Day 7 ~ Honolulu

"Hawaii is not a state of mind, but a state of grace." ~ Paul Theroux

We’ve been blessed to visit the 50^th state a number of times. Once when we were quite young (early 20s) I tagged along on the DH’s business trip.  Then shortly after 911, we cruised around the islands on the now defunct American Hawaiian line to celebrate our 25^th anniversary.  In 2013, we flew to Honolulu with our daughters and my parents for a week long island hopping cruise on Norwegian. Then finally in 2016, Hawaii was the first stop on our Holland American South Pacific voyage.

Over the years we’ve done a number of touristy things on Oahu. We’ve wept at Pearl Harbor and been amazed and informed at the Polynesian Cultural Center.  We’ve had colorful tropical fish swim between our knees at Haunuma Bay and I learned to surf at Waikiki. We’ve visited macadamia plantations and the queen’s summer palace. Yet each time we come back, the island welcomes us afresh.

Diamond Head as we sailed in

We didn’t book an excursion for this port. Instead, we decided to hook up Herkimer Two (the portable oxygen concentrator that rides in a backpack on the DH’s broad shoulders) and go for a stroll. It was a delight to walk without the ground rising and falling under us! Here are a few things we saw along the way:

This umbrella shaped beauty is called a Monkey Pod Tree. It came to the islands from the Yucatan peninsula about 120 years ago. The thing about a volcanic island is that nothing is indigenous. Everything, down to the first blade of grass, has to come from somewhere else originally.

Even Hawaii has winter and the locals tell us there aren’t many flowers blooming now. My Midwestern color-starved eyes beg to differ.

You’ll never find a banyan tree back home.

This collection of crooked-limbed plumeria look as if they leaped from the pages of a Dr. Seuss book. In their season, they are covered with blossoms.

In our previous visits, we’ve never stopped to see the King Kamehameha statue. (By the way, that’s pronounced “Kah-may-ah-may-ah,” not the way I said it on our first trip here: “King Kam-ee-ham-ee-hay”). He was the first chieftain to unite all the Hawaiian Islands under one rule: his. The society had a rigid list of things that were “kapu” (forbidden) and only one punishment for an infraction. Death.

The building behind Kamehameha and my very own Big Kahuna houses the Hawaiian Supreme Court. You may also recognize it as the supposed headquarters for TV’s Hawaii 5-O. 

Across the street is the Iolani Palace, the royal residence of the last Hawaiian king. Unfortunately, it was not open for tours because today is Sunday.

On the way back to the ship we passed a graveyard which featured a partial pyramid of volcanic rock. We’d seen structures like this on other islands and were told they were built by the Menehune (a quasi-mythical tribe of little people, Hawaiian leprechauns, if you will). However, this mound of stone covers a mass grave. A granite marker explains the situation:

In memory of our beloved unknown friends of yesteryears found in unmarked graves during the excavation of Queen Street.  These 102 beloved souls are committed to Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, and their remains tenderly laid to rest in peace in this place.

“The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God and no torment will ever touch them.”
~ Wisdom of Solomon

I was very moved. Even though the dead were unknown, they were considered beloved. It was very much in the “spirit of aloha” and the sense of “ohana” (family) that permeates the islands. Everyone’s life is connected to their brothers and sisters whether they know them or not. Which brings me to one photo I didn’t take…

Along with the beautiful plants and stately historical buildings, we saw a number of homeless people. I was particularly saddened by the sight of one older person sleeping on the sidewalk, curled up in the fetal position. Homelessness is a problem with no easy answer. The urban churches we attended when we lived in Seattle and Boston had totally different ways of addressing the situation, but neither were completely successful. I’m sure there are similar ministries here as well as state run shelters and programs. It’s a difficult issue.

No, I didn’t take a photo of the person asleep on the concrete, but the image will stay with me long after we leave the island...

Because I don’t want to end on a melancholy note, here’s a bit of public art we encountered on our walk. It’s called Passages and signifies Hawaii’s transition into the future.

P.S. This evening, a group of local hula dancers will board for a show at 5:30 pm, and after supper we plan to see to the movie Dunkirk.

P.P.S. My pedometer measured over 8000 steps by the time we made it back to the ship for lunch. By the end of the day, I’ll have clocked my first ever 10K step day! Not bad for someone on supplemental O2.    

May 22, 2018 update: Today is our 42nd anniversary. 42 is a very auspicious  number. Remember, it's the answer to "life, the universe and everything." (For the uninitiated, this is a reference to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, an extremely silly movie and book you have to be in the right frame of mind to enjoy. But if you're in the mood for total nonsense, it's great!)

Another thing I will always remember May 22nd for is that one year ago on this date, we booked this world cruise. It was the start of our great adventure, and while it seemed as if the 200+ days would never pass before it was time to board, the Pacific Princess, in hindsight, I'm glad we had that long to plan, dream and prepare.

Now for more Oahu pictures!

I mention the chorus of birdsong we enjoyed but failed to talk about the real contribution birds made to the islands. Long before humans showed up, birds had discovered the Hawaiian chain and while in the beginning, the may not have found any food, they did leave excrement, which carried the seeds of the first plants to grow here.

The bird above wasn't perched on a rock. He was pecking along the exposed roots of this tree. I can only assume the topsoil must be pretty thin here, but life finds a way.

Which is what the residents of the Big Island have to remind themselves right now. Kilauea is erupting violently, destroying homes and spewing poisonous gasses. But it's also flowing into the sea and creating new land (albeit land that will take a long time to weather sufficiently to support life.) In the big picture, volcanic eruptions actually make our planet more habitable by helping to keep it warm enough to retain its atmosphere. But in the nearer view, well, we've seen Pompeii and if I were on the Big Island, I'd be looking for a way off it two weeks ago.