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Bali -Agung Rai Museum of Art and an art lesson
Last day in Bali…. This morning we went to the Agung Rai Museum of Art to take an art class and view some beautiful Balinese artwork. Although my drawing was no masterpiece, it was a fun experience.
Just seeing the beautiful doors on the museum was a treat.
This is a closeup of the beautiful door carvings
Beautiful carving on the wall
Thes costume is magnificently made. The face is hand-carved from wood. The tan part around the face are made from cow’s hind with inlaid mirrors.The hair hanging from the mouth is human hair, the black hair hanging down is horse hair. The yellow “hair” at the bottom is made from a plant called prosok, which is cut, soaked in water for ten days before beating and causing the plant to shred l
The drawing of the airline that missed the airport runway and cracked in two when it hit the water.Balinese artistes typically draw in a flat dimension .
This picture is of the sinking of the titanic .
This was my creation
Back at the resort
We returned to Ubud Maya around 1:00. I put on my swimsuit and met Tom down at the pool (he didn’t go to the art museum). We spend several house swimming and lounging by the infinity pool where we also ate our lunch. We thought it was going to rain, so we started walking back to our room. When we got to the next pool, we decided it wasn’t going to rain ,so we stop and spent several hours there
Our farewell dinner was tonight at 6:30. Some of the group fly home tonight and the rest of us leave in the morning.
It’s been a wonderful trip!.
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Bali - Dance Performance and Elephant Cave
Our first stop today was for the Pemaksan Barong Dengjalan dance performance in the famous stone carving village Batur Brand. The Barong dance is the story from Balinese mythology about a lion-like character fighting between good and evil.
The Gamelan is the traditional ensemble music of the Balinese and consists primarily of percussion instruments.These include the bronze and bamboo xylophones. Gongs, gong chimes, drums and a bamboo rattle.
A little humor is the picture above. Look closely at the first photo and then in the second you will see it was the tip of its tail sticking up.
Goa Gajah or Elephant Cave
The Elephant Cave was probably built in the 11th century and contains both Hindu and Buddhist imagery. The cave was rediscovered by Dutch archaeologists in 1923. The fountains and bathing pool were not discovered until 1954.
When visiting the cave, proper dress is required; knees must be covered by both men and women so sarongs are available on loan at the entrance to the site.
Tamah Gajah Resort
We ate lunch today at the Tamah Gajah Resort which has beautiful landscaping, temples, pools and ponds. The food was served buffet style and was a typical Indonesian selection, but we did have small apple pies for dessert.
Back to our resort —the Maya Ubud
The resort’s beautiful infinity pool high above the jungle
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Ubud, Bali - Cooking Class and Kite painting and more
Cooking Class
We started out cooking class at 10:00am this morning and made all the dishes that were served for lunch.
The cooking school grows most of the vegatables and seasonings that is used.
Chopping the onion and garlic
Kite and puppet painting, dancers and music
We went to a multigenerational family’s home when the father and mother taught dance lessons. Multigenerational families live together in the same compound. Each compound also has a temple.
We watch the children perfect—both the dancers, musicians, and puppeteer. The two little girls in the from t were 6 and 9 and it was only the second time they performed in a costumer and make up.
After the dance performance we painted kites and shadow puppets.
We went left there we went to watch some woodcarvers before going to Bebek Joni for a fried duck dinner.
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Ubud, Bali
This morning we left the Beautiful Four Seasons Resort at Jimbaran Bay and rode to Ubud, Bali where we will be staying for the next five night. This area of Bali is about 2 hours from Jimbaran and is near the jungle.
On the way we we encountered very narrow roads and 100s of motorbikes driven by wild drivers. The motor scooters were weaving in and out of traffic like there were no rules.
