In Search of Aloha Part I

I’m told that the Hawaiian word aloha means hello and goodbye. Apparently it also means love. For me, aloha depicts a serene attitude, a fresh perspective on life, and a mystical, tropical mood.

We are going on a search for the spirit of aloha aboard the Holland America cruise ship, the Oosterdam during a fifteen day trip.

I’m writing this on April 11^th, 2012. My wife Susan and I are on the 12^th day of our first Hawaiian cruise. We’re relaxing on the queen size bed in our veranda room that measures about 350 cozy, square feet. I can feel a slight pitching motion from the cruise ship as it sails towards the last destination of our trip: Ensenada, Mexico about 1700 nautical miles away.

I’m looking at the green and yellow lei hanging from the left side of our 28 inch flat screen TV in the corner of our cabin. A pink lei is draped on the right side, and we propped up two souvenir prints purchased in Honolulu in front of the TV between the colorful leis.

The picture on the left is a beautiful seascape scene with mighty white-cap waves, turquoise and navy-blue seas, purple mountains, and a mauve sky. The picture on the right is a gorgeous yellow Hibiscus with a flaming red center, signed “Aloha” by the local artist Lanai Johnson.

The view from our veranda deck this early morning was a study in black and white: The sky was overcast, filled with clouds that looked like rolled-up, white bathroom towels; the rolling sea was a shale grey that rippled and churned; creamy foam swirls undulated with serrated peaks and pointed crests. Occasionally, blue holes in the clouds appeared; sunlight streamed through the openings like spotlights on a grand stage. Gray, black, and white clouds merged into a shimmering thin, gold drape that kissed the mesmerizing ocean horizon.

I grabbed the smooth, varnished rail on our veranda deck, leaned my body way back, and with a smile on my face, rode the alluring ocean swells. To my astonishment, the thin light drape morphed into a beckoning pathway of light that transformed the ocean into a silver sheen. The sky turned purple, gold, pink. Sunlight warmed my face; the water became a banquet of twinkling diamonds. So I took a couple more deep breaths, and rode the Oosterdam into a dawn of a new day.

(Stay tuned for Part II of our search for the spirit of aloha.)