Day 23: Honolulu, Hawai’i … The Gathering Place

Saturday, 28 January 2017
At Sea — Pacific Ocean … En Route to Kauai

Stats @ Ship’s Time 9:00p (HAST) … UTC 7:00a (29 January)
Temp: Not Available
Position: Not Available

To travel is to take a journey into yourself.
~ Danny Kaye ~

Today we completed the first segment of the RTW voyage and began another — this one named “Island Edens.”   It’s an appropriate name since we will be visiting quite a few of the South Pacific islands on our way to New Zealand, where this new segment will end.  All but the 190 RTW passengers disembarked this morning … and quite a few of the crew as well.  When we returned to the ship this afternoon, there were a lot of new faces to greet and welcome aboard.  I later checked with Chantelle, the Loyalty Ambassador, and she said 332 disembarked; 334 embarked … so we have about the same number of people as before.

A few days ago, a letter was delivered to the cabin — everyone staying on for Island Edens got it be they RTWers or back-to-back segment cruisers (meaning they won’t be with us all the way back to Miami).  The letter, signed by Maria Tancredi, Insignia’s Restaurant Manager, invited us to make/change reservations for the specialty dining venues — one in each restaurant — in advance of embarking the passengers for the next segment.  No thanks … have plenty of reservations already, but a nice little perk nonetheless.

The letter also informed us of the hours for breakfast on embarkation day, and advised us that there would be a special lunch menu in the dining room for those of us staying onboard.  Nice — but we had plans to be out and about today, so we RSVP’d our regrets as requested.

Up at 5:00a, we were ready when room service breakfast was delivered to the cabin shortly after 6:00a … earlier than we expected, but that worked better with our schedule.  Or so we thought at the time … more on that in the next paragraph.  Even as we were eating our morning repast, Insignia was tying up at Pier 11 near the iconic Aloha Tower.  It was still dark, and there wasn’t much in the way of twinkling lights … Honolulu was mostly asleep on a Saturday morning.

The Aloha Tower welcomes us to Honolulu.

Our plan called for hiking the summit trail at Diamond Head State Monument.  The day’s forecast was for 80F (27C) and plenty of sunshine.  Not as hot as we feared it might be, but hot enough that we wanted to get an early start.  So, we queued up at the gangway with other early birders, hoping to get off as soon as the ship was cleared at 7:00a.  After all, we’d had no trouble in previous ports getting off on time, right?

What we had all neglected to take into account was that today was the end of one segment and the beginning of another.  Turns out one passenger — just one — had not gone to the Insignia Lounge as required for the immigration formalities for disembarking passengers and she delayed the ship’s clearance for everyone else.  How inconsiderate.  She must have finally showed up after multiple P/A announcements as just before 8:00a we were allowed to go down the gangway.  Never did hear that the ship had been cleared, so not sure if we got a special dispensation or if we were just ahead of the announcement.

Making our way through the terminal, we immediately called for an Uber.  Five minutes later we were on our way, grateful that the Saturday morning traffic wasn’t bad.  By 8:30a, we were through the Kahala Tunnel — the entrance to the park — and paying our $1pp admission fee.  Already the parking lot was filled — a common occurrence apparently, so we were glad we did not have to deal with finding a parking spot.

Our destination is at the tippy top of the crater wall — impressive no matter how you view it.

Lēahi, as Diamond Head is known in the Hawaiian language, is believed to have formed nearly 300,000 years ago … making it quite young geologically speaking … especially in light of the fact that O’ahu is thought to have begun to form around 2.5-4 million years ago.  The 350-acre circular — ovoid, actually — crater was formed during a single, brief eruption.  That the southwestern wall is higher is attributed to the winds blowing the ashes in that direction during the eruption.  Since that time, rain, wind, and sea erosion has shaped what is Hawaii’s most recognized landmark into what we see today.

The ovoid shape of the crater is a sign that it was formed during a single, brief eruption.
[Photographed from a sign near the visitor center.]

The .8-mile (1.3 km) summit hike we did today was on a trail built in 1908 as part of the US Army Coastal Artillery defense system.  Rising 560 feet (171 m) in that short distance, the trail is mostly dirt, with just a bit of a paved section at the beginning … the only flat portion one will find on the hike.  The path was initially designed for mule and foot traffic — the latter carrying the materials used in the construction of the Fire Control Station built at the summit.

The summit trail is short, but steep … with lots of stairs to climb.

When we started out, it didn’t look like there were that many people on the trail.  But before we knew it, we were sharing the narrow path with multitudes of others bent on conquering the summit.  There were young people, old people; families with kids, couples, and solo hikers; people of varying degrees of fitness.  Most people were considerate and moved aside to make way for those trying to maintain a faster speed.

We took our time, but didn’t walk as slowly as we would have — the ever-increasing temperature was a great incentive to keep moving.  Plus, there wasn’t varied scenery along the way, and the views from the overlooks were washed out by the glare of the sun … until we got to the top.  We were glad to be in the shade of the crater’s wall for much of the way up.  When the trail split [rest stop marked 16 on the map], we took the longer path to go up, leaving the tunnels for the descent.  Same number of stair steps either way — 361 according to the brochure — but definitely not as steep.  Most people went the other way around — not sure if it was for bragging rights, or because they thought the trail was one way at this point, or because they didn’t know that one was easier than the other.

If you look carefully, you can see the hikers on the switchbacks below us …
look at how small the ones to the right of the watermark (bottom left corner) look.