Rice Terraces
Kopi luwak
Tidbit from Wikipedia:
“Kopi luwak, also known as civet coffee, is a coffee that consists of partially digested coffee cherries, which have been eaten and defecated by the Asian palm civet. The cherries are fermented as they pass through a civet's intestines, and after being defecated with other fecal matter, they are collected.”I don’t drink coffee so I certainly wouldn’t drink Kopi luwak, but it’s a delicacy here.
Kopi Luwak coffee price starts at $160 per pound and reaches up to $600 for the most expensive types, where the civets roam freely and select the best beans themselves(as opposed to those kept in captivity.Granell Kopi Luwak Coffee Beans – Ethically Sourced Wild Civet Coffee, Gourmet Coffee Beans, Indonesian Luwak Arabica Whole Bean Coffee, 3.5oz
Whole Bean · 3.52 Ounce (Pack of 1) is $109.98 on AmazonWe are staying at the Maya Ubud resort for the next four night.
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Uluwatu Temple in Bali
Uluwatu Temple
After disembarking our cruise ship the Ocean Odyssey for the last time, we boarded our tour buses towards the Uluwatu Temple located with gorgeous clifftop view.
This 1,000 year old temple is one of Bali island’s most famous tourist sights because of its impressive cliffs, sunset views, and the notoriously sneaky Uluwatu monkeys that like to hang out near the temple.
We were given these purple wraps to wear to covet our knees.
This monkey is enjoying the offerings left in the temple.
Get ready, get set….JUMP!
Cooking the chicken on a stick
Our lunch platter to serve three people
BONG!…Lunch is served!
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Four Seasons Resort at Jimbaran Bay - Bali
Today Tom and I chose to forego the day’s tour and just stay at the resort and relax. What a treat!
The private entrance to our courtyard
Tom outside the door to our suite
Our private porch
Our private pool
One of the infinity pools about the beach
The dancers coming to dance for us before dinner
The walkway from the restaurant to our villa
Our room at night
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Bali-Day 1
We arrived in Bali over night and were greeted at the port in by a group of dancers as we walked to the buses for our tour.
Buleleng Museum was our first stop.
Here we learned the process for creating the palm-leaf manuscripts that were the primary medium for writing materials dating back to the 5th century BC. The palm leaves were first boiled with spices and dried in a heavy press for 30 days. The writer used a stylus-like device to inscribe letters. Natural colorings were applied to the surface so the ink would stick in the grooves. Afterwards, a clean cloth was used to wipe off the excess ink.
Holes are punched in the palm leaves to bind them together.
Storage containers for the palm manuscripts.
Ling Gwen Kiong Temple
Chinese temple built by seafaring merchants and traders beginning in 1843.
Pura Beji Sangsit temple
A Balinese temple located in Sangsit, it is dedicated to the rice goddess Dewi Sri, and is revered especially by the farmers in the area.
We ate lunch at the beautiful Kutus Sunari Beach Resort with its black sand beach located on the Bali Sea.
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Probolingo, East Java (Indonesia)
Probolingo Market
We were shuttled to the docks on the ship’s Zodiacs this morning about 8:30 and from there rode a tour bus to the city market in Probolingo. The lack of any sanitary conditions whatsoever in the market made we wonder about the food we’ve been eating.
Bromo Tender Semeru National Park
After visiting the market for 30 minutes (which was about 25 minutes too long), we got back on our bus and rode for about an hour until reaching Sukapura. There we all b boarded Land Cruisers to ride an additional 30 minutes up to the national park.
Once we arrived at the national park’s parking area, we walked .75 miles before walking 244 steps to view the Bromor volcano.
We are lunch at the Lava Cafe Restaurant
The view of Bromo Volcano from the Lava Cafe Restaurant
After lunch we boarded the Land Cruisers for our ride back to the bus, to the Zodiacs, and finally back to the ship.
It was a wonderful day!
An interesting tidbit: We ask if there were cattle in this area and were told that a family might own one to three cows. If they do, the cows live INSIDE the house so no-one steals them!
