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Day 7 – Honolulu

Day 7 – Honolulu

About 6:30 in the morning, before the sun was up, we sailed between O’ahu and Moloka’I, and began to see the lights of Honolulu, with Diamondhead standing in dark contrast to the city lights.

By the time we were nearing the port, the sun was just beginning to rise, affording us this view.

On almost every cruise we take, as we approach a large city, with abundant shopping, Sally invariably comes up with a “quest”. It usually starts with her saying we need to find a drugstore for some item we have forgotten – or it could be an item of clothing. In fairness, it is sometimes initiated by me – usually for some obscure computer cable or camera component. In this case it was a certain type of knitting needle. There is a group of ladies that meet every day to knit and she has linked up with them to help her with starting a project. They have informed her that she needs a different type of knitting needle to do her project – thus the birth of a “quest”. Also, our tablemates requested a Mexican Train domino game. A “double quest”!

As soon as we had local cell service I went on-line and googled knitting shops in Honolulu, found one about a mile from the pier and we launched into our combined walking exercise and shopping quest, my plan being to knock off this quest quickly, and head off to see a museum or two. (we have pretty much seen the sites of Honolulu on past trips). We walked the mile and finally found the knit shop on the 14th floor of an office building. Closed until 11 am. We decided to try the Ala Moana mall (a huge mall) walked a ways, and finally caught a cab. At the mall we found a possible knitting source, who referred us to a fabric shop 4 blocks away. As WalMart was on the way, we tried there. No luck (right needles – wrong length), but we scored a Mexican Train game in the toy department and finished the walk to the fabric shop. No luck. We decided to taxi back to the first place as it was now after 11. When we got there, a closer inspection of their little sign, said closed on Thursday. Back to the ship (this time I had the taxi wait for us) and have some lunch, as it was approaching noon and we had skipped breakfast. Back on board, after lunch, I tried my old friend Mr. Google again. This time, after locating a possibility, we got on the phone to determine if they had the proper needle (yes they did) and to get directions. This time we got a cab right off the ship and zipped over there (right next to WalMart) on the second floor above a sushi restaurant. Needles in hand, quest completed, we headed off to the museum. I hope I didn’t put you to sleep with this little vignette, but it is very important to understand the true nature of a “quest”.

The Bishop Museum is dedicated entirely to Hawaiian culture and history, with an emphasis on the former royalty of Hawaii, beginning with Kamehameha the First (or the Great), who was the first person to conquer and unite all of the islands in the early 1800’s.

The Bishop Museum                    Kamehameha the Great

The museum is filled with Hawaiian royalty items, including portraits of the Kings and Queens, with a brief history of each plus the Halii (large standards made of intricately attached feathers on top of large carved poles) which were displayed any time the royal person whom the Halii was for was in attendance.

One of the Kings, and his Halii.

Along with the thousands of Hawaiian artifacts in the three floors of the museum are these two suspended from the ceiling: a full size whale and an outrigger canoe.

We taxied back to the ship in time for castaway, and enjoyed dinner on the back deck as we sailed away with the lights of Honolulu in the background. On to Apia, Western Samoa, which, thankfully is too small for a quest.

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