DAY 2 AT SEA ENROUTE TO FRENCH POLYNESIA

        Here is our noon time position today.  I am happy to report that our ride today is much better.  We still have some swell and waves up to 5 feet.  It started out sunny this morning but now overcast skies and 82 degrees.

        This is the ice carving from last evening's Seven Seas Society party.  It is an "R" for Regent.  Our dinner last night was with the General Manager, Massimo (Italian), and another delightful couple from Raliegh, NC.  Rebecca and I had miso sea bass as our entree and it was fantastic.  It actually melted in our mouths.  After dinner we did go to the cabaret show featuring Ross Barnes.
        We had a busy morning today.  At 8:00 am we headed down to Compass Rose restaurant for Sunday breakfast.  They serve caviar and champagne on Sundays.

                                                                My caviar

                                                                My eggs Benedict
        After breakfast we attended an interdenominational church service lead by our cruise director and her assistant.  We had a nice group of about 30 attend the 20 minute service.  After that we came back to our suite so I could phone my parents and see how they were doing.  Seemed to be ok.  At 10:15 we had another Compulsory Lifeboat Drill.  It is a international law that they have to have a refresher drill every 14 days.  From there we headed up to get our hour workout in.  It's now 12:30 and we are still full from breakfast.  May have something light to munch on later.  Tonight we have reservations at Prime 7 so I'll be having an 18 ounce bone-in ribeye steak.
        This afternoon I need to recheck out flight arrangements for when we get to Tahiti a week from today.  SO SAD!!!  We are down to only one more week on this cruise.  It will go way to fast as I know that from previous experiences.  We also have to decide what cruise we want to book while on board.  There are several advantages to book while on this cruise.  After dinner we plan on going to the showroom for a singer/ventriloquist.  Following that is another "Liars Club" session which is always hilarious.  Hope you had a great weekend.

DAY 1 AT SEA ENROUTE FRENCH POLYNESIA

        Here we are at sea again.  At noon it is 79 degrees, partly sunny, and a wind out of the northeast at 45 miles per hour.  Waves are running 10 feet giving us a rough ride.  The Captain said on his noon announcement that the winds will die down some tomorrow giving us a better ride.  We will be crossing the Equator sometime tomorrow evening as we head south.
        We were disappointed at dinner last night.  The Compass Rose menu, which is shown on our tv in the suite, had beef Wellington listed as an entree.  I told you we love it so cancelled our Prime 7 reservation as we wanted the beef Wellington.  When we got to the dining room it was no longer on the menu.  I was not a happy camper so asked our head waiter to send the chef out to our table.  I told the chef I was NOT happy and he blamed the tv people for the error.  We were dining with another couple, Jeff & Alana, so we all four told the chef we had NEVER seen "brown" gravy served with turkey.  At lunch today Goran came by and apologized for the menu mix up and I explained to him how turkey gravy was to be made.  Then he understood it and went to tell the chef.  So instead of the
beef Wellington we had roasted prime rib.  I must say it was the probably the best I have ever had.  I was happy again!!
        This afternoon just relaxing in the suite.  Rebecca is reading a Danielle Steel book from the ship's library and I am online.  Tonight at 6:00 pm is a cocktail party for Seven Seas Society members (anyone who has sailed with Regent at least once before).  At 7:00 pm we have been invited to dine with Massimo, the General Manager.  After dinner they are showing a movie, "The Monuments Men" in the theatre.  We will probably go to the Horizon Lounge for a cabaret showtime featuring Ross Barnes, the male singer with the Jean Anne Ryan company.  He is very good.  Hope tomorrow is a smoother day at sea.

THE BIG ISLAND OF HAWAII

                                           Our position today:  Hilo, Hawaii

Photos from our "Mini Thanksgiving Day Parade" yesterday evening here on the Mariner

                                                  I like Santa's elves!!!!

                                          Lots of "sail-boarders" were out yesterday

                                                         Departing Maui

"Armadillo Eggs" is what we call these jalapenos stuffed with cream cheese.  My favorite hors d'oeuvres.

                           My dessert last night.  Pumpkin tart with marshmellow topping.

        Today we are on the Big Island of Hawaii and docked at Hilo, the largest city and county seat.  Hilo is also the wettest city in the world with over 140 inches of rain per year.  It is a low overcast day today which is obscuring the volcanoes.  It's also the largest of the Hawaiian islands and actually larger than all the other islands combined.  Population of the island is nearly 200,000.  The southernmost point in the 50 states of the United States, Ka Lae is on this island.  The island was formed by volcanoes and still has 3 active volcanoes:  Hualalai, Mauna Loa, and Kileuea.  Because of these still active volcanoes the island is still growing.  You have seen the lava flow here in news lately threatening homes.  Interestingly enough, if measured from its sea floor base to its highest peak, Mt Mauna Kea is the world's tallest mountain, even taller than Mt Everest.  The island has suffered tsunami damage from earthquakes in Alaska (1946), Chile (1960), and Japan (2011).  Sugarcane was the backbone of the economy here for a century but the last plantation was closed in 1996.  Tourism now drives the economy.  Agriculture is a growing part now also with macadamia nuts, papaya, flowers, vegetables, and coffee beans (Kona Coffee).  It is also home to the largest cattle ranch in the United States, the Parker Ranch with 175,000 acres.  Walmart is the fifth largest employer on the island.
        Our tour today, "Panoramic Hilo",  departed the ship at 9:00 am and was only 2 hours long.  There were only 3 stops on the tour so it was the "old folks" tour.  Most people on our tour were 80+.  The stops were for only 20 minutes each and it took about that long for these folks to get off and back on the bus.  They were all very nice folks though.  Hope I'm not one of them in future!

                                                            Banyan trees

                                              The very beautiful Liliuokalani Park

                                                Red African Tulip tree with red blooms

                                                                Monkey Pod trees

                                            Their Viet Nam Veterans Memorial

This is the Shinmachi Memorial that was erected to honor the many people of Hilo who lost their lives to the tsunami of 1946.

                                                    Gold statue of King Kamehameha

                                           Our tour bus--Roberts Hawaii tour company

        Grey skies today at Hilo.  I thought this was sunny Hawaii???  We will be sailing at 4:00 pm today.  Leaving the Hawaiian islands and will have four sea days enroute to our next port on Nuku Hiva, French Polynesia.  I hope we have a better ride than we did on crossing to Hawaii.  We had reservations tonight in Prime 7 Steakhouse but I cancelled it this morning.  Beef Wellington is on the dining room menu tonight and we love that.  Doing Prime 7 on Sunday instead.  I must say I was a little disappointed with our turkey dinner last night.  The stuffing was very dry and the turkey gravy was a brown gravy that tasted like it came from a McCormick's mix.  Shouldn't complain as food has been excellent rest of the cruise so far.  In showroom tonight is the concert pianist again so not going.