Rance Rizzutto

As we were entering our final two weeks of the cruise there were two things we wanted to do. One of these things was a helicopter ride. Being in Hawaii as long as we had gave us opportunities to ask around.

You may remember earlier in the cruise we did an airplane tour over the volcano on the big island. While that was great, we were a little jealous as we saw helicopters far below us doing the same tour.

So, on the island of Kauai, we went with the Jack Harter open-air helicopter tour. It was a little expensive, but it was definitely worth it.

Kauai is the island where a lot of movies and TV shows were filmed or partially filmed, like Jurassic Park, MASH, Fantasy Island, and Tropic Thunder.

The tour went all over the island and the Napali coast was amazing. If you’re ever in Kauai, spend the money and make sure it is the open air tour.

The Road to Hana is just that…a road to a town called Hana. Famous because it is long and winding and there are many waterfalls along the way. So you stop and go along the way.

It took us about 5 hours to go 40 miles what with stopping for views and lunch.

Last week there was an 8.8 earthquake in Chile. Imagine hearing about this on the news…and then hearing there is a Tsunami warning for Hawaii…and then realizing you’re on a ship off the coast of Honolulu.

Tada!

Normally Saturday morning is filled with early morning announcements of who is cleared to leave the ship. The luggage tags you pick are connected to a departure time somewhere in between 7:00am-9:30am.

Instead, we awoke to one announcement letting everyone know why we were still at sea, and that same announcement given in Japanese.

Everything on the coast was evacuated, supposedly. The harbor was closed. Besides, the ship and everyone on it would be safest out at sea.

Everyone was following news reports: what had been hit, projected times, etc. We were supposed to get tsunami’d at 11:25am.

Now, this wouldn’t be the movie version of a 100ft tall wave blocking out the sun and sending us to Atlantis. It was reported that it would be 3-6ft high, which doesn’t sound that bad except that it have a lot of speed and force behind it. On land that could have meant easy destruction. At sea that would have meant the ship kind of bobs up and over it.

All in all the tsunami never really happened. The water level raised and lowered about a meter in Hilo and that was the worst of it.

The coast guard still needed to clear the harbor and around 4pm they allowed us to come in and start the process we normally start at 7:00am.

For the situation, I never felt like I was closer to a potential natural disaster while feeling like I was in the safest place.

Last week the ship was offering a deal on surfing lessons to the crew. We’re in Hawaii, right? That means we should probably surf!

Mike, Piero, Deanna and I signed up, along with two other crew members. Look at those surfers ride those waves! This should be fun! And easy! And graceful!

Well. We got our boards and a quick lesson about where to stand on the board, how to maneuver the board when sitting on it and such. The six of us headed out with our instructor. All paddling out together. I remember that first time paddling out. It seemed pretty easy.

Once we got out there it was just a matter of waiting. The instructor wanted us to go one at a time with his help before we went on our own. We were doing this all in Kauai in a place that always has waves, yet the equivalent of a bunny hill in ski terms…a good place to learn.

I finally got up for my time to shine. “Make sure when you fall, you fall flat. It’s shallow out there.” says the instructor. Moments later he shoves my board forward and says “GO! GO! GO!”

I kind of did it that first time. But it didn’t last for long. I fell…flat, as instructed, but still managed to scratch up my hands on the coral and rocks below. It was only two to three feet deep. I stood up and yanked on the bungee cord connecting my ankle to the board. I only had a few moments before the next wave came and if I wasn’t back on my board I would be rolled around in the coral.

Now, you would think the hard part would be getting up on the board. I say that is easy…compared to attempting to paddle back out. He told us to paddle AROUND where the break was happening. So, we would have to paddle to the left a bit and then head out. I remembered him telling us that so I paddled left for what felt like 100 feet. As I then started to straighten out and head to deeper waters I got hit by wave after wave. I would paddle about 10 feet and get knocked back 5. Very tiring. I didn’t understand why it was so difficult this time and so easy the first time. I looked back at the shore and realized that the current and wind was also blowing me back into the wave zone.

I think my second time up was possibly the best. Still only up for a few seconds, but at least I got up. I didn’t even make it all the way out for a good third run because I couldn’t get around the waves and was tired.

