Come sail with me on a virtual cruise to Hawaii on Ruby Princess

[ellie1145]

                                   Friday, April 5th, 2019. 

🎶  ‘Oh, what a beautiful mornin’

       Oh, what a beautiful day,

       I’ve got a beautiful feeling

      Everything's going my way. 🎶

 

 

After a pretty good night’s sleep in a very comfortable bed, I shower and wash my hair, so feel more human. At least the jet lag isn’t so bad this way, it just means we wake early and go to bed early. I can remember the first couple of times we flew to Singapore I felt as if I’d been hit with a sledgehammer. I kept falling asleep at every opportunity, and it was horrid. But this is really ok as we don’t feel tired during the day, just seem to wake early and crash out around 9.00 pm.

 

 

Although we are opposite the runways we really weren’t disturbed by the planes. The room is large and well equipped, with a huge wall of windows overlooking the runway, which is brilliant. I love to watch the ‘planes.

 

It’s just before 7.00 am and we are feeling pretty hungry, so I look on the internet to see if there is anywhere nearby. The only place seems to be a Denny’s, so that’s what we plump for. It’s years since we’ve been in a Denny’s, and it wouldn't normally be our first choice, so we don’t quite know what to expect.

 

 

It’s a lovely morning, and the sun is out, the sky is a brilliant Azure blue, and although it’s a bit chilly and we need our jackets, we are feeling good. It’s a pleasant 15 minute walk, past more big hotels, such as a Marriott, a Sheraton, and several Hilton group hotels. The road is lined with trees, and we can see the airport beside us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Denny’s is pretty empty and we are shown to a table where we order breakfast. It’s hot and fresh and it fills a gap, though it can’t be regarded as healthy, but it goes down a treat, and we are on vacation after all. I particularly love the hash browns. A cup of hot tea for me, and a coffee for DH, completes our breakfast repast. We feel truly revived and ready to start the day. 

 

 

 

We walk back to the hotel and are shocked to see how many homeless people are using the seats on the sidewalk to sleep on.

 

 

 

 

Back at the hotel we get ready to pick up our hire car, DH calls an Uber and we make our way out of the foyer. The Uber arrives swiftly and we are soon dropped off at the Alamo depot, which is close by, but not within walking distance.

 

 

[Vic The Parrot]

Don't leave without me, I'm almost done packing!!  😵🙉

[ellie1145]

4 hours ago, Vic The Parrot said:

Don't leave without me, I'm almost done packing!!  😵🙉

 

Don’t worry, Vic, we will wait for you! 

 

I’ve also ordered some bird seed for you for the flight......🤣🦜

 

 

[voljeep]

How many more days until we get to Hawaii - never been there, but maybe someday 🚢

 

( I really like the new feature that shows how many posts in the thread by the top posters )

[ellie1145]

2 minutes ago, voljeep said:

How many more days until we get to Hawaii - never been there, but maybe someday 🚢

 

( I really like the new feature that shows how many posts in the thread by the top posters )

 

Hi Voljeep! nice to see you. 

 

Yeah, that’s a new and interesting feature.  

 

It is now Friday and we sail on Monday. So not long now.

[ellie1145]

🎶  Get your motor runnin’

       Head out on the highway

       Lookin’ for adventure

       And whatever comes our way. 🎶

                (anyone recognise this song?)

        

The car is waiting and it’s a very nice Nissan, with a couple of thousand miles on the clock. We had only booked an Economy 2-door for the day, but are given a 4 door saloon.

 

 

One thing we really love about the USA are the big cars. They may be gas guzzlers but they are so comfy. They are also automatics, which is quite a rarity in the UK. Now we have driven thousands of miles in Florida, but oh my, LA turns out to be a whole new kettle of fish!

 

So with Mr Google at the ready we make our way to a nearby Target. Whilst the hotel is really nice, the area around it is pretty poor, very industrial, and as we drive further out it becomes more run down. It is also crazy busy on the roads.