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Semarang, Java, Indonesia
We docked in Semarang this morning and were greeted by dancers and music as we got off the ship. There were three tour buses waiting to give us a tour of the island as we rode two hours to the Borobudur Temple. We had a police escort to the temple and back to the ship which allowed us to travel more quickly through the country.
Borobudur Temple
The Borobudur Temple is the world’s largest Buddhist temple dating back to the 9th century.The temple consists of nice stacked platforms, six are square and three are circular. These are topped by a central dome. It is decorated with 2,672 relief panels and originally has 504 Buddha statues. The central dome is surrounded by 72 Buddha statues, each seated inside a stupa, a mound like structure which contains relics).
There are 2,672 of these relief panels 
One of the 504 Buddha statues on the temple
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Cirik Island, Indonesia
Today we docked near the island of Cirik, a tiny little island in Indonesia. Indonesia is the largest archipelago in the world to form a single country, consisting of five main islands and some 30 smaller archipelagoes, totaling about 18,110 islands of which about 6,000 are inhabited. The island of Cirik is uninhabited.
Our ship anchored a nautical mile from the island and we rode zodiacs to land.
The ship used three Zodiacs to shuttle us from the ship to the island. There were ten of us in each Zodiac.
Our friend Dave stepping from the ship onto the Zodiac.
We arrived on the tiny island
We spent about an hour walking in the sand around the island and then boarded the Zodiac to ride back to the ship.
Here I am getting back on the ship.
We enjoyed a delicious dinner on Deck 9 at the Hot Rock Grill where we cooked our own meat on a lava rock.
The hot lava rock is 400 degrees and is placed in the center of the plate to cook the meat.
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Kumai, Kalimantan, Borneo (Indonesia) - Day 2
We were told that our cruise ship was the first to come to this region of Indonesia. When we got off of the ship, there were many residents taking pictures of us. We were transported today in five buses with a police escort as an honor (or at least that’s what we were told).
Dayak Longhouse
We started the day with a bus tour of the city of Kumai, a port in Central Kalimantan province and the first stop was a visit to a Dayak longhouse, Dayak longhouses are community houses and are 300 to 600 feet long. These buildings host dozens of families. The houses are built 6 to 9 feet off the ground to keep out wild animals and protect from flooding.
We were greeted with dancers and drummers performing traditional dances.
At one part of the performance a dancer pulled me into the dance to dance with her.
This dancer pulled me (of all people) out of the crowd to dance with her.
Arut River Tour
Our next stop was a boat ride down the Arut River to get a glimpse of local life. Here we rode past homes, fish farms, a saw mill. A police boat escorted our boat down the river.
The Police who escorted us.
A little boy rows his mother and baby sister down the river.
Typical homes and boats that were located on both sides of the river.
A sawmill along the river.
The Market
All vegetables, poultry, fish, etc are displayed unrefrigerated in the market area.
Fresh fish (but not refrigerated)
ESTANA PANGERAN MANGRUBUMI
This home was built to house a Sultan’s seven daughters. Inside these gates is a rambling wooden compound and a beautiful garden area.
Even though this may look like a mirror, it is actually a door frame with two fancy hand-carved doors on the other side. These beautiful doorways are all through the house.
Istanakuning “Yellow Palace"
This palace is not actually yellow, but once was the Sultan’s main residence. This is a replica of the original residence which burned in 1990. Since we were the first cruise ship to ever stop in this city, the Sultan invited us to lunch.
There were ceremonial dances and swords fights for our entertainment.
This is the Sultan’s twin brother greeting us as we entered the palace.
