Another Busy Day at Sea ..seems like an oxymoron

To be busy at sea seems funny because sea days are often looked at as days to recover from busy ports of call and touring. We started with sea days so most of us were not "looking for just hanging at the pool" (are Karen & I ever that type?). Oceania made sure there were activities almost every hour to fill a wide range of interests.

Today, our second day at sea on our way to Hawaii. Karen went to hear Mele and Malia the Polynesian ambassadors speak about (and dance) regarding the history of Hula. Mele, multilingual musician, dancer and cultural expert and Malia the Polynesian dance expert and expert on traditions are the Hawaiian Ambassadors that teach language, craft, and hula. Hula is more than a dance it is the way they tell their history, a type of communication before written language. It's their genealogy, cosmology and defines the their relationship between people and their as well as land and their gods. It is used in all of their ceremonies (historically done by men). Hula steps are repeated twice, accompanied by ceremonial drums (i.e., pahu, ipu). In the period 1778-1893 western contact in Hawaii, suppressed Hula and did not allow it because they considered it leud. When it came back after over 100 years with King Kalakaua, who restored it at his coronation. There was a cultural rebirth of language, chant, navigation and hula. Hula weaves movement, voice intention and aesthetics into a single storytelling act to honor ancestry and place. He said it was the language of the heart and the "heartbeat of the Hawaiian people". In the 1970s Elvis made it popular with grass shirts and coconut tops.

Today I went to the Passenger vs Officer challenge (see photos of the officers playing), my second session of Sing-Out-Loud (they haven’t thrown me out yet), went to another photography class and then to hear about Project AZORIAN (see separate posting about this incredible true secret story …ready for a movie).

After that we met up at the String Quartet and then for live piano music before their dinner reservations at Red Ginger (our favorite restaurant at sea). After a long dinner we went to see Andrew Grose a Canadian Comedian (a "relationship" comedian) and although we rarely like ship comedians because of all the old cruise jokes, they tell, both of us were hysterical laughing throughout his routine. Hmmm, read into that as you may. We followed it with a little late night live Beatles music in the Horizons lounge.Læs mere