February 28, 2015
Our first day out from San Francisco is VERY rough. Not extremely rough, but very rough. If the swells were 8 to 12 feet on the way back from Mexico, they must be 12 to 16 feet today. When I was in the dining room on Deck 5 playing bridge, we would periodically see a big wave cover the window completely. The mood on the ship is: subdued. I must be getting to be a better sailor because I was okay.
There is a naturalist on board giving two lectures a day (on sea days). I went to the first one, about Kaua'i, and it was pretty good. I learned some things I hadn't known. For example, several hundred years before the Polynesians arrived in Hawaii, the Marquesans settled there (circa 800 AD). They built fish ponds which can still be seen. Kaua'i is the rainiest place on earth, with 460 inches per year.
Hurricane Iniki pretty much flattened the island in 1992. There was no power for three months. According to the lecturer, a nuclear submarine hooked up to the power grid and supplied power for several more months. I tried to verify this unlikely story. A quick Google search turned up some references to this, but nothing reliable. The nuclear-sub-to-the-rescue idea was mentioned in connection with Hurricane Iwa, 10 years before Iniki. It was mentioned as something that had been discussed but not implemented. It was mentioned as providing power only to the airport, and only for 4 days. It was mentioned by bloggers with particular agendas regarding energy. There is a discussion on Snopes that is fairly skeptical. I really couldn't find anything to convince me that it happened.Guess I did more fact-checking than the lecturer.
One unexpected result of Iniki was that all the domestic chickens got loose and became feral. They can now be seen all over the island - in parking lots, on the roads, even in stores.
Hurricane Iniki pretty much flattened the island in 1992. There was no power for three months. According to the lecturer, a nuclear submarine hooked up to the power grid and supplied power for several more months. I tried to verify this unlikely story. A quick Google search turned up some references to this, but nothing reliable. The nuclear-sub-to-the-rescue idea was mentioned in connection with Hurricane Iwa, 10 years before Iniki. It was mentioned as something that had been discussed but not implemented. It was mentioned as providing power only to the airport, and only for 4 days. It was mentioned by bloggers with particular agendas regarding energy. There is a discussion on Snopes that is fairly skeptical. I really couldn't find anything to convince me that it happened.Guess I did more fact-checking than the lecturer.
One unexpected result of Iniki was that all the domestic chickens got loose and became feral. They can now be seen all over the island - in parking lots, on the roads, even in stores.
We went to another lecture titled The RMS Queen Mary and Film and Music of the Big Band Era. If you know me you would know that that is not really my thing, but we went as a favor to the lecturer. He was a good lecturer, but it's still not my thing. The quality of the video was very poor - PowerPoint doesn't always translate well to a big screen in a not very dark room.
I didn't have time for lunch because they had scheduled bridge during lunchtime so we went to afternoon tea. Very nice. I love the scones.
The yin: At tea we sat at a table for 4 with another woman who seemed pleasant enough and introduced herself to us. She was waiting for her friend. Her friend arrived and completely ignored us - did not introduce herself, did not say hello, did not even look at us. I tried to make eye contact and acknowledge her presence but she was so busy talking to friend #1 that it was clear that she didn't understand the basics of polite behavior. We decided to leave rather than endure an entire tea service with people who wanted to pretend we weren't there. You can't introduce yourself to and make polite conversation with someone who won't look at you.
The yang: We enjoyed a pleasant and interesting dinner with a couple from the Isle of Mann and an Iranian couple now living in California. The Iranians were a little bit older. They left after (during?) the revolution. He is a retired economics professor. She was an opera singer and had studied in Vienna and other places. The Brits were very well-informed as to current events. They travel a lot and they did not come across as provincial. They noticed every detail.
We also watched the bartenders demonstrate their martini-making skills. It was fun and lively and I wish alcohol didn't give me a migraine.
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