The Sultan with his personal physician
Birdhouse buildings
There is a huge industry in Borneo of bird's nest ‘factories’. There are 100s of these tall metal buildings are built to attract the white-nest swiftlet. Therir nest is composed entirely of saliva. These nests are purchased by the Chinese and used to make a soup by soaking and steaming the nests in water. The soup is reputed to possess medicinal properties that nourish and vitalize the organ systems of the body, help increase energy and metabolism, dissolve phlegm, improve the voice, relieve gastric problems, aid kidney function, enhance the complexion, alleviate asthma, suppress cough, cure tuberculosis, strengthen the immune system and improve concentration," wrote Craig Thorburn, an environmental scientist from Australia in his research paper, "The Edible Birds' Nest Boom in Indonesia and South-east Asia." Bird's nest soup is also considered an aphrodisiac by some and an infant superfood by others that helps babies grow tall and smart.
These nests fetch high prices and the buildings to lure the swiftlets are popping up all over Indonesia. Our ship docked near many of these buildings (pictured below in the nighttime picture) which can be quite a nuisance because of all the bird feces and the loud chirping noises played over a speaker to attract the swiftlets.
We ended the day with a delicious meal cooked we cooked ourselves on a lava stone up on deck 9 with our new friends Dave and Emmy.
The lava stone is 400 degrees and is in the center of this platter.
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Borneo and Tanjung Puling National Park
We arrived in Kumai, part of the Kalimantan province of Borneo island, which actually belongs to three countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei. We anchored along the Sekonyer River and boarded a traditional Kiloton wooden river boats to ride into the UNESCO-listed Tanjung Puting National Park, famous for its orangutan conversation program. We enjoyed the park first by boat and then by walking the trails into the rainforest.
We boarded our Zodiac at 6:40AM for a one mile ride down the river where we boarded our traditional Kiloton wooden river boats. We spent the next five hours cruising through Tanjung Puting National Park on the Sekonyer River. We arrived at Pondok Tanggui Orangutan Preserve around 9:00 am in time to watch the orangutan feeding.Once we arrived we walked on a muddy trail into the rain forest for about a mile to the feeding platform.
Pondok Tanggui National Park has the largest wild orangutan population in the world with 9 species of primates, 3 species of primates endemic to Borneo, proboscis, red leaf-eating monkeys, and Bornean orangutans.
Thev primarily eat fruits, but can also eat bark strips, leaves, and termites
Orangutan are pregnant for 8 months and may wait 5-10 years between births
They live 45-50 ears in the wild
After our visit in the National Park we were served lunch on our boat while we cruised for another two hours Resort Pesalat to see the afternoon feeding of more orangutans. This feeding started with a huge bowl of coconut milk
Viper snake
While we were walking in the rainforest to see the orangatan feeding, we got caught in a hard rainstorm.
When we walked back to our boat after the feeding, I spotted a slightly fancier boat docked beside us.
We were exhausted when we arrived back at our ship around 6:30PM after a long and fascinating day!
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Singapore - Day 3
We checked out of the Conrad Hilton Centennial Hotel and left for a half-day city tour starting with a visit to the Gardens by the Bay. Afterwards we visited the Sands SkyPark Observation Deck and finally lunch at a local restaurant before boarding our ship for the start of our cruise down the coast of Indonesia .
Our room #412 aboard the Vantage ship Ocean Odyssey
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Singapore - Day 2
Today we had a full day guided tour with our group from Vantage Travel. We started the day with at the National Orchid Garden, home to over 6,000 species of orchids.
After the Orchid Gardens we continued our bus tour throughout the town.
Thian Hock Keng is a temple built for the worship of the Chinese sea goddess Mazu and is located in the Chinatown section of Singapore. It was built in 1839 and is Singapore's oldest Chinese temple.
The government’s latest surveillance devices are robots on wheels, with seven cameras, that issue warnings to the public and detect “undesirable social behavior."
Artwork next to the practice cricket field with the Supreme Court building in the background. The flying saucer-looking section at the top of the building is the Supreme Court.
The old Police station with window frames painted the colors of the rainbow.
The Merlion, symbol of Singapore
Five Boys by the Water
Sri Veeramakaliamman is a Hindu temple located in India town.
