Aloha

January 29 – 30, 2018

After 5 days at sea, we wake up to the lovely sight of land, in this case, Maui. We are anchored off shore so we have to take a tender into the town of Lahaina, a boat ride of about 20 minutes. Lahaina's main tourist attractions are found on Front Street, which runs for about a mile in front of the beach and ends in a great looking beach area complete with umbrellas and rum-based drinks.

We haven't been to Maui before, but have heard great things. I was interested to do a walk-about and see what the town is all about. First impression is that it is a place for people at the extreme ends of the spectrum. On Front Street, there are many high end art galleries and some fabulous looking jewellery stores. The latest craze seems to be coming up to women 'of a certain age' and enticing them to try, at no charge, their gold-laden products that will miraculously get rid of under-eye bags and wrinkles. I think I left them speechless when I told them “I like my face just the way it is”. But, it seems to me this is another indication of the demographic Front Street in Lahaina is going for.

On the other hand, not even half a block off Front Street, there are as many tatoo parlours as there are fine art galleries....many of them walk-ins. The surfer-dude culture seems to be alive and well, although quite a bit older. There are still the old beat-up wagons with surf-board holders crammed into small, almost derelict properties with big “Private Signs” and wooden fences that have a decided tilt and lean to them. Men and women of all ages are still catching the waves right beside the boat docks. Lahaina has a very cool vibe. The number of ukelele shops might have something to do with that.

The next day we are in Honolulu....home of Jack Lord, Hawaii 5-0, Don Ho and Bruno Mars, whose real name is not Bruno Mars but I can't remember what it is. An interesting note: Hawaii could be considered the most isolated group of islands in the world. If you look at your maps, you can see it is smack dab in the middle of....nowhere. It doesn't matter if you're looking horizontally or vertically, Hawaii is in middle and is thousands of miles from the next place.

I went on an excursion today to the first Missionary Post, including the church they crafted out of 14,000 blocks made from coral reefs. According to our guide, there is still some ambivalence over whether or not their arrival was a good thing. On the plus side of the ledger, the Hawaiian native tongue was, for the first time, put into written form and the natives were taught to read and write. Of course, the negative side soon piled up and included the loss of the Hawaiian monarchy and the loss of the hula dance and chant (which up to that point had formed an oral history).

A golden statue of King Kamehameha, rumoured to be 8 feet tall. He is the one who united all the islands which were to become known as Hawaii.

We had been in Oahu almost 40 years ago when Gregg and Shelley were young children. (Sidenote: we lost Shelley on Waikiki Beach and the next day, Gregg on the elevator of our 18 storey building. Good news is we found them both.) What a change. Waikiki Beach and the surrounding streets are being likened to Rodeo Drive in Los Angeles, with every high end retail store showing their wares. As one person told us, 'there are no more mom and pop operations here.' There is still a very vibrant China Town which was particularly vibrant as we quickly approach the Chinese New Year. This year it is the Year of the Dog. The beach itself still looks as I remember it....beautiful blue with white sand beaches and just enough surf rolling in to keep things interesting. Some of the old iconic hotels are still there, joined by huge modern towers. Waikiki is still a very popular tourist destination. We can attest to that as we sit on our ship balcony and watch the dozens of planes that have come in over the last hour. 

This picture does not do justice to the beauty that is Waikiki Beach.

Tonight is a ship sponsored event at the Bishop Cultural Museum. I'm always up for more culture!