Honolulu Harbor, Aloha Tower, China Town

On Tuesday we got on the bus and headed into Honolulu, destination the Aloha Tower and China Town.
The Aloha Tower was built in 1926, and is Hawaii's "statue of Liberty", as it greets you as you sail into the harbor. The word "ALOHA" is visible from all 4 sides of the tower.



This shot was taken from the dock, where, if a cruise ship had been in, it would have been parked. We really enjoyed this area, as it was really quiet - very different from Waikiki! Of course, had a cruise ship been in, it would have been bustling!

There is a market place attached to the tower - of course! We were on the second floor of the market when the Star of Honolulu sounded it's horn, as it got ready to sail on a lunch time cruise.

We took the elevator to the top of the tower, and got some great aerial shots of the area - this one is looking towards downtown Honolulu.

This is a shot of the airport, complete with an airplane taking off. It was a great vantage point to watch all of the planes coming in and taking off.

This shot faces the Maritime Museum, which unfortunately was closed, due to budget constraints. The ship anchored there is the Falls of Clyde - a really old, rusted bucket of bolts!

The Falls of Clyde. I'm sure that we could have learned more about it inside the museum....

This ship was built in the late 1700's and the sign said that it is the last remaining fully-rigged four masted sailing ship in the world. You can see the crows nests where the sailors did the rigging. You can also see some commotion in the background on the pier - yellow truck, etc.

So, we had to go check it out! We found divers in the water, and could see that the yellow truck was actually a crane. As we watched, the divers pulled the hook down and attached it so something under the water - out came a table and a tire! One of the people watching explained to us that this was a volunteer crew who was cleaning out the harbor, and that they were just about to bring up a motorcycle!

Sure enough! A motorcycle! We learned that they had also brought up a kitchen sink! No telling what else was down there. This volunteer crew is going to be cleaning out all of the ports in HNL - a great undertaking, I'm sure!

This is a screw from a navy ship that was made in 1971. It was engraved with the manufacture date and the original navy purchase order number! It's HUGE!

We then wandered into China Town. It was a typical collection of shops, fruit stands, etc.

The traditional guardians of Chinese people. There are a pair of these dogs, and one of them keeps out the bad spirits, and the other collects the good ones.

After a wander through there, and some of downtown Honolulu, we hopped back on the bus and headed back to Waikiki, and spent some time around there, before heading home for dinner. A great day!

Wednesday was a Beach Day! We spent about 5 hours at the beach yesterday - most of which was spent in the shade that we followed across the beach. Also we frequently and liberally applied sunscreen! Lee is very tan, and I'm actually getting a bit of a tan, as well!

Diamond Head...

How many pictures can you take of Diamond Head? Well, it seems like quite a few since it can be seen in so many different perspectives. Here's just a few.

From Waikiki beach

From the Shore Bird restaurant

Another from the Shore Bird

Further along Waikiki

From Ala Moana Park

Another from Ala Moana Park

Also a favorite spot for Japanese wedding photos

Further along in Ala Moana Park

Life in Waikiki

We're really enjoying our days here. We love to take long walks and see what we can see. We have rediscovered live music, which both of us love, and never seem to take in at home - what's up with that?? We love the flora and fauna of this place, as well as the warm, moist, tropical air and the wonderful sun that you can rely upon to shine, almost always!

On a walk to Ala Moana park today, we passed these fan palms. Their names are very appropriate, as they look like a fan that you could hold in your hand.... wonder if they'd grow in Moss Beach?

Ok, make this picture big, and you will see the sea turtle! We were at Ala Moana park, sitting in the shade on a park bench, and Lee said "what's that?" - about that time the roundish shape lifted its head, and it was a sea turtle, or, honu. Sea turtles mean good luck - too bad that Hawaii doesn't have a state lottery......

This shot was taken on Sunday morning. We put our morning coffee in our travel mugs and headed to the beach. We walked out on a stone jetty, and this was the view looking back in towards Waikiki. You can see the pink Royal Hawaiian, dwarfed by all of the high-rises. The Royal Hawaiian was the second major hotel built on the island - the first was the Moana, built in 1901, and then the Royal Hawaiian was built in 1927. The Halekulani was built in 1917, originally as a privately owned estate, but was converted to a hotel in the 30's. A lot of history here. Waikiki was once the private playgound of the Ali'i, the Hawaiian monarchy. Now WE get to play here!

Ok, make this picture big, too. You will see "pencil fish", and a humuhumunukunukuapaua'a fish - the state fish of Hawaii! We had to look at Lee's t-shirt to get the spelling!