We boarded a bumboat for a cruise down the Singapore River, where we enjoyed the city’s
iconic skyline from the water
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We've arrived in Singapore!
We left Lake Charles at 4:00 PM on January 20 for a flight to Houston and then on to San Francisco. From there we had a 17 hour flight which crossed the International Date Line and totally missed January 21 before arriving in Singapore at 8:00AM on January 22
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We had to submit paperwork to Singapore three days before our arrival and received our approved for entry. When going through these gates, we scanned our passports and our thumb prints.
We stayed at the Conrad Centennial Hotel which is located very conveniently to many of the iconic sights in Singapore.
Once we arrived at the hotel, we dropped off our bags and decided to walk to the The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands, a mall near our hotel. On the walk from the hotel we stopped at the Youth Olympic Park and took these pictures of the Singapore skyline. The building on the left side of the picture is the Science and Arts Museum.
The Helix Bridge is the longest pedestrian bridge that links the Marina Centre with the Bayfront area.It is modeled after the double helix DNA, symbolizing “life and continuity, renewal and growth”. There are pairs of colored letters ‘c’and ‘g,’ as well as as ‘a’ and "t’ on the bridge, which represent the four bases of DNA.
This Digital Light Canvas in the center of the Marina Centre is an artwork space that consists of a 46 ft-tall light sculpture suspended from the ceiling with countless full-colored LEDs and a circular 49 foot floor monitor consisting of individually controlled LEDs, which allow for graphics to be rendered in real time.
In the Youth Olympic Park there are drawings done by children that are decorations on the wall. This drawing by 11 Year old artist Joyce Han “I want to scale the highest mountain in the world!” A replica of her drawing was built in the park.
We walked through the food court at the Marina Centre Mall which was absolutely the largest food court we’ve ever seen with 60 restaurants! Alll the food choices were Asian, but we did notice these roasted chicken, pigs, and ducks on displayed, but were dismayed that all the heads were still attached.
Once we walked through the food court, we exited the mall and continued walking until we reached the iconic Marina Bay Sands Hotel. The scene pictured below shows the Marina Shopping Center and the Arts and Science Center and the Marina Bay Sands Hotel with its observation deck behind.
We paid to ride the elevator up to the Observation Deck on ihe 56 floor where From there we where able to get a wonderful view of Singapore.
The Flower Gardens are visible in the foreground and the barrage (the salt water barrier) is located in the upper left. Notice all the ships waiting out at sea to be loaded or unloaded.
Gardens by the Bay
When we left the Marina Sands Hotel, we walked to the Gardens by the Bay. The Gardens are comprised of the Flower Dome, Floral Fantasy, Cloud Forest, and the Supertree Grove. We paid to tour the Cloud Forest which contained an amazing Avatar display as well as the largest indoor waterfall (according to the Guinness Book of World Records).
The Supertree Grove
These super trees are home to a large array of plant life. The vertical planting panels installed on the trunks are planted with various species of bromeliads, orchids, ferns and flowering climbers. When dusk falls, the super trees lights up. In addition there is a sight and sound show each evening.
We walked back to the hotel and rested for a couple hours before walking the same path again for dinner and to see the lights of Singapore.
By the time we walked back to the hotel, we had walked over 10 miles today. What a great day!
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Grenada--our favorite island!
Today we visited Grenada and decided it was our favorite country on this trip. Grenada is well known for its spices as it is “ the island of spice", but it also has world-class cocoa, amazing beaches and majestic waterfalls. Christoper Columbus discovered the island in 1498 and named in Concepcion.
Civilians (even children) are not allowed to wear camouflage in the country.
Welcome to the Spice Capital
Today we took a bus tour of the island to get to Grand Etang National Park where we picked up a walking stick and hiked 1.75 miles to the Seven Sisters Waterfalls.
Our guide pointed out some interesting trees that we’d never seen before— cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg.