 

I need to do a bit of shopping, so that I won’t have to do anything further before we get on the ship (faint hope!) and I am also short of cardigans as it’s really chilly. I had thought California was going to be warm and sunny so didn’t pack enough warm clothes.

 

I think I visualised myself running down the beach into the surf like Pamela Anderson, in a skimpy bikini, tanned and toned, with my long blonde hair streaming out behind me    ........ no, no, we don’t want to clear the beach! They might think it’s a shark attack..... 🦈

 

Anyway, I think I would need one of those Victorian all-in-one swimsuits with fur cuffs as it’s way too cold.

 

Now here’s a piece of useless trivia - did you know that Bay Watch became the most-watched TV show in the world, with an estimated weekly audience of 1.1 billion viewers? There was even a spin-off called Bay Watch - Hawaii!

 

The roads are in a dreadful state everywhere with huge potholes, even the interstates. It certainly isn’t as well cared for as Florida, and there aren’t the lovely roads with palm trees and plants like round Boca and Fort Lauderdale. Drivers are very intense, they hoot at you at the slightest opportunity and are very impatient and drive fast.

 

I love walking round Target. It’s so big and clean, and back in the UK we really don’t have anything like it. DH goes and sits in the cafe with a coffee while I roam about for an hour or so. There are very few cardigans but just as I am about to give up I spy a couple on the ‘reduced’ rail, so I’m pretty pleased.

 

Next stop is Walmart and then Dollar Tree, where I pick up washing powder etc to take on the ship. Thankfully, Ruby has a laundrette, which is close to our cabin so I will be able to wash some clothes on our way to Hawaii.

 

We decide that we won’t go into the city but will take a drive down to the coast to get the lie of the land. Hopefully the driving will be less stressful for DH, and me as the navigator. The interstate is very busy so it’s a bit of a crawl, but eventually we arrive at the coast and make our way to Redondo Beach.

 

We decide to avoid the Interstates in future, if at all possible.

[ellie1145]

Redondo Beach here we come!

 

🎶  Haggerties and Swamies

       Pacific Palisades

       San Onofre and Sunset

       Redondo Beach L.A.

 

       Everybody’s gone surfin’

       Surfin’ USA.  🎶

(For the uninitiated like me, Haggerties and Swamies are both surfing beaches in California. I thought they were some sort of food.. 😉  )

 

Redondo is, apparently, Spanish for ‘round.‘ It is a coastal city in the South Bay region of Los Angeles, along Santa Monica Bay. It has a beach, a pier and a wonderful marina. It is popular with surfers.

 

We find ourselves on Vista del Mar, a road which runs parallel to the coast, and we pass Manhattan Beach and Hermosa Beach on the way. I really enjoy the drive as we pass some amazing houses, which I try to photograph. There are beautiful original homes still evident, and some are Arts and Crafts style homes. Sadly, a few of these historic homes have been demolished and replaced with new and modern houses.

However, some of these are quite spectacular. I would love to own one of those houses which overlook the sea. New homes are limited to no more than 32ft high, but they are allowed rooftop living spaces and decks. What a fantastic view they must have.

 

 

Close to the Marina at Redondo is a huge power plant. It was here that Robert Whyland, an artist famous for his wonderful paintings of whales, painted a huge outdoor mural, called ‘Gray Whale Migration’ which was 586 ft long by 95ft. This was one of a series of 100 outdoor murals, some of which no longer exist, scattered across cities all over the world. It took him 27 year to complete this series, and his murals could be found as far away as Sydney, Hawaii, Pago Pago (American Samoa), Plymouth UK, Nice France, Santos Brazil, and Japan.

 

He grew up in Detroit and was inspired by Jacques Cousteau’s ‘Undersea World’ television series.  It was at Laguna Beach, further down the coast, that he first saw gray whales migrating close to the shore. He was a teenager, but as he says, ‘When you see a whale it changes your DNA.’

