Malasada Madness!

We know you've missed us. Turns out the overpriced wireless Internet access on the Pride of Hawaii is (like many things on the Pride of Hawaii) not all it's cracked up to be. Since the connection was too slow to handle complicated tasks like uploading, the blog has had to wait. But we're back in the Admiral's Club (Honolulu Airport) with a honeymoon update.

We began our first morning in Hawaii early, when Stacey woke up at 4 AM (10 AM Boston time). This enabled us to get to Leonard's Bakery by the time it opened at 6 AM.

For those who aren't in the know, Leonard's is known for their malasadas: deep-fried, sugar-dusted balls of Portuguese sweet bread brought to Hawaii in the 19th century with Portuguese laborers. My limited research indicates they are also popular in New Bedford, MA and on Cape Cod (where they are called "flippers") but I have not been able to verify these facts. At Leonard's, malasadas are available plain or filled with custards: chocolate, coconut, plain, or a special flavor of the month. We bought a half dozen: two each of the chocolate, coconut and plain custard filled. They were still warm, and Stacey made me wait until we got back to the hotel to eat them, where we ran to our balcony and dug in. You know we ate the whole box.

When we recovered from our sugar coma, we noticed our cruise ship coming into port:

Then walked off the calories on Waikiki Beach, which is much more tolerable when the tourists are still asleep.

This is Stacey on Waikiki Beach. The pink hotel in the background is the famous Royal Hawaiian. Please note the rainbow in the sky: this is Homoakela, the Hawaiian god of the gays.

After a trip to the mall (as my suitcase was making a tour of the continental US) and a very long line, we boarded the Pride of Hawaii and went to the buffet lunch. Insanity. Imagine most of the ship's 3,000 passengers knocking each other out for the next shot at the soft-serve machine. Lesson learned: just because nacho cheese sauce is readily available, does not mean it is an appropriate all-purpose condiment.

Many of you may have heard about a little storm called Hurricane Flossie. Between Flossie and an earthquake, the Port of Hilo was closed and we spent our first day of the cruise at sea instead. We novice cruisers enjoyed the seven to twelve foot swells on the open ocean, which we attempted to soothe with alcohol and sleep. Since we were also suffering from massive jet lag, sleep was the more effective option.

Upside: we sailed past the eerie, beautiful, mist-shrouded cliffs on the northern coast of the Hawaiian island of Molokai.

Stay tuned for our trip to Maui...