Finale

Well, exams are over, grades have been turned in, the Ambassadors/Alumni ball was held last evening. And, now everyone is finding boxes and packing all those wonderful items and trinkets accumulated over the past 4 months.  It has been a very special voyage.  Monday morning will have us arriving in San Diego when this 700 person community will part ways.

Joel, Julie, me and Donna

with Andres, who took both my courses

The Archbishop

With only a few days left on this voyage the ship is a buzz with final exams, grading, packing etc. Archbishop Tutu and his wife Leah hosted a very nice reception for the faculty, staff, and life long learners two nights ago.  He really could be a stand up comic as he had the crowd in the palm of his hand with several jokes.  It has been a delight having the two of them on board for the entire voyage.

The Archbishop working the crowd

Final exam time

Our faculty

We are in our final days of the voyage. "A" day finals were held yesterday, "B" day today and the Global seminar on Friday.  This will be followed up by Commencement on Saturday and a bunch of packing.  Come Sunday evening our boxes and luggage need to be ready as we disembark Monday morning in San Diego.  To say that this has been a terrific and amazing journey would be an understatement.  Glad you have been along for the ride via this blog.

 

 

Final exam time

"Oh Hell" celebration

My extended family on board ship plays one game of "Oh Hell" every evening at about 1830.  Last night I decided to celebrate this occasion by having the chef make us an ice cream cake.

The "Oh Hell" family

Hawaii, Part 2- the Big Island

After a delightful 2 days on Oahu we sailed overnight to Hilo, for another 2 days, one night.  Jeremy Stringer, the Dean of Student Affairs, and I joined forces and headed to the Kona side of the island.  Jeremy had a time-share condo awaiting for us in Kona, so I rented the car.  Jeremy, my navigator, got us off on a rocky start.  About 4 miles from the airport, where we rented the car, he says, "I think the ocean is on the wrong side".  Drat, they turned the island around on us...well, one u-turn later we were now headed in the right direction....north.  After checking into the condo our first stop was "Snorkel Bob's" to rent our snorkeling gear.

The fish of Hawaii

We snorkeled at the Kahalu'u Beach Park, only about 4 miles south of Kona. While we did not see all the fish shown on the poster we did see over a dozen different species plus huge turtles.  The shallow (about 4 to 5 feet) and warm water allowed us to view the fish up close and personal in great comfort.
After a fish taco snack we headed north to view the sunset and enjoy the grounds of the Four Seasons Resort.

Jeremy and his Chi Chi

Sunset in Paradise

On the second day we headed back to Hilo via the southern route stopping at the Black Sand beach which was chock full of turtles.  Our much too brief stay was punctuated by our last walk up the gangway back into the MV Explorer for our sail to San Diego.

Black sand beach

A little R & R time in Hawaii

Classes ended on Thurs and we arrived in Oahu on Friday, for two days.  I spent most of my time with my Aunt Gay.  We played two rounds of golf-- the first day at Waialae (where the Sony Open PGA tournament is held each Jan) where she has been a member for years.  And, yesterday we played at Olamana, over on the north side of the island.  We arrive into Hilo in a couple of hours and snorkeling is the game plan over in Kona.

They trimmed the palm trees to form the "W", for Waialea

Aunt Gay

Let's negotiate a maritime boundary treaty

The culmination of my Geography of the Oceans course was to have the students, who represented either the Kingdom of Kodiak or the Republic of St. Elias, attempt to negotiate a maritime boundary. What normally would take about a decade was compressed into less than 2 hours of time. They did a great job as they took on roles of the Dept. of Defense, Commerce, Interior, and State.

A negotiating round is underway

Discussing retirement with the Archbishop

Yesterday, one of the anthropology profs held a panel on retirement issues and asked me to give "my story"-- a pleasant surprise occurred when the Archbishop walked in (it was a 0800 class) and sat down beside me.  He had some interesting comments-- during his time as Archbishop of Capetown, during the period of Apartheid, he said it was easier to be mad about something than it was during his second career, post-Apartheid, when he headed the Reconciliation Committee when they had to build up society.  The Archbishop had a busy day as in the evening he spoke at two fora:  Human Rights and Christianity in modern society.

Archbishop making his point