Planned aimlessness in Nawiliwili - Last Stop before French Polynesia :)

As planned, Sunday was indeed a day without any plans… Contrary to all predictions, the weather in Nawiliwili turned out to be not so bad, and we finally set foot on solid ground of the island. Perhaps there was still something to get for the magnet board, or a nice T-shirt to be found in the nearby town center with the Harbour Mall and small shops along the roadside…

The 'shopping tour' was uneventful. There were some nice designs on the offered T-shirts, mainly featuring the ubiquitous hens and roosters, and some even had quite funny sayings, but ultimately none were beautiful enough for us to pay over 40 dollars. Moreover, all the T-shirts were printed on the back, which has always been a 'no-go' for us. We prefer T-shirts with the print on the front... (this might be irrelevant for many - but it's not for us...) it is what it is!

However, we did manage to find a souvenir: a magnet.

In the Harbour Mall, the rooster crowed, not on the dung heap, but in the most beautiful floral backdrop. It's incredible how many roosters and hens we've seen on the island. They must be the Indian cows of Kauai.

Back on the ship, I was able to connect Thorsten's phone with the hot spot and update the blog from the last few days, so the gap wouldn't be too large.

After lunch, the ship set sail, and the journey continued. We enjoyed the time on the deck at the stern in the sunshine and pleasant breeze. Later, Petra and Michael, who had given us the tip about the sea turtles at Ho’okipa Beach, invited us to join them at their table. We had already chatted a bit in between and found common ground in our travels. We exchanged stories about their and our travels and got some tips about New Zealand and Australia, where both have been, and where we will go as well.

Meanwhile, we were treated to a beautiful sunset, which we admired tremendously.

Unbothered by all this, we sailed past Oahu towards Maui or Big Island, where we will dock in Hilo at 7 AM the next morning.

The last day in Hawaii in Hilo started rainy, and therefore we decided not to go to Hilo but to start burning off the calories we had consumed. The gym was our declared goal for the day. In the afternoon, we would then set off for Bora-Bora, and from then on, there would be no more internet, and the blog here would take a break for a while.

One more thing to note: over the past few days on the ship, we have encountered the three worst jobs: Every time we enter the buffet room, we are 'sung' to by an unbearably cheerful young man with adaptations of popular hits (Mama-Mia, I wanna hold your hand, and so on) and the accompanying request to spray our hands with disinfectant. 'Aloha, Washy, Washy to make you happy, happy'... the young man can indeed sing quite well, but after a few days, it becomes annoying...

The second worst job belongs to two young women, they could be Siamese twins, who circulate through the venue with a tray of coffee cups, milk, sugar, and two thermoses of coffee. Here too, they sing the lines: Coffee, Coffee to make you wakey, wakey... All three individuals have a grin plastered on their faces and can really joke with anyone, always having some super nice and individual comments at hand... And in the evenings, they cry into their pillows and hate themselves and their jobs... ;)