Honolulu to Majuro and a Little Beyond

It seems like a week has passed since I last posted after day 1 in Honolulu. Oh wait, it HAS been a week. And by the time this post gets pushed it will be well past that. 

Internet on board is slow and expensive. If I'd had my act together I would have posted something while we were in Majuro in the Marshall Islands yesterday, but I did not have things prepared. The one place I, and a number of other ship passengers found, was a hotel at the end of the small town which charges $5 for an hour of internet time. I happily plunked down my fiver and hopped online, anxious to read news from home. 

I've been trying to sell some real estate and an offer had come in a day or two ago. I spent quite a bit of my hour discussing that with my daughter, who has my POA on the transaction. I also spent some time checking on a dear friend who's become ill recently. Anyway, an hour flies by just like that. 

Back to Honolulu. As planned, I spent the short day walking to the Ala Moana shopping center and hanging out there. Wow, that place has grown huge since I was last there over ten years ago. It has hundreds of stores spread out over three floors and what seems and feels like three city blocks. That's probably an exaggeration but it felt that large to me. 

I had a few things on my shopping list and I was able to get everything I needed. Tired and now laden with a few bags of goodies, including one of the melting kind, I opted to take a shuttle bus back to the ship instead of walking. 

Speaking of walking, I've been keeping up my daily 21 laps. And I recently added one more lap at mid morning to get some Dam Dollars from the ship. So that puts me doing a 10K every day. When I got to Hilo and weighed in I had neither lost nor gained any weight. I kept at it. When I weighed myself yesterday in Majuro I had lost 2 pounds! Yay me! 

Dam Dollars are little prizes the ship gives out if you participate in certain shipboard activities. You can save the Dollars and then cash them in later for real things, like Amazon gift cards and even Kindle readers if you collect a lot. 

We had four days at sea between Honolulu and Majuro. Along the way we crossed the International Dateline. It seems like during those first few days a lot of people started coming down with colds and other respiratory type ailments. What used to be a nice quiet library has turned into a hacking nightmare. And I don't mean hacking as in computer hacking. Yuck! People sneezing and coughing without covering their noses and mouths! What's WRONG with people?? Sigh. 

All of my table mates got the cold. First was Pat and Wayne. Then 3 days later, Jack. So far, though, I'm healthy. I sweat the germs out, maybe, by all the walking I do. Who knows. 

So it was nice to finally arrive in Majuro. Everyone wanted to get off the ship and toddle around on dry land. It turned out to be a very hot and muggy day. I took the shuttle into town but decided to walk back. Our CD said the walk was only 2 miles. Wrong. More like 3 or 3 1/2. It took me an hour to walk back. Big mistake. It was right smack in the middle of the day and hotter than hell. Sheesh. By the time I got back to the ship I was completely drenched in sweat and utterly exhausted. With my daily morning laps included, I had walked 10 miles! Time for a well deserved shower and rest. 

During our voyage from Honolulu we celebrated Chinese New Year. The Lido was decorated very pretty and an Asian themed menu was on offer from the buffet. 

We've had some decent entertainment- the Amsterdam singers and dancers did a medley show of popular songs. A saxophone player, a gymnast and a few others that I'm sorry to say I've forgotten. We've got the Super Bowl coming up this Monday at 8:30 AM. Odd time for us on the ship but that ensures we see the game live.  It's that whole dateline and time change thing. I don't know who I want to win. I'm not much of a football person. My table mates are die hard Patriots fans. Maybe I'll root for the Falcons just to be obstinate and piss them off. Hahahaha. 

The other day at Mass the priest gave us a lecture on the organization of the Roman Catholic Church. It was pretty interesting, actually. I learned that diocesan priests do not take vows like the religious order priests must. They do have an obligation to stay celibate however. I didn't even know there were different kinds of ordainments. I also learned that not all Sisters are nuns. But all nuns are Sisters. To be a nun is to be cloistered in a monastery. To be cloistered means you go in but you don't come out. Kind of like that song by the Eagles- Hotel California- Ha! So next time you see a "nun" in church or on the street you'll know she's not a nun, but a Sister. You're welcome. 

It's been raining quite a bit today. And it's so dark and warm and muggy outside. I honored that by donning my pig leggings. They're oh so cute. And Snort-approved. 

Everyone is cooped up inside the ship and still coughing and hacking away. It just wears you out. After all of my walking yesterday I've laid low today. I didn't get up early and walk this morning - but I am going to try night walking for awhile and see how that goes. I can do my laps after the show is over at 9:00 and still be able to shower and be in bed by 11:00. I think my body might appreciate the long rest after the walk. 

There's a photo contest being advertised. You can submit a photo or photos at a cost of $5 per entry. For that you will receive an 8x10 print, so not a bad deal. And your photo will be included in the contest. Submissions are due on the 8th of this month and voting will be on the 9th. They were a little

vague about the prizes. I picked two photos to submit. At the least, I'll have two nice prints I can frame when I get home to remind me of my fabulous world cruise. I'll let you know how it goes. 

I went to a cake decorating demo today. I was expecting to learn how to ice or decorate a cake since that was the description but it turned out the pastry chef just made a Charlotte Royal or something like that. It's a layered cake coiled up with strawberry mousse inside along with layers of strawberry jam (made from scratch on the ship). He actually constructed the entire dessert. It was pretty but not what I thought it would be.  I did take a picture of the finished product however. 

I think this leg of our cruise has the longest stretch of sea days. In 11 consecutive days we have 8 at sea. 4 days after Hawaii to Majuro and then 4 more to Guam. It will be warm to hot and muggy until after Guam and Saipan, then the weather will start to turn cold as we hit Japan, Korea and China. Heard rumors there is snow on the Great Wall of China. Whoo hoo!! I'm getting excited about our upcoming ports. 

I've finished my 4th book. Only 7 more to go plus the new one I bought in Hilo. That one is over 1,000 pages so it will take me awhile to get through.