The fruit of the nutmeg tree
Eucalyptus Tree
And our hike began...
When we arrived at the starting point of the hike in Grand Etang National Park, we were given hiking sticks which proved to be a necessity for us! Apparently there was a hard rain the night before so the trail was very muddy and slippery. The trail was mostly either very steep going up or down and not much flat area along the way.
Two of the Seven Sister Falls. To see the other five falls we would have had to climb the first two set of falls—which we didn’t do!
New Year’s Eve on the Ship
We celebrated New Year’s Eve on the ship with a fabulous production show and then listening to music in various lounge during the evening.
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Barbados
Barbados
Although the Caribs, Arawaks, and Portuguese had all inhabited Barbados for certain periods, the island was completely unoccupied when the British first settled there in 1627. Gradual social and political reforms led to the country’s independence in 1966.
The easternmost member of the Caribbean, Barbados floats by itself, 100 miles east of St. Lucia. The capital city is Bridgetown which sits along the Caribbean Sea while the east coast faces the Atlantic Ocean. Barbados is below the hurricane belt.
Population is 286,641
Today’s excursion from the ship was to a Botanical Garden on the island . Along the way we passed some cows tied up in the yards of upscale homes.
We were supposed to be seeing 100s of different orchids at the gardens, but only a few survived after the COVID shutdown.
Our next stop after the gardens was the Sunbury Plantation Great House which was built in 1660 by Matthew Chapman, an Irish/English planter, one of the first settlers on the island. He was related to the Earl of Carlisle and through this association, was granted lands in Barbados.
This office has the original furnishings for the owner’s office and where he kept the records for the plantation.
This is a lounge chair for the men
This lounge chair was for the ladies. Both chairs have bottoms made from sugar cane to make them cooler to sit in,
This table sits 26.
bathtub
Master bedroom with his and her chamber pots
Men’s freeloader pants. Notice they are open from the crotch to the knee
Horse drawn dessert cart
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Saint Vincent
We went ashore this morning at 8:30 and took a bus tour across the island to Fort Charlotte, the Botanical Gardens and stopped for refreshments at Paradise Beach. It was colonized by the /French and English in the 19th century, but became an independent country in 1979. St. Vincent is located in the eastern Caribbean Sea between the island nations of Saint Lucia and Grenada. It has a population of around 100,000.
First stop was Fort Charlotte which was built in 1806. This historical Fort lies high above the island and offers panoramic views of Kingstown.
We walked up to the top of the hill to tour Fort Charlotte, that once housed 600 men . No battles were fought there.
Botanical Gardens
We visited the St. Vincent and Grenadines Botanic Gardens in Kingtown, Saint Vincent. Establish in 1765, it is the oldest botanic garden in the western hemisphere ,
The Vincent African Parrot is the country’s national bird
Breadfruit can be used in any way that potatoes are used.
We ended the day at Paradise Beach Hotel where we were served rum punch.
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Martinique
Martinique was first settled by the Arawaks followed by the Caribs, the island was charted by Columbus in 1493 and claimed by the French. With the exception of several British occupations, it has remained a French possession. It is overseas possession of France. We docked in the town of Fort-de-France, the capital and largest city.
Year round average temperature is 79 with only a five degree difference between summer and winter temperatures.
St. Louis Cathedral
Fort St. Louis
Beach beside Fort St. Louis
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St. Kitts
Today we toured the island of St. Kitts, which along with the neighboring island of Nevis, became an independent two-island nation in 1983. The country’s official name is the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis. It is located in the Leeward Islands of the West Indies southeast of Puerto Rico.
St. Kitts was the first island in the Caribbeans to be settled with residents dating back more than 5,000 years.
This two-island nation is the smallest in the Western Hemisphere both in are and population.
We took a bus tour to visit the Romney Manor (circa 1626). For more than 350 years, most of the activity on the property was growing sugar cane. When the St. Kitts government stopped sugar can production in the 2000s, Romney Manor became a batik enterprise.
