Aloha

 

Students, staff and crew lined the decks as we departed Honolulu at 2000 last night. Everyone was aboard by ship time, had dinner and proceeded to the decks for last cell phone conversations.  I sure hope everyone had plenty of minutes on their plans, because they were getting used.  The mail drop box was busy as well since postcards were getting written and mailed from Honolulu just before we departed.  Nancy and I watched the crew cast off the lines with the help of a forklift on the dock.  Then as the ship moved, the Captain gave a long blast of the horn, and we were off--watching the beauty of the city lights in the background.  It seems like it gets more real at this point. Even the little insecurities of moving about a strange city on a bus will be magnified from here on out with language differences. These challenges will provide growth opportunities for us all as we meet them.

Nancy and I had a conversation about the importance of blogs to parents, and she rightly pointed out that parents have raised the kids, taught them values and watched them develop.  Now they are going out and testing what they have learned, and the parents don't get to see this process.  We are the fortunate ones as we get to watch growth happen.  I've always thought that was one of the best parts about being a librarian at UVa.  We see kids when they come to the University and get to watch them grow right before our eyes--especially the kids who work for us.  It's a beautiful process, and it varies from kid to kid depending of such factors as independence, family values, risk-taking and associations.  I'm enjoying them all and love the "Hi Warner" as we see them in ports.

Anyway, there was a great cheer as the Captain sounded the horn, and things settled down to "shipboard normal" pretty quickly--card games everywhere,-- and everyone talked about port experiences. or posed for pictures

 

I was personally pretty pooped. I had started the day with a 6:00 am field directed practicum (fdp) to the http://www.hawaii-seafood.org/auction/United Fishing Agency Fish Auction.  This is a  place that the fishing boats come to unload their catch and market the fish to  (mostly) wholesalers.  We got to see the unloading of some of the boats. The boats are out for as long a 21 days, and all the fishing is done with long lines--up to 3 miles long.  No netting is done in the Hawaii waters, so the impact on other sea-life is practically nil.

Then each fish gets weighed and labeled with the weight and a barcode.  All the while, they are getting constantly iced down.
Then the bidding takes place.

This is a constant process until all the fish ae gone. 

We followed this up with a classroom lecture--powerpoint and all by one of the NOAA scientists who led the tours. Hawaii and the government are working hard on making fishing a sustainable practice in Hawaii, and it seems to be working. This fdp was was one of the most interesting things I have done so far, and the early hour gave us time to do some other important things. 

LIKE--a trip to Walmart.  I have to say that Walmart is savvy about the ship.  They had courtesy shuttles in both Hilo and Honolulu. I got a few things for the library--pens, pencil sharpener, some replacement copies of videos that had gotten lost and comfort food.  For me, that was ice cream bars. They only come in boxes of six, so I had steeled myself for the challenge.  Fortunately, as I waited for the shuttle, a couple of SaS staffers helped me consume them.  Parents should expect to see charges on their credit cards for personal items like Macadamia nuts.

Nancy had gone on a bus tour of some of the island and saw many the touristy sites. She was awed by the artistic gates on some of the huge mansions.  There is definitely some wealth here. One of the students on the previous day's tour got her wallet stolen, so that was a sad experience but  a teaching moment that benefited a lot of other students.

No one wanted to get back on the ship quite yet. Nancy and I took a quick trip to Starbucks  for the last cup of great coffee and where a bunch of kids were using the free wireless to upload pictures.  Then we hopped on a city bus and shot down to the local beach for the last hour of sunning.  The line for the ship was long when we got back, but we still had an hour and cleared in about 20 min.  The students had a great time in Honolulu, but I personally liked Hilo best. YMMV (Your mileage may vary).