 

Redondo Beach is an interesting little place which we really like. It has been the setting for a number of movies, such as ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: World’s End’ which was filmed off the coast of Redondo Beach. It was also the destination of the family in Little Miss Sunshine, and John Travolta’s character, Vincent Vega lived there.

 

It has a number of famous people who either lived there or went to school there. Charles Lindbergh attended Redondo Union High School, as did Demi Moore (for a year).

 

It has attracted numerous artists, actors, authors, musicians, and sport men and women, including Michael Burns who was in Wagon Train, Amy White, an Olympic Swimmer and Silver Medalist, and Edwin Mattison McMillan, an atomic scientist and Nobel Prize winner. Judith Resnik, the second woman in space who, sadly was killed in the Challenger disaster, also lived here .

 

It has a darker side, too as it was also home to Patrick Kearney, a serial killer, as well as a former member of the Manson family, Lynette ‘Squeaky’ Fromme, who attempted the assassination of President Gerald Ford.

 

Redondo Beach has even been mentioned in songs such as ‘Surfin USA’ by the Beach Boys, and in Patti Smith’s song, ‘Redondo Beach.’

[ellie1145]

 

It is late afternoon by now and it has got really chilly so we park in the Redondo Pier and Boardwalk car park and put on our coats, before walking down to the marina.

 

 

 

It is a lovely little place, a bit like Amity in the Jaws experience in Universal, with a little harbour and lots of boats. It also reminds me a bit of Madeira Beach near Tampa, which also has lots of fish restaurants and souvenir shops.

 

 

 

 

 

There are dozens of beautiful yachts docked, and there are Whale Watching and Nature Tours available, as well as submarine trips. In fact, you can even be buried at sea, but we won’t book that trip yet....

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 5, 2020 by ellie1145

[ellie1145]

Boat tours, fishing trips, glass bottomed boats, or even a burial at sea!

 

 

 

 

 

[ROWSE]

Our son and daughter-in-law lived by Hermosa Beach for a year, and before they moved, in February 2019, we were able to visit them and did a walk around Redondo Pier as well, thank you for bringing back memories.  They lived across the street from that huge power plant that you wrote about. 

 

This is a picture of the Hermosa Beach area.  It was a chilly that day as well, but we had beautiful sunshine! 

[ellie1145]

1 minute ago, ROWSE said:

Our son and daughter-in-law lived by Hermosa Beach for a year, and before they moved, in February 2019, we were able to visit them and did a walk around Redondo Pier as well, thank you for bringing back memories.  They lived across the street from that huge power plant that you wrote about. 

 

This is a picture of the Hermosa Beach area.  It was a chilly that day as well, but we had beautiful sunshine! 

 

Thank you for the photo, Rowse. It looks beautiful.

 

We really enjoyed Redondo Beach as you will see. 

Edited November 5, 2020 by ellie1145

[ellie1145]

🎶  Under the sea

       Under the sea

       Nobody beat us

       Fry us and eat us

       In fricassee

       We what the land folks love to cook

       Under the sea we off the hook.....🎶

 

(Anyone want to play ‘Guess the Song?’ There is a prize of my brand new, completely updated, full size, super powered, Vortex vacuum cleaner, just imported from China and waiting to wing its way to you via Amazon, the river of course!  Fastest finger first!)

 

It is quite windy and the sky is overcast as we pass Captain Kidd’s Fish Market and Restaurant. We walk inside and are amazed at the fantastic range of fresh seafood available. You can choose whatever you want and it will be cooked for you, ready to eat outside.

 

Now, as you know, I love photographing flowers, but I could not resist capturing some of these amazing fish on camera. Hope you enjoy the pictures. Some of the crustaceans are still alive in large plastic tanks.

 

These huge lobster have their large and dangerous looking claws taped together so they can’t cause any damage when they are picked up.

