ellcee

Our next stop was Punalu'u Beach or Black Sand Beach as it is sometimes called.

Molten lava reaching the ocean would explode hitting the cool water breaking into small pieces.  Wave action over time further broke the lava down into black sand. 

The beach is frequented by Hawksbill and Green Sea Turtles which are protected.  Signs warn people to stay back at least 30' with stiff penalties for anyone who approaches or touches a turtle.  A recent visitor left a trail in the sand when they came up to bask in the sun on the black sand..





The stark contrast of blue sky and water against the black lava and sand made for breathtaking scenery that looks so much better in real life compared to these feeble pictures.



Lots of other wildlife is on hand as well resting in the branches.

It doesn't take very much imagination to picture molten flowing lava flows slowly creeping towards and into the ocean.




This would also be our lunch stop where they brought out sandwiches, chips and soft drinks for us.
We had one more stop on this tour.  A bakery used to be located here at the beach but it became so famous the small beach parking area and roads were overtaken with traffic to the bakery so they moved it closer to a nearby village.

According to my profile pic, that’s my boyfriend 

I just upload my pic with a smile on my face.
 

The next significant feature of the park we visited was the Pu’u o Lokuana Cinder Cone. 
Standing on the rim along the highest point looking back into the bowl of the cone.

A trail leads down into the cinder cone itself.  

My fellow guests help to define the scale of the cone.  

It's pretty amazing to think think was at one time a volcanic vent spewing lava.



During WWII there was a secret radar station located here, the remnants of which are hard to spot now in the growth.

Looking over the landscape you appreciate how thousands of years have developed these lush and tropical rolling hills.
 

I leave my Kindle and a bag (taking anything else of value). I also don't go too far because I will get violent if someone takes my book/ereader

Booked passes for April 2021 this AM. Cabanas are just a beach...er...bridge too far.

This is precisely what I did.  I want to be able to go to the Club, swim in the pool and eat some lobster but I have learned from experience that the cabanas are a waste of money for us.  We just take naps there.  So I feel like entrance into the club at $64.99 PP was a pretty good deal.  The "floating" cabanas (I guess they have renamed them from "Over-the-water" to "floating") for us are $1499 (Anthem, Feb. 2020). For the 2 of us to take a nap that is just waaaytooo much.  I am, however, interested to see what the Club is like.

I appreciate Michelle even more after reading this.  ?

Call me crazy, but if I book a cruise and then a week, month or year later the prices are all higher that makes me feel good that I got a deal.
If price was constantly going up and down like a Kmart blue light special, it would make knowing when to book feel impossible. So by booking early, we get best price.  From a client/agent standpoint, I think that's a great feeling.

I have seen them everywhere that I try to fill my YETI, I no longer carry water onboard, and am drinking water constantly so I always have my water bottle with me wherever I am on the ship (unless I know I will only be gone for a short while).  Past several cruises I have seen them anywhere from the Windjammer, to Sorrentos, and Cafe Promenade.  I know not to fill it directly from the tap and use a cup to transfer the ice and water to the YETI.  I know that I have sailed once and caught one serious cold that turned into a upper respiratory infection by the end of the cruise and that ruined my experience enough to ensure that I take all precautions not to infect my fellow travelers and that I take more precautions to protect myself! 

Just booked the Odyssey for November 9th, 2020. My first B2B.
I'd like to blame you all but it's alllllll me.

Hope this is just a precaution and the rest of your trip flows smoothly.
It's morning here and I want dumplings so thanks! ?

Sounds like good reading weather.  At least you have a good book

I'm a little picky about my coffee so I go to the ship's Starbucks/Cafe Promenade. They open at 6, I think.

lol. I do the same thing. I save a book I know I'll love for a vacation. It makes everything a little sweeter.

My preference is to get down to Ft. Lauderdale the night before the cruise so you don't have to worry about getting there in the morning before the cruise.  There won't be much of a price difference between hotels in West Palm Beach or Ft. Lauderdale or any of the cities inbetween as long as you aren't looking to be in the downtown Ft. Lauderdale area or on the beach.  
I've stayed at Embassy Suites and Hyatt Place in the 17th street area of Ft. Lauderdale.  There is a grocery store and several restaurants immediately in walking distance from both.  They also offer shuttles to the port in the morning, but typically I don't want to wait for their schedule and I catch an Uber/Lyft.  It was a $8 Lyft to the port from the Hyatt Place at the beginning of September.  The shuttle from the Hyatt was $7/per person.
How are you planning on getting from the airport to the hotel?  Will you be renting a car/van or using rideshare/taxis?   Uber fare estimator for a regular Uber (4 people with limited luggage) is about $65 for WPB to Ft. Lauderdale; it's $75 for the comfort Uber.  You will likely need several vehicles for a party of 8.  You can one-way car rental it for around $50-$70 per vehicle depending on car size which might be a better option.  Returning the rental car and then ridesharing or catching the free rental car shuttle back to the port is a fairly easy process as well. 
 