Batik creations hanging on the line.
The Atlantic Ocean on one side and the Caribbean on the other
It was carnival time in St. Kitts. The parades started at 4:00AM and by noon the parades were over and the streets were filled with litter.
Cool picture of the boats beyond the rocks -
St. Thomas and St. Johns Virgin Islands
Today the Island Princess docked in St. Thomas at 8:00AM. We walked off the ship and walked to the nearby stores to buy a Christmas tree ornament as a souvenir and took some pictures.
We were greeted at the shopping area by these talented dancers !
St. Johns Catamaran Adventure
We boarded the Dancing Dolphin Katamaran for a 45 minute ride to St. Johns Island and Virgin Islands National Park. This is our 56th National Park (out of 63). Once we were near the beach we rode an inflatable all the way onto the beach. We came ashore at Honeymoon Beach and spent an hour snorkeling in the beautiful water.
Beautiful view of St Johns
Honeymoon Beach, St Johns
We snorkeled in the beautiful clear water
When we returned to the ship, there were some guest McCall and cockatoo birds onboard to greet us. What beautiful birds!
These two were hilarious! The owner would turn them towards us, but then a glass elevator would come down to that floor and the birds were turn around to see the elevator .
The cruise ship put on a fabulous Christmas variety show in the evening.
I finished the evening by watching It’s a Wonderful Life on the ship’s big screen tv on the top deck.
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Hawaii Volcano National Park
We drove the Chain of Craters Road down to Holei Sea Arch and stopped to see many different craters and lava flow from previous eruptions.
At the end of the Chain of Craters Road, we walked a short distance to see the Holei Sea Arch. This lava rock formation is about 90 feet high and extends from the steep sea cliffs into the Pacific Ocean.
This picture shows lava flow above and the land below which extends from the Hilina fault.
We were told there are about six feral pigs to each person living on the Big Island and they are quite a problem to crops and vegetation. Dogs and fences help deter them.
After a period of time crops make there way through the crack and start growing and blooming one again.
The Kilauea crater
Hardened lava
We drive over to the backside of the Kilauea Volcano, parked the car and then walked two and a half miles to tee the craters
‘We ended the day back at the cabin watching War Horse, a wonderful movie,
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Helicopter ride near Mauna Loa and a visit to Lavaloha Chocolate Farm
We took a helicopter ride with Big Island Safari Helicopters from the Hilo Airport in hopes of seeing Mauna Loa's eruption..
As we were leaving the airport, we flew over a macadamia nut farm outlined by the tall trees arranged in squares.
This is the giant Kilauea volcano. No lava was visible when we flew over; just lots of steam.
This is Mauna Loa erupting. We not on the side where we could see the lava flowing down the mountain, but we were told this lava was shooting 500’ in the air. Obviously we weren’t close enough to get roasted, but it was an incredible site to see!
Lavaloha Chocolate Farm
Afterwards we drove to a chocolate where we were driven through the orchard and then shown how the chocolate if made.
Ripe pods are picked and cut open. Sees, or “beans” and juicy white pulp are stopped out of the husk.
Beans and pulp are put into large containers and fermented for about 7 days. The beans are turned about
once per day. Then the beans are gently roasted. This is where they start to develop chocolatey flavors and aromas.
Winnowing: The beans are then cracked open and their thin, papery shells are blown away with fans, leaving “cocoa nibs."
Grinding: The cocoa nibs are ground into "cocoa liquor” a paste that can be pressed to separate the cocoa powder from cocoa butter.
Conching: the cocoa liquor is refined and smoothed in a conch. Sugar, milk, and other flavors are added.
Rainbow Falls
After we left the chocolate farm we drove to Rainbow Falls. Luckily, the falls were located by a parking lot because it started pouring down rain right when we got back in the car.