 

 

 

 

[ellie1145]

 🎵 We got a hot crustacean band

        Each little clam here

        Know how to jam here

       Under the sea 🎵   

 

Next door to the lobster is a huge tub of crabs, waiting to be chosen, before being cooked. 

 

Little do they know what fate has in store for them! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 5, 2020 by ellie1145

[ellie1145]

🎵  The fish on the land ain't happy

       They sad 'cause they in their bowl

       But fish in the bowl is lucky

       They in for a worser fate

       One day when the boss get hungry

       Guess who's gon' be on the plate. 🎵

 

 

Delicious thought these may be, they are not for me.....

 

 

 

This selection of seafood has been cooked ready to eat.

 

Edited November 5, 2020 by ellie1145

[USCcruisecrazy]

Okay, I was a little late to the party and have just gotten to page #5.  I absolutely love your style and flair.  My wife and I have never been to Hawaii so I am looking forward to the journey.  We were going to go with the entire family this coming May for our 40th Anniversary Celebration, but have decided to postpone until some future date.  In the mean time, I'm getting very excited to go on the ride with you!!

[USCcruisecrazy]

4 hours ago, ellie1145 said:

🎶  Get your motor runnin’

       Head out on the highway

       Lookin’ for adventure

       And whatever comes our way. 🎶

                (anyone recognise this song?)

        

The car is waiting and it’s a very nice Nissan, with a couple of thousand miles on the clock. We had only booked an Economy 2-door for the day, but are given a 4 door saloon.

 

 

One thing we really love about the USA are the big cars. They may be gas guzzlers but they are so comfy. They are also automatics, which is quite a rarity in the UK. Now we have driven thousands of miles in Florida, but oh my, LA turns out to be a whole new kettle of fish!

 

So with Mr Google at the ready we make our way to a nearby Target. Whilst the hotel is really nice, the area around it is pretty poor, very industrial, and as we drive further out it becomes more run down. It is also crazy busy on the roads.

 

I need to do a bit of shopping, so that I won’t have to do anything further before we get on the ship (faint hope!) and I am also short of cardigans as it’s really chilly. I had thought California was going to be warm and sunny so didn’t pack enough warm clothes.

 

I think I visualised myself running down the beach into the surf like Pamela Anderson, in a skimpy bikini, tanned and toned, with my long blonde hair streaming out behind me    ........ no, no, we don’t want to clear the beach! They might think it’s a shark attack..... 🦈

 

Anyway, I think I would need one of those Victorian all-in-one swimsuits with fur cuffs as it’s way too cold.

 

Now here’s a piece of useless trivia - did you know that Bay Watch became the most-watched TV show in the world, with an estimated weekly audience of 1.1 billion viewers? There was even a spin-off called Bay Watch - Hawaii!

 

The roads are in a dreadful state everywhere with huge potholes, even the interstates. It certainly isn’t as well cared for as Florida, and there aren’t the lovely roads with palm trees and plants like round Boca and Fort Lauderdale. Drivers are very intense, they hoot at you at the slightest opportunity and are very impatient and drive fast.

 

I love walking round Target. It’s so big and clean, and back in the UK we really don’t have anything like it. DH goes and sits in the cafe with a coffee while I roam about for an hour or so. There are very few cardigans but just as I am about to give up I spy a couple on the ‘reduced’ rail, so I’m pretty pleased.

 

Next stop is Walmart and then Dollar Tree, where I pick up washing powder etc to take on the ship. Thankfully, Ruby has a laundrette, which is close to our cabin so I will be able to wash some clothes on our way to Hawaii.

 

We decide that we won’t go into the city but will take a drive down to the coast to get the lie of the land. Hopefully the driving will be less stressful for DH, and me as the navigator. The interstate is very busy so it’s a bit of a crawl, but eventually we arrive at the coast and make our way to Redondo Beach.

