Diamond Head - Finally!

We made it up before sunrise and headed out to Diamond Head – finally, right? ;) All of the books say to be prepared for a ¾ mile hike which includes 99 stairs – how about 99 stairs plus 74 before you get there and 55 after you get there? Believe it or not, it’s totally worth the view – check out the pictures! Diamond Head was created by a volcano hundreds of thousands of years ago, and used to be a lake until it began to be used for defense, and a tunnel was dug through the bottom. Royalty used it for palaces and such until it was later used for military defense, when the royalty moved out. Even later, it was used by the Fire Department to keep watch for fires. Pretty cool, huh?

After we got back from Diamond Head we ate breakfast, packed up, and shipped out! We had to return the rental car and then took a cab to the cruise ship. We wanted to get on the ship early to orient ourselves so we will be familiar with everything for the rest of the cruise. Also, why not start the “included” food earlier, huh? The cruise ship is absolutely beautiful – we’ve attached a few pictures of our room and some of the ship, and hope to take more pictures tomorrow. The cruise ship is called the Pride of America, and the theme is, of course, America! As we walked in it was themed with the White House, complete with an official seal and the Washington Monument! There are restaurants with Thomas Jefferson theme, a cowboy theme, the Cadillac diner, the Aloha Café, the Waikiki Grill, and many more! There’s also the Hollywood Theatre and the Mardi Gras Comedy Club, among many! The ship is very clean and looks very updated, which we really enjoy. Our room is also very brightly colored and has cool features, like our name on the TV screen when we arrived!

When we got on board the rooms weren’t ready yet, so we got a snack at the Aloha Buffet, which had everything from pizza to carved meat, fruit and salad, sandwiches, potato bar – lots of choices!! Our room was ready soon after so we dropped off our bags and headed out for more food – ha! We walked around the ship some more, then did the emergency evacuation drill. We took pictures of that too – check them out! Our muster station is in the Cadillac Diner – too fun!

A little later, we went to hear information on shore excursions, made a change to one of our excursions, and turned everything in. We had dinner at the Cadillac Diner – I had fish and Jarrett had meatloaf! We also tried the buffalo wings, potato soup, chili, brownie, and pound cake – ha! We didn’t eat it all, but it’s included, so why not try it, right? We ate outside and right after we ate we were setting sail. They had to move the tables in after we set sail – Coast Guard regulations won’t allow outdoor seating when the ship is moving, because they’re afraid the wind might carry items off the ship and pollute the ocean – interesting, huh?

As we set sail we watched the lights of Oahu until we got to the very edge. We’re exhausted from the day, so we’re going to go to bed and get rested up for our adventure on the volcano in Hilo tomorrow! The volcano is erupting right now, so we’re hoping that we will get to see the lava flow as we leave the Big Island tomorrow!!

One more thing – we’re on limited internet usage now since we’re getting charged by the minute, so all of our pictures will be in the attached picture album, and few or none in the actual blog, since it takes extra time to orient them after we write the blog. We hope you’ll check out the picture album, though!! Until tomorrow, Aloha! Mahola (thank you) for reading!!