I’ll digress here with a tip for future hikers.  The brochure and website both state that the tunnels are well lit.  Well, they weren’t today … no lights whatsoever.  Without the flashlight app on my iPhone we would not have been able to see our way in the pitch-darkness that descended the further we walked into the tunnels, or on the spiral stairs that access the four levels of the fire control station.  So, go prepared for that.  And don’t forget a hat, sunscreen, and plenty of water.

At the tippy top of the trail, the expansive view took in everything from Koko Head to Waikiki and Wai’anae beyond.  The breathtaking scenery from the summit was worth the effort — no doubt about that.  But I really do wish there were limits imposed on how many people can be on the trail at any given time.  The brochure recommends 1½-2 hours to complete the trail leisurely.  Considering most people don’t dally along the way that long, it would be easy enough to implement some kind of a timed entry system to make the experience more pleasant for everyone.  As it was, we had barely enough room to turn around on the small platforms at the summit — another reason not to dally.

The third level of the Fire Control Station that was built between 1908-1910.  The station housed instruments and plotting rooms to direct artillery fire from the batteries.  The slits would have been covered with metal shutters; the rock and concrete served as camouflage.

At the summit, with 54 more steps to go to reach the observation station.

Glimpse of Diamond Head Lighthouse from the summit.

These coral reefs protect the seaward slopes of Diamond Head from the pounding surf.

Not a great “postcard” of us … but I have to include it to document that
we did indeed make it all the way up to the summit of Diamond Head Crater.

On the ridge to the right is one of the  bunkers built as part of the coastal artillery
defense system.  Diamond Head was prepared to defend O’ahu from attacks, but no
wartime shots were fired.  This bunker, and others along the way, are off-limits to hikers.

After taking the requisite photos from the summit, we retraced our steps to the bunker [the third level of the fire control station], went down a spiral staircase, walked through the tunnels, and then descended the steep stairs to rejoin the main trail back down.

Once we were off the trail, we sat on a bench to catch our breath and replenish our energy with a handful of nuts.  On the bench next to us a Japanese White Eye was similarly replenishing its own energy with whatever crumbs it could find.  Signage at the visitor center had the following description about the bird … “Introduced from Japan in 1929, these small birds are marked by an olive green color and a white ring around the eyes.  They are very active and constantly moving in search of food.”

Japanese White Eye

Eventually we walked back to the park’s entrance and called for another Uber.  We may be late to the Uber-party, but it sure has been great to have this option in lieu of cabs.  By this time, there was a long line of vehicles waiting to get into the parking lot, and an even longer line of vehicles streaming in through the tunnel.  We texted with the driver and told him we would meet him as soon as he came through the tunnel where there was a spot for him to turn around without getting into the traffic jam.

Waiting to get into Diamond Head State Monument … this is at about 10:30a.

Our next stop was at Hale Koa, the military resort in Waikiki that I mentioned in my reminisces.  Our main purpose in going to the resort was to take care of our grooming needs — haircuts and such … much less expensive than on the ship.  Plus, we had a few necessities to buy from the Shopette on the property.  The resort has either expanded over the years or my recollections of it aren’t as good as I thought they were.  The grounds seemed to extend forever when I went for a walk to kill time until my mani-pedi appointment.

Snapshots from around the grounds at Hale Koa.

Sadly, we had to scrap our plans to have lunch at Hale Koa — none of the restaurants that suited us was open for lunch.  So, we Ubered it back to the port.  At first, we were going to drop our stuff in the cabin and go back out to the Aloha Tower Marketplace for a bite to eat.  But it was so quiet on the ship and there was practically no one at the Terrace Café — which was open until 4:00p since this was embarkation day.  So we decided to enjoy a late lunch-with-a-view from Insignia instead.

Two of the murals decorating the walls inside the cruise ship terminal at Pier 11.

This being the start of a new segment, we had the mandatory muster drill at 5:15p — our third one since embarking in Miami on 6 January … getting awfully familiar with the words by now.  We were back on our veranda sipping bubbly as Insignia backed out of its berth and pointed its bow west into the sunset.  The skyline of Honolulu glittered with the last rays of the setting sun … what a perfect send-off.

When Diamond Head appeared in the distance, we raised a toast to it … thanking it for hosting us this morning and adding new memories to our old stash from Honolulu.  Then, as the lights of Honolulu came on and the night sky turned inky, we headed up to the Terrace Café for dim sum … the twinkling skyline keeping us company the entire time.

Tomorrow is our last port of call in Hawaii — we have a photography tour booked to explore Kauai.  And if the tour ends early, we might even have a chance to see my cousin, Shirlene.  Keeping fingers crossed for another beautiful day on a Hawaiian island that will be new to us.

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In Answer to Lexi's Comment (on the previous post) …

On my Honolulu reminisces post, Lexi asked a question about the digital photography software I use for my images.  I replied to her comment on the post, but decided to share the answer here for anyone else who might be interested, and also because I didn’t have Lexi’s email, and most people don’t return to a post they have already read.

I use Adobe Lightroom to process the photos I take with the Fuji X-T10 (I shoot RAW).  Anything that comes from our two smartphones also goes through Adobe Lightroom.  The "smiling faces interposed on the scenery" are with Mui's Samsung Galaxy S5, which has a dual camera feature ... it's like taking a selfie, but easier.  For collages, I use Picasa (not sure if it is still available for download) and Photoscape.  I upload my processed photos to SmugMug galleries via Lightroom and use links from there to insert them into the blog ... I like the quality of the photos hosted in SmugMug better than the ones hosted by Google, which is where Blogger uploads photos inserted directly from the computer.

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