Friday, November 21, 2014

Gold Coast and Cloud Forest

As before, that's the title of today's excursion, and it's a good descriptor of the day.

Still on the big island, but now in the town of Kona on the other side of the island, it's much the same, but also different. Because the harbor is shallow, the ship cannot go to the dock. So, it uses its tenders to shuttle per to and from the island. 

The shuttles are pretty interesting -- they look small, but still hold 99 people plus a crew of about 4. Fully enclosed, I think they would be very safe if the ship had to be abandoned at sea. Painted a bright orange, I think they would be pretty visible in the ocean. The ride from the ship to the dock was smooth and uneventful.

Once on the tour, our first stop was along a beach in Kona. The stop was to see green sea turtles, if any were sunning on the beach. Pretty quickly, we spotted "Barnacle" a regular on the beach.
Named for his one big barnacle on his shell, he was about 3 feet in diameter. He looked like he was enjoying the day and pretty much ignored our presence. The guide told us that he was there most days.

A little further down the beach, we spotted several smaller turtles playing in the shallow water. There were at least 4 there, and were about 2 feet in diameter each. One was floating on the surface, and the other 3 were just below the surface and easily visible in the crystal clear water.

Back on the bus, we headed up the mountain to walk through a cloud forest.  A cloud forest is one where at least 30% of the moisture hitting the ground comes from moisture condensing on leaves and the dropping to the ground. It's not "rain" in the traditional sense, but has the same effect.

The walk itself, about 3/4 of a mile, was in what looks like a tropical rain forest. Thick with greenery from all kinds of plants, it was breathtakingly beautiful. Greenery everywhere. Orchids, ferns philodendron, Palm trees, rainbow eucalyptus,
and so many more everywhere you looked. The walk itself was a bit challenging--roots everywhere along the way, coupled with very uneven terrain made it challenging to stay upright. No one fell, but it could have easily happened.

From there, we went to a small coffee plant. The Mountain Thunder tour was interesting. At this operation, they grow the coffee organically, using no pesticides or herbicides. The guide showed us the red " cherries" and the seeds inside that comprises the beans.
Several operations take place to prepare the beans for roasting, and they are roasted on-site, and sold in wholesale and retail trade.

We sampled the coffee (it tasted the same as other coffee to me, with my cream and sugar). It was a good lesson on coffee growing and the manufacture of coffee.

Then back to the ship for rest and dinner.

As a side note, we're getting tired very easily. From our blog posts, it doesn't sound like we should be tired at all, but we have been very active. Malcolm has been wearing an activity tracker daily on the trip, and is averaging almost 10,000 steps a day, and sleeping just over 7 hours each night. That's a lot for a 67 year old fat guy! And the tiredness is accumulative, with each day a little more tired than the previous day. Not a complaint, but an observation.

The evening's entertainment was excellent, a group of 4 guys (their name now forgotten) doing hits of Frankie Vallie and the 4 Seasons. They were great, with many songs sounding just like the records. We both enjoyed them, singing along with them, the entire concert. 

From there, back to the room to collapse for the night.

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