mall in the Ala Moana neighborhood of Honolulu, Hawaii. Owned by Brookfield Properties, Ala Moana is the eighth largest shopping mall in the United States and the largest open-air shopping center in the world.

Ala Moana is consistently ranked among the most successful malls in the world. With assets totaling $5.74 billion as of January 2018, it is the most valuable shopping mall in the United States. It is anchored by Bloomingdale's, Macy's, Marshalls, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, Ross Dress for Less, Saks Off 5th, and Target."

From there, Waikiki Beach is only a 15 minute walk.  The mall has an Adventure Lab which we decided to do and it takes us to five different artworks in the open-air area.  This place is huge and it takes us about 30 minutes to walk to the different areas and identifying the artwork and answer questions to complete the Adventure Lab. 

Art work in a Coy pond

We wanted to do a little shopping as well so we venture inside and visit a Long Pharmacy and Target.  I am really getting wore out by this time and convince Sue to return to the ship.  It is still early, around 1PM, so Sue calls her Air Force friend and they arrange to meet at the pier around 9AM in the morning.

There are a lot of free-range chickens
 around Oahu, reminds me of Key West.

After a quiet afternoon and evening, I accompany Sue to the pier to meet up with Tyrone and his wife Miriam.  I decide not to go with them as I am still coughing and don't want to expose them and slow them down.  I did want to meet them however and get a picture of them for the blog. 

They are both Hawaiian natives and have an upholstery repair business here.  I believe he learned the trade as part of his military job where he and Sue worked in the parachute shop and used industrial sewing machines to repair the chutes as part of their duties.  This isn't their first reunion as they have seen each other at previous Blackbird reunions held in Nevada.

I return to the ship and decide to take advantage of the beautiful day and make use of the pool area while most people are ashore.  As expected there is plenty of room and I take a quick swim then sit for 20 minutes in the jacuzzi, hoping it will loosen up my muscles and humidify my lungs. Feeling refreshed, I sunbathe for a while before returning to my stateroom.  

Sue returns mid-afternoon with several shopping bags.  One of their stops was at the Pearl Harbor Naval Base Exchange, Navy's version of a department store.  Sue bought me three Hawaiian shirts which I'm sure will be very appropriate for some upcoming port of calls as well as aboard ship.  She said she had a great time with her friends and enjoyed reminiscing. 

We leave Honolulu February 10th, around 6PM and we stand on our balcony hoping to see more marine life but I guess we've used up our luck.  It is not long before we are in open water and heading southwest toward our next port, Apia, Samoa.  We are due there on February 17th for just one day.  

Wednesday, February 12th, 2025 At Sea

We are now five hours behind my home state of Iowa and the Central time zone.  Tonight at 11:59 we set our clocks and date AHEAD 24 hours.  We are crossing the International Date Line.  So, when we wake up tomorrow, it will be February 14th.  February 13th 2025, gone forever.  We won't get it back since we will be heading in a westerly direction until we are back in Iowa.  Too bad it wasn't a Friday the 13th.

Speaking of 13, I mentioned we don't have a 13th deck between 12 and 14 deck.  We also don't have a number 13 lifeboat!   We have three lifeboats outside our cabin, they are numbered 17.15. and 11...no 13.  If I found myself overboard and a number 13 lifeboat came along, would I turn it down, of course not.  I'm wondering if this is universal in the cruise industry.

One other note before I close this out.  I had forgotten how vast the Pacific is.  I spent five years aboard two ships sailing both the Atlantic and Pacific.  At that time, I never gave it much thought, but the oceans and seas contain 97% of our planet's water and cover 71% of the earth's surface!  Only one percent is fresh water and the remainder is made up of polar ice.  Why are there water shortages anywhere?  Come on Elon and you other geniuses.  Figure this out.  There has to be an answer.