 

We decide to avoid the Interstates in future, if at all possible.

I had the album with that tune when I was a teenager...Steppenwolf!!!

[memoak]

23 minutes ago, USCcruisecrazy said:

I had the album with that tune when I was a teenager...Steppenwolf!!!

Lead singer John Kay

[ellie1145]

1 hour ago, USCcruisecrazy said:

Okay, I was a little late to the party and have just gotten to page #5.  I absolutely love your style and flair.  My wife and I have never been to Hawaii so I am looking forward to the journey.  We were going to go with the entire family this coming May for our 40th Anniversary Celebration, but have decided to postpone until some future date.  In the mean time, I'm getting very excited to go on the ride with you!!

 

So glad to have you sailing along with us! Better late than never, and thanks to it being a ‘virtual’ cruise you can never be too late!

 

Thank you for your kind words.

 

So sorry to hear that your planned cruise and 40th Anniversary Celebration has had to be postponed. Let’s hope you will be able to re-book in the future. 🎊

 

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the rest of the adventure.

[ellie1145]

1 hour ago, USCcruisecrazy said:

I had the album with that tune when I was a teenager...Steppenwolf!!!

 

You are absolutely right, USCcruisecrazy! 

 

One of my brand new, completely updated, full size, super powered, Vortex vacuum cleaners, just imported from China, is waiting to wing its way to you via Amazon, the river of course!  

 

For anyone who wonders what on earth that is all about I’m afraid you will have to read my other ‘virtual’ on Majestic Princess to Fiji. It all started with  rmf11699 imagining me as Mrs Doubtfire, and it just got crazier after that! 🤣

[ellie1145]

1 hour ago, memoak said:

Lead singer John Kay

 

Well done!

 

One of my brand new, completely updated, full size, super powered, Vortex vacuum cleaners, just imported from China, is waiting to wing its way to you via Amazon, the river of course!  

[ellie1145]

 

🎶  Just look at the world around you

       Right here on the ocean floor

       Such wonderful things surround you

       What more is you lookin’ for?  🎶

 

I am fascinated by the live sea urchins, with their dangerous looking spines. While I stand there a lady picks one up so I quickly photograph it. They are beautifully coloured, some a deep black, others a pinky colour. They have a hard shell which protects their internal organs, and can move using tiny tube feet.

 

 

 

Now I have to admit that I had no idea that people actually ate sea urchins but apparently, the coast of Southern California is a source of high quality sea urchins, many of which are exported to Japan. Divers  search for them at depths of up to 80ft.  I can’t say I fancy trying this ‘delicacy’ but we do see some people outside eating them.

 

 

Aren’t they just incredible?

[ellie1145]

 

🎶  The carp play the harp

       The plaice play the bass

       And they soundin’ sharp.

       The bass play the brass

       The chub play the tub

       The fluke is the duke of soul. 🎶

 

 

As we walk along the market we see examples of many fish which are not found in the UK.

 

 

We have eaten and enjoyed Tilapia onboard several ships.

 

 

 

I was introduced to Snapper on my first cruise on Australis, which used to do the Australia/New Zealand immigrant run.  

 

 

 

 

 

It’s fascinating to see all the fish looking so fresh.

 

Edited November 5, 2020 by ellie1145

[ellie1145]

I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a range of fresh fish. Once you choose your preferred fish they weigh it and you pay for it and then they cook it for you. There are tables and chairs set up outside where you can eat. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[#55worktoplay]

Just came across this so late to the party. 
 

I am so enjoying your story telling. You have a wonderful way of words. Thank you!

 

i will have to now go back and read your other reviews. 

[ellie1145]

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we leave the market we see that the sky has brightened and the sun has come out. It’s a busy marina and little yachts are sailing in and out.

 

 

We walk further along the marina, towards the beach, but the tide is high so we cannot walk along the sand. Ahead of us is a long pier, which we will visit another day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 5, 2020 by ellie1145