Monday, 29th September, 2014 - Nawiliwili, Kaua'i, Hawaii

Last night, being our first on board we were not quite sure what to expect. Dinner was open and no set seating. We were almost dumped down at a table with a variety of people including one couple we had met at the lifesaving drill who live in Bathurst (opposite the St Pat's playing fields you pass just before turning into Eleven Mile Drive.) They were nice enough but you don't travel all the way to the USA to sit with people from Bathurst. But there was only one seat available so we were given a table to ourselves. Luckily there was some nice grilled fish with papaya and mango salsa on the menu so we enjoyed dinner. Probably a bit of a mistake to go up to one of the entertainment lounges afterwards, but enjoyed chatting with the husband and wife team providing the music as we comprised the entire audience and they were from Vancouver and quite interesting.
The ship sailed overnight (which is a bit of a pity given we are here to see the passing scenery) and we woke to stunning views of oil refinery tanks and dock buildings.
We hadn't bothered booking an excursion (visit to a coconut processing factory or pineapple history museum, anyone?) but noticed while we were having breakfast, a steady stream of shuttle buses ferrying people to beaches and shopping centres.
Given the lack of suitable formal wear we decided to jump on the KMart shuffle and I managed to find a pair of black evening trousers for about $20 that should suffice. Still a very disappointing shopping experience and so different from what we remembered but that was 27 years ago and we were living in Christchurch at the time so may have viewed the shops differently - or maybe we have been spoilt in Australia.
Very poor internet signal at the moment. More later ...
Spent the afternoon reading and swimming then taking in the view from the top deck when we started the next leg of the journey at 4.30.
Dinner tonight was at our assigned seating - having booked early, requested and been promised a table for two, we were somewhat pissed off at being put at a table for 8. Of the 8, three were Chinese who don't speak English ( but do giggle a lot), the couple from Bathurst (she works for the mapping dept, he is a semi-retired road line painter) and a quite interesting dude called Roger who lives on Maui.
So there you go. We may or may not bother with the formal night tomorrow and we have no excursions booked though table mate Roger says Maui has an interesting history.

                                                                       Passing scenery