HI Bye

We finally left the harbor in Honolulu at noon today. The departure was not announced, so there was a lot of scrambling by folks wanting to get in one last cell phone call before we hit international waters again. We enjoyed the nice weather and beautiful views for an extra half day while reading emails from home of school closings and snow dustings. The first picture below is the view from the library window as we passed Diamond Head and the tip of Oahu. We also saw several whales out the library window right after getting out of the harbor.

The afternoon brought us back to regular at-sea kinds of activities. The dependent children had an afternoon enrichment session with Ed, one of the professors, on building gravity-powered cars from cardboard, straws, and plastic wheels. Jr really got into it and built one of the cars that went the farthest. They will have another session or two to continue "rapid prototyping" (just like the entrepreneurs in the onboard Unreasonable Institute programs) of cars with other materials and propulsion sources.

There are a bunch of student-run clubs that are starting to meet, including one that makes balloon shapes!?! Jr and Sr happened upon the meeting and sent me back to the room with their creations. 

I went to a seminar tonight featuring the Presidential Scholars, who are students doing special research projects as part of a scholarship program. They are a diverse group doing everything from a crowd-based art installation in ports and on ship, to researching strategies for disease prevention in Sub-Saharan Africa. I am sure we will see some of them in the library in coming days or weeks as their projects take shape.

We gain another hour tonight, which is great since we all have a cold and can use some extra sleep. There is so much going on with the library, the ship, the students, and my own family that an extra hour every few days is very welcome. I wonder if I can import that idea to C'ville when I get back!