After a breakfast of vegan cereal, fruit, and toast (and some fresh brewed kona coffee for me), Deborah and I walked the "beach walk" path in the opposite direction from that which we had walked yesterday. This southerly course was much less rewarding, as the view of the sea was obscured by large hotel buildings. But it was still exercise and ended up being about 1.75 miles in total.
We farted around most of the morning, incorporating some more beach lounging and vitamin D production (via tropical Hawaiian sun exposure). Getting a bit stir crazy around lunchtime, I suggested that we depart for the PWF about an hour earlier than planned and posited that we could get beverages at the Starbucks close to the PWF (that we had observed yesterday) if we got there early. It turned out to be fortuitous that we departed early, because there was a considerable traffic jam on the main highway from our resort to the PWF. This delayed us a bit, but we still had time to hit the Starbucks before checking in at the PWF for our whale watching tour.
The weather had begun to deteriorate and the sky was gray and overcast, so I already knew there was unlikely to be any observable sunset on the "sunset" whale watching cruise. The boat was a stylish catamaran and I always enjoy a good boat ride, regardless. After exiting the harbor under fossil fuel power, the boat's crew put up the catamaran's sails (mainsail and jib) and cut power to the engines, allowing the boat to proceed more quietly and fuel efficiently through the sea, tacking occasionally in search of the best whale observing vicinities.
We saw a few whales at a distance, though nothing super close to the boat or especially exciting. Still...whales are cool and I am perfectly fine with not needing to ogle them; just letting them go about their business of baleening krill and small fish and blowholing all over the place.
It started to rain. We were fairly well prepared for this wearing layered and somewhat water resistant clothing. It did not make for much quality photography though. This boat crew didn't devote nearly as much attention to offering vegan fare as did the crew on the snorkeling expedition yesterday, but we had planned to get pizza for dinner after the cruise at the Point Break pizza joint next to the PWF anyway, so not a big deal. I had a couple of complimentary Hawaiian branded cans of IPA beer, early in the cruise. By the end of the cruise, I was ready for it to be over. There were a number of annoying passengers on the boat, most of them white and privileged. In retrospect, the handful of minority passengers on the sloop catamaran were much more pleasant and modest, the way all humans ought to be in my opinion.
After leaving the boat, we did in fact enjoy a pizza dinner at the Point Break pizza joint. Then we endured a stressful drive back to the resort in low visibility dark and rainy conditions. I was not in a great mood when we got back to our bungalow, but I intentionally practiced mindfulness to restore my inner Zen and we watched a bit of TV on Deborah's tablet before retiring.
Tomorrow was slated to be a day free from obligations, and I was looking forward to chilling out and disconnecting, ideally with some sunshine. However, according to the Weather Bug weather app on my phone, the remainder of our tropical Hawaiian vacation is slated to be full of more rain and considerable wind (Sunday and Monday). That being said, our one remaining planned tropical excursion is a tour of a Hawaiian chocolate farm/factory two days hence, and weather is not a significant concern for this outing, in my mind. I am hopeful and confident that the chocolate farmers agree and welcome us to their world on Sunday (today is Friday).
I would much rather be experiencing Hawaiian "bad weather" than Wisconsonian "bad weather," as they are two very different animals, with the latter being far more miserable, generally. In the grander big picture scheme of things, I have determined that an intentional life goal and aspiration is to live somewhere more tropical that does not experience sub-freezing temperatures nor snow. Ideally, this place would be Melbourne Australia, where I was born. However, I may need to temper that "ideal" somewhat to accommodate Deborah's needs and life ambitions. She has said she is open to "snow birding" once we retire from the workforce in a few years, as her mom currently does - enjoying the mild and pleasant summers of Wisconsin and the mild and pleasant winters of Florida. I hope she is sincere in that regard. I am not a huge fan of Florida, but living half of the year there to avoid Wisconsin winters does fall within the acceptable parameters of the aforementioned life goal and aspiration. I shall begin the process of restructuring the Cosmos to that end forthwith!
Stay tuned for tomorrow's travelogue!
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