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!
3 comments:
That red and black ship was formerly the MV George Washington, a ferry from the 1960's & 70's on the Potomac river in DC. The masts are former telephone poles and are for aesthetics only. It was used by Windjammer Cruises as the "Rella Mae" for many years until the company went bankrupt in the 1990's.
Geoff, thanks for the clarification. I went online to the maritime museum, and found that it's actually the Falls of Clyde (the rusty bucket of bolts) that is the last 4 masted sailing ship - and, I was about a century off - shows how my memory is! Here's what the website says about he Falls of Clyde:
Falls of Clyde: Built in 1878, the Falls of Clyde is the world's only surviving four-masted full-rigged ship. As the first and possibly the only vessel of its type to ever fly the Hawaiian flag, she served Hawai'i as the largest ship in the sugar trade. Designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1989, the Falls of Clyde is one of the finest and best-preserved museum ships.
So, how did you know about the red and black ship?
Funny the things people dump in water. When we were in Coronado, I remember they would dredge the San Diego Bay every so often and they always came up with toilets! A friend also saw someone throw an entire set of golf clubs into the bay from the top of the bridge.
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