Only a few little grass shacks line the sandy banks along the aqua ocean. The handful of residents who call this paradise home subsist by catching fish and picking pineapples filled with that distinctive native Mai Tai nectar.
If you've ever seen the opening credits for "Hawaii Five-O" (either the original series or the less-plausible remake), you might understand that description of Honolulu is not exactly accurate.
In fact, Honolulu continues to evolve into an even more densely packed, modern metropolis improbably set in a geographically isolated string of islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
As you may recall, we took the Metro bus to the L.A. cruise port and then the Hoppa-On, Hoppa-Off bus in Hilo, but for Honolulu, we would not be so frivolous, not when we could take the Maui Divers Design Center Tour With FREE Shuttle to Waikiki.
As we exited the ship, we were directed to the shuttle bus by smiling Maui Divers personnel. We were soon joined by a dozen other big spenders and whisked off to their factory showroom.
En route, we learned that two couples on the shuttle lived in different retirement communities in the same sunbelt city. I don't remember what city that was, but the two couples yelled loudly back and forth about stores and cafes near their particular homes all the way to Maui Divers Design Center.
We went up an elevator to a little viewing room where we watched a short video about the history and culture of Maui Divers, an employee-owned company, before being led through a maze of showrooms slightly larger than IKEA where our group only bought about $18, 622.14 worth of black coral jewelry between us, making the free ride a great deal.
Actually, I felt sorry for the owner-employees, because I think they only sold one $8 open-your-own pearl before we all packed back into the shuttle bus for the promised ride to Waikiki Beach. Come to think of it, I don't think the couple buying the pearl was in our group.
I can only assume Maui Divers must expect the education to pay dividends in future sales, and indeed Maui Divers jewelry happens to be sold on the cruise ship. What a coincidence!
Once in Waikiki, we headed to the Outrigger Waikiki on the Beach, where we plopped down on towels on the stretch of sand between the hotel and the ocean. On this sunny day, we lay there and read, taking occasional dips in the ocean to cool off.
When I became thirsty, I took off to get a Coke Zero, but when I found a purely natural, zero-GMO alternative native thirst quencher available at about the same price, I opted for that.
As I walked from the snack stand and tried to take a bite of my rainbow Hawaiian shaved ice, a big chunk dropped in the sand at my feet. I buried it with my toes, not unlike ancient ceremonies that plant a bit of the bountiful hunt or harvest in the earth to please a pagan god, but in my case this was to cover a blunder, not a religious rite to stop global cooling.
Julie questioned why I had indulged in this sugary treat an hour before lunch, but her concerns proved to be for naught, because an hour later, I was ready to eat.
Getting back to Captain Cook briefly, I should note that I'm not sure he actually visited Honolulu during his travels before being killed in Hilo, but he must have been hungry when he arrived in Hawaii, because he dubbed his discovery the Sandwich Islands.
Wanting to be authentic to Cook's legacy, I enjoyed the ultimate Hawaiian sandwich, a cheeseburger in paradise. Well, actually it was a cheeseburger at Duke's, but it tasted great with lettuce and tomatoes, mayonaise, ketchup and French fried potatoes, big kosher pickle and a cold draft beer.
Most of the afternoon, we continued to enjoy the sunshine on the beach. I took a walk around Waikiki at one point. I crossed the street to where the funky International Marketplace used to be. It has been razed and is being replaced by a modern shopping mall anchored by Saks. A couple of doors over from that building site you'll find Jimmy Buffett's restaurant. What it lacks in beach access it tries to make up for with specially priced happy hour drinks and live music, but I didn't stop in this time.
I decided to walk to a different icon's business, Trump Tower Waikiki, for reasons that baffle even me. In any case, it gave me a specific destination as an excuse to walk through the hustle and bustle of the world class shopping district. This attractive, hip downtown apparently attracts far more people on a sunny day than beautiful Waikiki Beach itself. And they were spending money freely to buy Prada bags and designer clothes and to sip lattes or expensive wines. I am not a big city person, but this chic, modern one is special.
With terrific restaurants and sparkling night life, there's another world after dark, but the lure of the ship's free dinner and live entertainment (plus the free afternoon Maui Divers shuttle back to the ship) could not be resisted, despite the fact that the ship would stay ported in Honolulu until 11:00 PM.
That is both the delight and dilemma of cruising. To free, or not too free? That is the question.
Most of the afternoon, we continued to enjoy the sunshine on the beach. I took a walk around Waikiki at one point. I crossed the street to where the funky International Marketplace used to be. It has been razed and is being replaced by a modern shopping mall anchored by Saks. A couple of doors over from that building site you'll find Jimmy Buffett's restaurant. What it lacks in beach access it tries to make up for with specially priced happy hour drinks and live music, but I didn't stop in this time.
I decided to walk to a different icon's business, Trump Tower Waikiki, for reasons that baffle even me. In any case, it gave me a specific destination as an excuse to walk through the hustle and bustle of the world class shopping district. This attractive, hip downtown apparently attracts far more people on a sunny day than beautiful Waikiki Beach itself. And they were spending money freely to buy Prada bags and designer clothes and to sip lattes or expensive wines. I am not a big city person, but this chic, modern one is special.
With terrific restaurants and sparkling night life, there's another world after dark, but the lure of the ship's free dinner and live entertainment (plus the free afternoon Maui Divers shuttle back to the ship) could not be resisted, despite the fact that the ship would stay ported in Honolulu until 11:00 PM.
That is both the delight and dilemma of cruising. To free, or not too free? That is the question.
No comments:
Post a Comment