This is the sky we saw last night! We've had two days of clouds wandering through - brief showers yesterday, but mostly sunny today. It's cooler, too - probably about 80, which FEELS cool - I'm going to freeze to death when we get home!

One day last week we walked to the Ala Moana shopping center, along the Ala Wai canal. We couldn't believe it, when we looked in the canal and saw MOON JELLYFISH!! We'd only ever seen them in aquariums before! But there were dozens of them, pulsating around. They had clearly come in with the tide! You can see that something has taken a bite of this one..... We also saw baracuda, but didn't get a picture.

On the way home from Ala Moana, we stopped at the Halekulani for some Hawaiian music. This trio is excellent, and the hula dancer was great, too. You can see some pink in the clouds as the sun is setting.

We've been walking 4 to 5 miles a day, and making sure that we get plenty of beach and pool time! We've done enough shopping that we're wondering how we're going to get it home! : ). Yes, life is good!

Honolulu #5, Sunday May 10 to 12...

Sunday - Happy Mother's Day!

Sunday was another beautiful day in paradise. We awoke early and had our coffee on the lanai followed by breakfast on the lanai. We decided to prepare roasted veggies for dinner so we would have dinner pretty much ready when we got back in the evening.

Then it was off to the beach which was pretty busy since it was a Sunday. There was a surfing event going on as well which added to the crowd. We had a nice relaxing time and found some shade on the grass under a palm tree which was lucky since it was quite warm.

We went back to the condo for a shower and off to the Marriott to hear a local Hawaiian group which included a slack key guitar. The show was to start at 6 pm but actually didn't get going until almost 7 pm. The music was good but quite different as it was mostly just a jam session.

Monday was another beautiful day (no, we're not getting tired of it!). We had our normal, leisurely morning and island breakfast - we're sure going to miss the fresh pineapple and papaya back in Moss Beach! Then, we wandered off to do some antiquing and visit some local thrift shops, which is always a hoot! We hadn't realized that Hawaiian shirts, especially the older one have quite a collector market, sometimes costing much more than new Hawaiian shirts - who knew? We picked up a few things at Safeway, then it was home for a mid-afternoon snack.

Monday evening we met Ken, a flight attendant friend, who was back in HNL on a flight. We had a great catch-up with him, and enjoyed the beer and pupus (Hawaiian munchies).

Tuesday morning, we woke up in paradise again, and there is no better place for a birthday that I can think of!! I didn't even mind the change in the number of my years! There were birthday cards, phone calls and e-mails with good wishes! We spent several hours at the beach, then got ready for our Luau, which was Lee's birthday gift to me.

The Luau was at the Hawaiian Hilton Village, and was really very good! The food was varied and excellent, and we met some really nice people from Sydney and Cuba!

Here's some pictures from the Luau:

The Hilton does a great job - they've spelled out Aloha using purple and white orchids!! I'm wearing the dress we got at the swap meet!

Here we are in front of the waterfall

The beginning of the luau - one of the performers blowing on the conch shell to gather all of us.

This one is for Celeste! Aloha with blue Hawaii's!

These performers were doing a dance of Tahiti - tons of hip action going on!

Another dance from Tahiti, this one much slower and sensuous

Our friends from NZ will recognize this - it's the Maori Haka (war dance) from NZ. Note the moko (tattoo) on the face - a sign of great power and courage, as it's extremely painful to apply - especially the way they do it, with their ancient implements!

More Haka.

We had a fabulous time, and I had an unbelievably wonderful birthday! It doesn't get any better than this!

Today we are going to do some wandering, perhaps up to the Aloha Tower Marketplace and the Hawaii Maritime Center, which chronicles the maritime history of the Hawaiian people. Should be very interesting! Then we'll probably walk back and end up at Halekulani, for some more live music. Dinner is left-overs, so no pressure there! : )

I'm trying not to think about the fact that we are nearing the half-way point of our wonderful Hawaiian holiday!

I finally figured out the dinner thing!

Part of our decision to spend a month here was that we were going to "go native" and act like we live here. That means not eating out every night.

To that end, we went to the farmers market, Safeway and Costco and provisioned for the month. We quickly fell into our normal routine of a late breakfast, mid-afternoon snack, and dinner.

Dinner that required any prep became a challenge. If we had fish to grill, or something similarly quick, it was fine. But getting back home at 7 or 7:30 and then beginning dinner wasn't something that I looked forward to.

One night, as I boiled up some pasta to mix with pesto (quick, easy - but mostly quick!), I decided to bake the chicken breasts that were waiting to be dinner. The next night, they only required heating up!

