Following five, relatively calm days at sea, we arrived off Oahu in mid-morning and spent the rest of the day slowly cruising into port. Hawaii really is the best of the islands for the visitor. You can have the exotic, tropical, volcanic experience but also there’s plenty of shopping(up-scale and down). Taxis are honest, there’s no physical danger, and the dollar is the currency. It’s not too hot, and there’s something of interest for everyone to do. Pearl Harbor is a great place to visit. In the days of the dreadnought, Hawaii was known as America’s unsinkable battleship and evolved during the cold war into a Nike missile base and nuclear sub base. The military’s presence is still extremely heavy on Oahu and will remain so indefinitely. Here are some off-shore pictures as we approach the Aloha Tower and piers. There was a Princess boat in town too, which left LA the day we did. The high rises continue to go up in central Honolulu and I think the town looks great. Notice how the moisture-laden, prevailing winds whip up the clouds as the rapidly-moving air crashes into the Koolau Mountains behind the city. The clouds are not discrete “cotton balls” but appear “scrambled”. This effect, observable from far at sea, must have been a navigational aid to the Polynesians. We went to Ala Moana so Eiko could peruse the used Japanese books in the Shirokiya Department store. We took a walk to visit the Walmart on Keeamoku St and then over to the old Holiday Mart, now known as Don Quixote, on Kaheka St. What a strange name for a store which serves almost exclusively the large Japanese contingent here. It is owned by a Japanese national and has, among just about everything else, a rather large selection of saki. Prices are very reasonable. Laden with goods, it was time to return to the ship.(See picture of tired shopper!) The following day, we walked through old Lahina.
