Hummu Hummu…the language here is great. They really know how to reuse vowels. Humuhumunukunukuapuaa is (or was depending on who you ask) the state fish. It is also lots of fun to say. The Hawaiian language only has 12 letters, five vowels (long and short) and eight consonants. I guess that is why so many of the words are long. I learned yesterday (from a New Zealander transplant!) that each letter is pronounced. Once you get that, it is not too hard to follow along, which is what it seems like, you are following a song listening to every word.

Two very exciting things happened last night. First,we passed the most southern point of the United States (take that Key West!), Ka Lae point. THEN we passed the WORLDS’S most active volcano. This photo of the lava hitting the ocean was the best I could do. The boat was bobbing and it was blowing 25-30 knots, but you get the idea! It was stinky.

For the past two days we have been on the Big Island. First, in Kona. There we took an architectural culinary tour. We visited three houses and sampled Hawaiian delicacies at each. It was really great. The first house was a weekly vacation rental, I may be coming back to there.

Today we are in Hilo, on the other side of the island. Due to Mom’s limited mobility, we are limited to our excursions so I am not doing the volcano tour. But, on my next visit, that will definitely happen. We are however visiting another site that is on my list – the Hawaii Botanical Gardens. We just docked in Hilo and it is raining, but that is to be expected being a tropical rainforest and all.

Before I forget, here are some shots of my stateroom that I took with my iPhone when I boarded. It is really cozy, which I like. Everything is well laid out and clean. I even have my own butler! His name is Zen and he is from India. I will get a photo of him, he thinks I am funny because I have knitting projects laid out all over the room now. I’ve totally redecorated!

Gotta run…leaving this afternoon for the 5 days across the Pacific (or as I prefer to call it – 5 days of knitting intensive!). Will try to post more tonight, but until then – Aloha!