Hawaiian Cruise on Holland America's Oosterdam - Part 2

The Oahu tour described in yesterday's blog continued with a stop at one of the locals' favorite shrimp trucks on the north coast for a lunch plate of locally farmed shrimp, chicken or fish and the group sat outdoors under cover to have our picnic lunch.  I chose coconut shrimp which was quite good.

After lunch we headed to the famous Sunset Beach, a beautiful beach well known to surfers for its towering surf during the winter months, where many international surfing contests are held.  It was a lovely day, and we enjoyed watching the surfers.

Here are some views of Sunset Beach:

Next stop was the Dole Pineapple Planation - which is just a gift shop really.  They are famous for their pineapple ice cream.  However, they were so very short staffed that we waited in line for 30 minutes just to get our ice cream, and missed shopping.  Their loss.

After that, we headed back to the ship for a rest and dinner.  Then we headed out to Waikiki Beach - more about that in tomorrow's blog.

Hawaiian Cruise on Holland America’s Oosterdam –Part 1

On February 4, 2012, Neil and I sailed away on a 14 day cruise, joining our friends, Bonnie & Mark, on the Holland America Oosterdam, from San Diego to the Hawaiian Islands and return.

For the first four days we were in a Pacific storm – high winds, cloudy, some rain, and large swells.  This kept the guests indoors; could not go on our balcony or on the outside deck.  The effect was crowding in the Lido Cafe and public areas!  However, we did not get sick and we did not miss a meal.  The food was excellent and so was the ship entertainment.

The weather and ocean conditions delayed our arrival in Hawaii which meant we had to miss the first port of call: Hilo on the big Island of Hawaii.  Quite disappointing as we had an interesting tour booked there.

So our first port of call was Oahu where we took a six hour shore excursion called “Explore & Taste Oahu’s North Shore”  which was led by a naturalist.  First we drove to the Valley of the Temples located at the base of 2000 foot cliffs of the Koolau Mountain range.  Here we visited the Byodo-In Temple, a very tranquil spot where we walked the grounds and saw the golden buddha – 18 feet high.  The Temple was established in 1968 to commemorate the first Japanese immigrants to Hawaii.

 

 

 

 

 

Then on to our next stop which was China Man’s Hat, a small peak shaped Island off the shore of Kualoa Regional Park, a very popular site for weddings.

Then our guide gave us a 30 minute break at Kokololio Beach Park on the east coast of Oahu, which was one of the most photographic stops of our trip – here is why:

 

Mark & Coconut

Next blog: lunch and the afternoon stops.

Backstage Tour of the Ridge Theatre

Yesterday, some couples from our sisterhood group had a personal, backstage tour of the Ridge Theatre by the owner, Leonard Schein.  The Ridge Theatre property is located at 16th & Arbutus in  Vancouver and is slated for demolition to permit the construction of high rise residential towers, with retail at ground level.   Cressey, the developer, has applied to the City for a demolition permit for the entire block.

The Theatre was built in art deco style in about 1950, and has a very identifiable neon sign “Ridge”:

Leonard has leased this space since 1978, and since then has also become involved with the Park and Fifth Avenue Cinemas.  When he leased the Ridge Theatre, he had stained glass windows built and installed facing Arbutus Street, showing an outline of an old movie projector:

Unfortunately the neon sign and the stained glass window are considered the landlord’s property, but there is hope they will become museum pieces, or retained in some way to showcase this part of Vancouver’s history.

Leonard also gave us a tour of the lobby, the theatre, the movie screen and the projection room.  He explained the projection and audio systems, the distribution process for movies, ratings and bookings.  The tour was fascinating and we learned so much about this process. 

There are very few single screen theatres in Metro Vancouver, and the Ridge Theatre certainly has a very interesting history.

(All pictures are thanks to Shawn Gold).

What I am reading now - "The Far Side of the Sky"

Just starting reading "The Far Side of the Sky" by Daniel Kalla, for our next book club meeting.  Daniel Kalla  is an emergency room physician at St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver, and uses his medical knowledge in crafting his novels.

Daniel Kalla - picture from his website

The story takes place initially in Viennia just before the start of WWII with a Jewish surgeon deciding to escape Austria but finding the doors of many other countries closed to Jews.  However, he is able to flee to Singapore.  Then of course, he has to deal with the Japanese invasion.  Look forward to getting right into this novel.