We took a tour bus out to the Grand Wailea Beach Resort. In 2006, the beach there had been voted the prettiest beach in the world. The resort itself is just what its name suggests...grand. Wow. Talk about nice!! Again, words and pictures just wouldn't do it justice. If you've ever seen stories about the Hawaii resort with water slides and a lazy river that wraps around the hotel grounds, this is it. If I'd been a guest that week I would have been really disappointed...the water slides and lazy river were closed for repairs. But the combination of natural beauty and the resort that was built there is something else.
Our reason for being there was to spend some time at the beach. We'd been in Hawaii for 5 days and hadn't spent time at the beach swimming or snorkeling or anything like that...and yet my very kind and patient friend knew it was April 28-a day with some signifigance because it was the release date of the 8th book in James Patterson's Women's Murder Club series. We walked and walked walked in the heat to try to find a store that would have the book. Things must get to the islands a little slower than the mainland because the stores only had paperbacks. No hardbacks at all, let alone newly released hardbacks. But thank you, Rachel, for being so willing to go shopping for a book instead of sitting on the beach! (We found a copy 2 or 3 days later...yet again, another shopping excursion for a book. What a good friend I have!)
Rachel knows I'm scared half to death of the ocean. I completely respect its power. I completely get that things can hide in the sand and you can step on them and get hurt without even knowing what hit you. I get that sharks can and have come almost all the way to the shore and tasted swimmers' legs. I get that a wave can take you by surprise and knock you down (remember Sunday???) I get that jellyfish can barely be seen but can sure be felt!! But the water here is almost irresistible. It's so clear and so pretty and so warm! I'd been looking at it and sailing on it for days and it was time to get in. It wasn't so bad. A few times bigger waves took my breath away (they hit me above the knees), but I clung to Rachel like a true chicken. Then she went back to sit in the beach chair and I kept my toes in the water. Somebody started to yell to their kids that there was a sea turtle in the water, people started to run out to try to see it. It passed not too far in front of me but all I saw was a large, dark shadow. I'm SOOOOO glad somebody had already identified it as a turtle because I would have been outta there. Instead, I yelled for Rachel but it was already too late, it was gone.
She'd brought her two snorkel sets and gave me one. I figured I'd just stick my head under the water to make her happy, to make her go away and stop trying to get me to snorkel because snorkeling required getting into the water. I stuck my face under the water and about 3 hours later, with a burned back, I left the water with a fist full of shells and a new attitude about snorkeling. She always pushes me to try new things (everything is new for me) and I wind up liking them, Sam-I-Am. {{She just sat in the beach chair with a little knowing smile on her face-she loves to expose people to new things, to see their reactions, to watch them discover the fun in things they'd never done before. She gets as much or more pleasure in watching people enjoy things than doing them herself. Again, what a great friend.}} I did stick on the shoreline, though. Seriously, I was the only person snorkeling right where the waves were breaking. I get that's not how it's to be done, but I needed the security of being able to reach out and touch the bottom of the ocean. A few times, waves crashed over my head and filled my snorkel with water. Since I was able to just stand up (ok, get on my knees) it was ok. This prepared me for the next day, snorkeling off the Kona coast at a coral reef 25-65 feet deep....gulp...
When we got back to the ship we went to a lei making class. The auditorium was so full and smelled like the orchids we'd use to make the leis. 20,000 orchids were used up for that class! It is SO easy to make them, which was surprising to me. Our two Hawaiian ambassadors, Malu and China, were there teaching the class. They talked about all kinds of Hawaiian traditions, their families, etc. while we worked on our leis. When Hawaiians graduate they make a lei for every classmate. Malu said she graduated with 400 other students and yes, was given almost 400 leis! She had them on her arms and neck to the point where she couldn't see over them, and so did every one of her family memebers and there were still leis they couldn't put on! We put them in our fridge so we could save them to wear them Thursday night for the luau. Of course there were jokes all over the place about getting leid in Hawaii...
Later that evening we went to a show. I don't have a clue what show, my memory is already fading away, I'm sorry to say. Rachel kept telling me to keep my copy of the Freestyle Daily, the ship's little paper that tells you what activities there are for that day. But of course I didn't listen. Now I don't remember what shows were on what night, but I do remember the shows! I remember everything we did, just not quite what day.
We did go dancing that night in the Mardi Gras lounge. The cruise director kept saying "you'll never see these people again, just get up and go for it" but then they walked around videotaping people dancing and played it on the ship's tv channel in the staterooms! Haha, anyway, it was 70's night and they played disco favorites. One of the crew wore a huge afro wig and had on a "peace sign" necklace. There were a lot of people in the lounge but not very many dancing for some reason. We had fun with some people who work on the ship, one of them had run the not-very-successful karoke session the night before. Guys from the crew did a version of YMCA dressed in the typical Village People clothes. Fun night!
1 comment:
You are too sweet! Thanks for the kind words...you're right, I do love watching people do new, fun and exciting things. You were awesome and took up every bit of it like a pro...Conquered your fears, opened your mind and let yourself have FUN!! Now that's what I think makes the best friend ever!
PS you KNOW the reason I tromped all around Hawaii to find the book for you, is because I plan on borrowing it when you're through!) :
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