‘Happy 50th Hawai’i

Friday, August 21, 2009 (Dense Fog, Clouds, Rain and 52°…again!)

Our guests for the week also spend part of the year in Maui and share an affinity for the Emerald Isle, so it was only fitting that the 50th anniversary of Hawai’i’s statehood fall during our cruise together. Meals, snacks and evening entertainment centered around this event.

Happy hour snacks were a bit funny, but very in keeping for a snack they are used to in Maui, Maui Onion Potato Chips! If you have never had then, grab some, they are awesome! Prior to departing I was asked to be sure and bake some of my Mac Nut Shortbread cookies, dipped in chocolate too! Also on the menu was my version of kaula pork. Obviously, it is a tad difficult to bury a whole hog or semblance thereof on a yacht, so marinated pork tenderloin would have to do. Asian sautéed veggies accompanied our simple island feast.

By now, I have grown accustomed to grilling in the rain, so after ample marination, the tenderloin was charred to perfection and allowed to rest. Dessert involved more grilling, this time Island Gold pineapple. All the chocolate was used in the dipping of the cookies, otherwise a drizzle of that would have been tasty atop the caramelized pineapple. Movie night feature was ‘As Good As It Gets’.
Lunch was a simple, ‘What’s In The Fridge?’ event. Quesadillas of left-over NY Strip, sweet corn, guacamole and pepperjack cheese. Surprisingly good and just enough to take the coffee jitters away.

We had no idea of the jitters that lay before us as we ventured further into Glacier National Park in search of glaciers, hopefully ones that are calving (see previous post for video). Zig-zaging our way through ice flow of varying sizes, passing Reid and Lamplugh Glacier, we ended up at Johns Hopkins Glacier. We gently ‘tapped’ several chunks of ice as we inched our way to within 1/2 mile of the glacier. At this vantage point we witnessed several calvings, followed 4-5 seconds later by the sonic boom-crack of the ice. The temperature is markedly lower up near the glacier…duh! it’s ice moron! You’ll see from the video/photo below that upon deciding to leave the area we discovered we had been surrounded by ice with no way out! It’s always a tic nerve-wracking when El Capitan states, ‘Gee, this has never happened before’ followed by, ‘Theo, come here and find me a way out of this mess’ We engaged in another Titanic round of ice tapping and pushing to make our way out to ‘clearer’ waters. Another Alaska trip, another story for the ages!











Glaciers calving at Johns Hopkins Glacier.