Jan 17: Honolulu, Hawaii & Setting Sail

Julie, Jason, Catherine & Tom hiked the Diamond Head in the morning. Diamond Head is a "volcanic tuff cone," which emerged around 300,000 years ago, and features a distinctive circular crater. In 1905, the US Government bought Diamond Head and built Fort Ruger to help defend the island. A network of tunnels was carved into the mountain, and cannon emplacements were placed atop the crater rim along with observation posts and bunkers. Julie and the group hiked through these historic tunnels and bunkers to reach the summit, which provided panoramic views of Honolulu, Waikiki, and the Pacific Ocean. Fort Ruger was reinforced during World War II, though the guns were never fired.

I took the bus into Waikiki and did my own grueling hike to Starbucks. My sweetie and I met back at the ship and ate lunch at the Pool Grill. At 1:30 we met with friends on the deck to depart Honolulu, Pina Coloda's in hand, and set sail on our 5 day journey to Bora Bora. Aloha and fairwell from Honolulu Hawaii! We won't set foot on American soil again for 4 months!

Dinner tonight was a delicious celebration of Hawaii Cusine: Fried Coconut Shrimp, Grapefruit Summer Rolls, Seared Teriyaki Mahi Mahi & Hawaiian Chocolate Coconut Cream Houpia Pie. My "Blind" wine pick: Garofoli Komaros Montepulciano Marche.

Lectures attended:
▪︎Hawaii: The Archeology and Early History of a Polynesian Kingdom by Dr. Toby Sperlich
▪︎The Pacific War: Kokoda to Tokyo Bay by Ian BeckettRead more