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The Big Island - Green Sand Beach, Black Sand Beach, Hawaii Volcano National Park
Papakōlea (Green sands) Beach
We started today by driving from our Air B&B in Pahala to a parking spot for Papakōlea Beach (commonly known as Green Sands Beach). This was a 5.5 mile roundtrip hike and although it was not a particularly hard hike, the ground was muddy in places or covered with volcanic ash and uneven, and the winds were very strong. The whole way there we were walking into the wind. When we started the hike early and there was only one other car in the parking lot when we arrived. As we hiked toward the beach and the time got later, we were passed by many sets of younger more energetic hikers.
This is the point where Tom had to stop and rest and I continued hiking alone.
This is the Green Sand Beach which gets its name from the green olivine crystals that make up the sand. The crystals come from the cinder cone next to the beach which was formed during an eruption 49.000 years ago. Notice how steep the decline is to the beach. Since Tom had to stop hiking about a mile before the end and I was by myself, I didn’t even attempt to go down that steep hill onto the beach.
After we walked back to where we parked the car we realized there were pick up trucks giving rides there and back (illegally). If we had known that at the beginning, Tom would have hiked to the beach and paid the $10 for a ride back to the parking lot (I probably would have too).
Punalu’u (Black sands) Beach
Our next stop was a Punalu’u Black Sand Beach Park. The black sand is made of basalt and created by lava flowing into the ocean which explodes as it reaches the ocean and cools.
An unexpected discovery when we arrived at the beach was fifteen or so green turtles. The threatened green turtle feeds on marine plants in shallow waters along the coastline. Red seaweed, a favorite food of the green turtle flourishes on the coral-encrusted rocks in the shallow waters of the bay and the turtles are found basking on the black sand beach despite the presence of beachgoers. Visitors must remain 20 ft from the turtles at all times.
While driving from Black beach to the National Park, we passed theses beautiful poinsettia trees.
HAWAII VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK
We planned this trip back in July so we could tour our 55th National Park (out of 63) and here we are!
Our first stop was the Kilauea Visitor Center. We walked across the street from the visitor’s center to the Volcano House where we enjoyed a delicious lunch. We had hoped to see the Kilauea Volcano from the big windows in the restaurant, but unfortunately, there was a total fog out and there was nothing to see.
After lunch we drove to the Thurston Lava Tube parking area. The Thurston Lava Tube, one of many such tubes on the island, was created by a river of molten lava. According to the NPS website, “When a lava tube is active, lava travels along its floor at temperatures that exceed 2,000º F. When the supply of lava stops at the end of an eruption, or if it gets diverted elsewhere, it leaves behind an empty cave. When this lava tube was discovered in 1913, the roof of the tube was covered with lava drippings. Unfortunately, those soon disappeared due to souvenir collectors.”
We walked down a steep path through a tropical forest to get to the entrance.
Inside the Thurston Lava Tube
Mauna Loa Volcano
After walking over 7 miles today, we were exhausted and decided to drive back to our Air B&B and take a nap. At 7:00PM we left again to eat some dinner and then drive towards the Mauna Loa Volcano in hopes of seeing the lava flow. It was 52 miles one way and took us almost 4 hours to drive there and back. The traffic wasn’t bad until we reached mile marker 34 on Rt. 200 where we joined the long line of visitors who also wanted to see the lava flow.
Although we didn’t have a tripod or a good zoom lens, it was very exciting to be able to see the lava flow!
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Flight Home from Cape Town
We left the hotel at noon for our transfer to the airport. We left Cape Town at 5:39 pm for a 10 hour 15 minute flight to Istanbul, had a 9.5 hour layover, then a 13 hour flight to Houston. Long two days! Once we landed in Houston we were about to walk right through customs with Global Entry, but it took over an hour for our luggage to arrive. By the time we drove back to Lake Charles it was 1:30 AM. A very long two day journey.
We enjoyed lunch at an airport restaurant where we were able to plug in our electronics and charge them before the long flight home.
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