It is 9:45pm and we have just arrived back at the ship after 12 hours ashore in Honolulu. There is much to report about the day, and no energy to report it. I'll publish this much as a place holder, and will do a complete post tomorrow.
Once we arrived in Chinatown, we spotted this bride and groom being photographed as they walked down a street with their wedding party. Interesting attire on the groom!
I have often wondered what kind of boats were used in the Polynesian Migration, (started 3500 years ago and ending less than 1000 years ago). We think Columbus sailing from Spain across an unknown sea in 1492 was impressive? These people were doing it long before that.
On board time was 9:30pm tonight, and we had an entire Honolulu bus full of people rooting for us to make it and sending us off with waves and encouragment as we ran the last couple of blocks to the ship. We have once again lived up to our reputation (probably on our permanent Princess record) of being seldom early, never late to return to the ship. And never late is all that matters in the end. :-)
OK...it is 6:30am the next day now, and though I am missing viewing our arrival in Maui from Deck 11 forward, I am watching it on the ship's webcam from the comfort of my bed, AND I will get this post published before I go to breakfast, so that's not a bad trade off.
Honolulu weather yesterday was as perfect as it could be, quite a change from the prior evening when we returned to the ship looking like we'd just walked through a car wash. It was nice to sleep on a totally stable ship, and we had even left our drapes closed (cabin steward Jackie always closes them when she turns down our bed at night and we usually open them the second we return to our cabin.) But in Honolulu, our large window looked directly out at the even larger windows on the side of the Aloha Tower terminal building, so it seemed wise to keep them closed. Plus, it gave us the added benefit of not awakening at dawn.
Still, the ship was noisy quite early from the flurry of activity related to disembarkation, and a gangway had been set up just one cabin away from ours, and people were lined up to disembark from just after 7am on. We took advantage of our AT&T cell service to make a couple of business-type calls from our cabin and then went up to the Panorama Buffet to enjoy breakfast and the view on the back terrace.
And what a view! The Disney Wonder had arrived early this morning and was at the other pier, a freighter was being tugged into place and fighter jets were taking off from a nearby air base. There was plenty to keep us entertained while we ate.
We returned to our cabin to pack up for a busy day, and by 9am we were walking off the ship. Our first goal was to walk through Chinatown, and so we crossed Ala Moana Blvd. and walked north along the Fort Street Pedestrian Mall.
There was lots to see along the way, not least of which was this window ad at McDonalds for Taro Pie.
Once we arrived in Chinatown, we spotted this bride and groom being photographed as they walked down a street with their wedding party. Interesting attire on the groom!
Eventually, we boarded a #2 Bus for the trip west across Honolulu to the highly recommended Bishop Museum, a repository of all things Hawaiian and Polynesian. Located in a rather non-descript neighborhood, the museum itself is a showplace, housed in a series of gorgeous old buildings that used to be the home of the King Kamehameha School for boys in the late 1800s.
While approaching the buildings, we first encountered a mini-Moai from Easter Island.
The cost to tour the museum was about $20 per person, but with our military IDs, we ended up paying just $12 each. (And please note: a military ID, either Active or Retired, is gold in Honolulu. Nearly everything offers a military discount).
We spent several hours roaming through the Hawaii Hall (three floors of Hawaiian artifacts) and the Pacific Hall (two floors of Polynesian artifacts), the Ali'i hall (Hawaiian royalty artifacts) and the gardens. I could post photos forever, but in the interest of time will share only a few.
An entire exhibit was dedicated to the Polynesian Migration and explained the scientific analysis that is used to determine in which order the islands were populated over the course of 2500 years. One method is studying the language, and this very interesting exhibit was used to demonstrate the similarities and differences between different words in the various Polynesian languages.
And this pic shows the movement of food between Polynesia and South America.
I was particularly taken with the weaving techniques and textile crafts.
But after several hours of walking and reading, we were getting Polynesianed-out and had another reservation to get to in Waikiki by 5pm. As we were walking the couple of blocks from the museum to the closest bus stop, a man was walking toward us and I kept thinking he looked like Douglas Pearson. Upon closer observance, he was. He was squeezing in a quick late afternoon visit to the museum himself.
The day was hot, near 90F, and the AC on the long, articulated bus was not working. Yikes. After 10 minutes to so, the driver pulled over and told us to disembark...another bus had pulled up just behind us that did have working AC. Thank goodness, because we were on the bus for nearly an hour, making our way back across busy Honolulu to the Waikiki area.
It was nearly 4:30pm by then, and we had not eaten since breakfast. We grabbed a quick sandwich at a Subway and made our way to the beach, where we boarded the Holokai catamaran for a sunset cruise in Waikiki Bay. An open bar, beautiful views of Diamond Head and a gorgeous sunset. What a way to end the day. Unfortunately, my iPhone battery was long dead, and we used the waterproof camera for photos.
Holokai catamaran with Waikiki and Diamond Head in the background
It was dark as we walked back to the Hale Koa and had one more maitai for the road, and then had to walk back to the Ala Moana Mall to catch a bus back to the ship. Maybe we should have skipped that last drink (we definitely should have) because we were pushing the on board time of 9:30pm pretty closely. But everyone on the bus was rooting for us, and it did make for an exciting end to a full and fun day in Honolulu!!
Once in our cabin, we washed up and crashed. I think we were asleep before the ship left the dock, bound for Maui.