Overall Mike was definitely the best of the four of us. I was second best and worst was debatable.

By the end of it all the four of us were a collection of soreness and cut up hands and feet. We’re glad we surfed. We don’t need to do it again.

I feel like I’m trying to get things rollin’ for when I get back…which is just under two months away.

One thing we’ve set up while we’re out here is a series of workshops with Laughtrack theater in Honolulu. They’re pretty stoked (does anyone say stoked anymore?) about having people from the mainland available as a resource to their improvisors, and we’re super pumped to be that resource.

I started off the series last Saturday with my Improv Rehab class. One in the morning and one in the afternoon. I love this workshop because it always melts brains no matter what the level of the improvisor.

Hopefully everyone had as much fun as they seemed to be having.

If you’re in Hawaii and want to take classes, contact info@laughtracktheater.com. I think there is still room in the morning classes.

Every Wednesday we’re in Kona. We usually get there around noon and get coffee and use their internet.

Today we found out you can go to www.konaweb.com and look at their web cam. Our ship is in the background and we’re usually sitting just to the side of the camera, so text us and we’ll pop in.

PS. Noon=2pm Oregon time, 4pm Chicago time

So, I feel I have to comment on my trolley ride today. I’ll keep it as vague as I can, but people who know who I’m talking about will know enough details to piece it together.

Most of our destinations have shuttle buses, but a couple have trolleys that come by to take passengers to destinations. This is probably the third time I’ve taken this trolley, and I only decided to take it because I had noticed that there has been a different driver the past few weeks.

When we first rode the trolley we were warned about the driver not allowing cell phones (that should be a dead give away for the prior cast). The driver I had seen lately seemed a lot more relaxed and fun.

Today I planned on taking the trolley to the mall to get a coffee, and then just take a nice walk back. You know, takin’ it easy on show day. Well I wait around for the trolley and play some Settlers on my iTouch. The trolley pulls up. I go to get on while still playing my game. “No cell phones on the trolley.” Oh no. Once everyone boarded he told me again. I decided it wasn’t worth the effort to explain to him that it wasn’t a phone, or to ask why phones weren’t allowed. I could understand if he didn’t want people talking while he did his spiel, but not even texting? But I knew the answer. This guy likes to hear his own voice.

There were only two passengers and about 4 crew, so his entire talk was pretty much about how the other driver is probably going to get fired because he wasn’t checking IDs on the return trip, and he was taking people with beach towels…and that the other driver had a brain the size of a peanut. It seems the company put him back on because he “can make people do what he says.”

To break it down…this guy is a dick. You just get that vibe. But it went further today because he was trying to impress the crew. This is the conversation best as I can remember:

“The other guy is probably going to get fired. They put me back on because I can make people do what I say. It doesn’t matter if they like it or not. I was in the military and I don’t cay-ah (care). I was on a better job than this but they put me back here because of them. I don’t like driving THIS trolley because you can’t adjust the seat or wheel. I have to lean forward to reach the wheel. I told them if they keep me on this trolley I’m going to take the cushions off the passenger benches so they don’t get comfort if I don’t. I’m just sharin’ the love I get. Yeah. I’m gonna hit the bumps extra hard.”

crew: “you’ll get fired.”

“There’s no way I can get fired. There’s nothing they can do to me. First off, my uncle is the Maui Sheriff. Second, I am from royalty. My lineage has been proven by the federal state. When I was in the military I had so many article 15s and all I ever got was a slap on the wrist because they knew I was royalty. One time they tried to punish me and the whole town got up set and said ‘we’ll burn this whole place down if you do anything to him.’ So, they said ‘it isn’t worth it…let him go.’ There’s no way I could get fired.”

100% bullshit. I remember when I went on vacation in London and Prince Charles was doing double-decker bus tours. There must be something about giving someone a microphone and letting him talk that eventually makes them believe “not only can I say anything, but whatever I saw is true.”

It was only made worse by some of the crew buying into his story.

So, if you ride on a trolley, and it gets to the point where stuff like that is being said you probably have the right to say “why are you driving a trolley if you’re royalty?”