Yeah, this. The room service coffee is the same as the MDR coffee; serviceable in a pinch while it's hot, not much else.

Just had a Kummelweck sandwich from the Park Cafe for lunch.  I will be having one per day.  Maybe two if nobody is watching.
My big goal today is to remember that I need to be at the spa at 3PM for 75 minutes of massage and 20 minutes of being aggressively up-sold magical detox woo.
It’s one of our two formal nights.  I'll put on my blazer and play dress up over dinner before taking my dashing countenance to the casino to shore up RCI's stock.
[NERD WARNING: NERDY STUFF AHEAD]
I'm already slowing down to "cruise speed."  No need to be anywhere or do anything.  Like, Imma just sit here with a book all day and drink fruity things.
I totally hit the jackpot selecting one of the books for this cruise.  I would have sworn I'd read every Iain M. Banks Culture novel.  Somehow, I'd missed Excession.  I've been incredibly restrained in saving that book for this cruise instead of immediately consuming it in a nerd binge when I got it.  I feel like I found a $100 bill in an old jacket.  W00t!
Iain passed away in 2013, and the Sci-Fi literary world lost an icon.  Humor.  Prose.  Fantastic characters.  All wrapped-up in an astounding universe.  Cheers, Iain.  ?

We are in port after some traffic jams.
I will share some info later but so far it's been like any port process.
We got this note preparing us for some changes

Cruise day is here (or as some will say finally). It's a very windy/rainy morning , I aim to go to the port around 9 which hopefully will bring us there by 10am. For now waiting to someone to get organized , 
Here are some night pictures from Shanghai.
First the lounge  of the  Marriot city center which offer very nice option during the happy hour 



Here is the shopping street during the night.


Finally the Bund as some light show which all the building are being illuminated in different colors and some laser show. I must admit we did not went to see it from the Bund as it meant to be , we were just too tired and we need to leave something for next week but here how it looked from our room ?

Day -1 , Shanghai.
Today we foght to get up early to enjoy the breakfast which I heard it's very good at this hotel, the rummers were true. There are two main Islands , one western food and one eastern. The western includes fresh egg station , salads station and many fresh worm options.


The eastern contains many kind of dumplings, soups, fried vegetables and other good things.


I took one plate from each island 


Now that can be useful for busy days at the WJ buffet , just think oh simple life would be if we had this option

After the big breakfast we went to check the big  shopping street of Nanjin, my spouse wanted to buy some pearls  for her mother, we went to a pearls mall, found something we thought is nice and started to negotiate. I must it's easier for me to negotiate with our clients than the sellers there but we got a good price for two chains which per our request combined to one. The street itself very impressive.



We also passed this Royal Caribbean Blog caffe

We walked all the way to the famous  Bund street which as a perfect view on the Pearl tower and the other to towers.

This area includes also some monuments and nice small gardens




We wanted to cross to the other side of the river so we took the new small under the river train were we bought combo tickets for the Bund tunnel and Shanghai tower observation. The small tunnel trains take you into a tunnel full with light effects , nice but not a must:



We got out from the tunnel and haded to the tower (around 20 minutes walk) passing near the impressive pearls tower, near buy you also have the aquarium and many other tourist attractions which we decide to pass 

We finally got to the second biggest building in the world , the Shanghai tower , it's around 650 meters high with 128 floors. The amazing thing that in one year from now it's going to be only number 5 or 6 in the world.



At the ground floor you have some exhebition of how the build it plus the future and the past of skyscrapers. From there we took the super fast elevator (10 M per second) to the observation platform (118 floor) to watch the very nice view .






After the Shanghai tower visit we went back using the Bund tunnel to the other side and walking to the hotel , lots of steps . It was already evening so we went to the lounge to eat something , lots of options, I do recommend to book a room with access to the executive lounge.  

I must say we found Shanghai to be very beautiful

Day 9 - Sunset
With our departure getting closer, the clouds are retreating.

We've been very fortunate with our sunsets on this cruise.

Back to the marina for our waiting bus and the ride back to Lahaina.  We were all glad to see short tender lines this time.

More local surfers out looking for that perfect wave as our tender made its way out through the channel into deeper water.

After 45 minutes in the water we were given some turkey wraps, chips and water or local fruit juices.  We were getting ready to leave when a pair of dolphins visited.






On the ride back to Maui more dolphins came by.



Pretty cool seeing them up close like this.

I HAVE seen these, and always completely disregarded them as something that costs money....never paid attention. I have nobody to blame but me....
As for it waking them up, im good with that.....as a typical Dad, I love nothing more than rubbing it in their faces that Im awake, on vacation, before anyone else.