So, we discovered that if we do the prep the day before, we can be eating before 9:00 pm the next night! Yesterday we prepped all of the vegetables that we were roasting for dinner tonight. And we've already roasted them this morning, so that they only need reheating for dinner. Not sure what people thought as they walked past our door and smelled onion and garlic!

We're going to hear some steel guitar music this evening, and it's good to know that dinner will only be a microwave away! I think we've aclimated! :)

What happens when..

Chickens roost in trees?? Yesterday, on our walk around Diamond Head, as we reached Diamond Head Beach park, we could hear chickens! We couldn't see any chickens, but as we got closer, they got louder, and we finally realized that there was a flock of chickens in the tree! There were about 6 hens and a rooster! But I think that this small flock will diminish in size, as:

Here's where their eggs land!! We were amazed to find an intact egg on the ground! Maybe it's their way of not having to care for little balls of fuzz, who probably wouldn't stay in the tree, either!

So far, one of the most amazing sights we've seen on the island!

Honolulu #4...

Thursday, May 7th - Saturday, May 9th (Happy birthday, Patience!)

Thursday we decided to visit the Honolulu Aquarium, which is the 3rd oldest aquarium in the US. There were great exhibits, and we saw varieties of fish that we had never seen before, as well as learned a lot about reefs and sharks. While it's not on the calibre of the Monterey Bay Aquarium, we really enjoyed wandering through it.



Some of the jelly fish on display - they were amazing, the way they move through the water. The moon jellies were amazing, too, but those pictures didn't turn out very well.

These fish are called frog fish - we had never seen them before - they will sit, motionless, for hours, but Lee was lucky enough to be there when the hours were apparently up, as one of them moved slowly around the tank. In the bottom picture, the fish is facing the tank, and you can see the eye (outlined in white). Not the most attractive fish we've ever seen - can you imagine pulling your line in and finding THAT??

We also saw Nautilus swimming in their darkened tank - amazing!!

After the aquarium, we headed home for showers and then wandered down to the Halekulani for some Hawaiian music. You can see that the setting was beautiful! We each had a beer and basked in the warm air and beautiful music.

As the music was wrapping up, the full moon popped up over the palm trees, with Diamond Head in the background.

Walking back to our room, we got a picture of Duke - you can see that he'd been given lots of leis. We took several pictures for tourists, too.

On Friday, we headed out about 1 and walked down to the Ala Moana shopping center - Lee's idea! It was about an hours walk away. We managed to spend about 3 hours there, but did minimal shopping - I'm still looking for shoes to wear with my dress to the Luau on Tuesday! We left the shopping center, and walked back to Waikiki. We went to the barefoot bar at the Outrigger, and listened to music there. There were two fellows - one on the base and one playing the slack key guitar. They were quite good! We headed home about 7:30, and fixed dinner.

Saturday morning we were down on Kalakaua Avenue early, for ring-side seats for the 17th annual Filipino parade. While waiting for the parade to start, Lee got some beach shots - this one showing the beach, umbrellas, nice clean sand, and in the background, the pink Royal Hawaiian hotel.

The beautiful Pacific ocean

Here comes the parade!

There were many floats, as well as different areas of the Philipines represented

Girls doing a traditional Philipine dance.

More groups

And more

Again, the beautiful pink Royal Hawaiian, tucked in amont the high-rise buildings.

After the parade, we decided to take a walk around the back side of Diamond Head. This fountain shows off Diamond Head behind it. It was quite a long walk, through some beautiful residential areas ( we really need to win the lottery!), and finally, out to Diamond Head State Beach, and the Diamond Head lighthouse!

We did some beach combing, and we found some great sea glass, as well as a neat seashell.

Here's a shot of a banyan tree. If you are not familiar with banyans, they can grow to cover city blocks, and they do this by putting down roots from their branches as they grow. They are amazing, and you can see that this one has put down roots on the other side of the sidewalk. There are many huge banyans in and around Waikiki, but the biggest banyan in existence today is in India.

Saturday afternoon we visited the Tiki room for more Hawaiian music. We then headed back down Kalakaua, and got there just in time to catch the nightly hula performance. They opened the show with the blowing of the conch shell. Apparently Polynesians believe that the night is the beginning of the new day, and greeting the coming day with the conch shell is traditional. The person shown here is one of the best at this, and also teaches young people that art.

Here's one of his students. He did a great job!

There were also hula dancers, starting with very young, anxious, adorable girls, and moving up through high school. There was a group of young boys playing the ukulele and singing, too, and they were very good, as well. It was a great show (free) and the first time that we had seen it from beginning to end. A great way to end the day!

And now it's Sunday! Happy Mother's day to all of you mothers out there! We hope that you have a fabulous day! Today is a beach day, so we're going to get this posted, and get out there!!