OK, I’m officially undergoing Hawai’i withdrawal, and it’s all because of Moana Chang’s lovely “Boat Days In Hawaii” CD I received in the mail while I was back East last week. Ahhhhhh……

Listening to it for the first time brought me back to that lovely moment I mentioned in my brief recap of the highlights of our vacation, hearing a band playing Hawaiian music on the Aloha Tower pier beneath our ship as it slipped silently out of its berth and towards the Pacific and our 7-night voyage around the Hawaiian Islands. The music that night was incredibly lovely to behold, the female voice who sang in Hawaiian alternatively hauntingly or cheerfully beautiful, depending on the tune being played. I’ll always remember hearing the soft strains of “Aloha ‘Oe” slowing fading into the distance as the sounds of land and civilization were gradually replaced by the breezy, nautical sounds of a cruise ship underway in the tropical moonlight.

One can imagine my delight, then, at discovering that the Moana Chang CD I purchased almost as an afterthought while perusing through various tiki bar accessory websites (and there are literally dozens of them out there!) just so happens to be by the very same artist we heard serenading us that night on the Aloha Tower pier. This, from the liner notes accompanying her CD:

“…In 1999, Moana got involved with the Aloha Boat Days Committee, a perfect pairing with her talents and passions! As Music Coordinator for Aloha Boat Days, Moana Chang and her Aloha Tower Entertainers provide the world’s most gracious welcome and farewell at Honolulu Harbour. This compact disc is a compilation of favorites from Moana’s Aloha Boat Days repertoire.

Way cool! By pure coincidence, we have a lovely little reminder of our Hawaiian cruise experience available at the push of a button. Who woulda thunk it? It’s only been a month, but here in the suburban confines of our Arizona subdivision, Hawai’i seems a place long ago and far away, indeed. But thanks to Moana Chang and her lovely CD, the weeks and miles melt away and we’re once again there, if only in our imaginations.

So, if you want to experience for yourself a little bit of the magical and festive atmosphere that goes with being on a cruise ship departing from the Honolulu pier on a lovely tropical evening – at a fraction of the cost! – you can’t do any better than Moana Chang’s “Boat Days In Hawai’i”. Aloha!