You’d think we were locals here in Honolulu. We got going just as soon as they
finished securing the ship. We even had to line up in order to get off the gangway.

We headed for the Iolani Palace first, just a half hour walk from the ship. We wanted
to make sure that we went to Hawaii Five-O headquarters that was just across
the street from the palace. The plan was also to get pictures with “Dog” the Bounty Hunter, but we decided that we could wait until the next trip.

From there we hopped on the 19 bus and headed for Waikiki Beach. Just $2.50 for me
and oh yes, $1.00 for Deborah the Senior. He dropped us off on the very east side of the beach so that we could do the three or four block walk along the ocean back to a spot where we could grab some Wi-Fi.

It’s strange to see the young and even old, walking with their huge surfboards and their string bikini’s right along the main street as if it was nothing outside the norm. We stopped at one of the little kiosk type markets for trinkets of our visit and then headed to the 2nd floor of Royal
Hawaiian Center which sits just down the street from the Apple store on Helmuoa. Blogs sent, emails read, photo’s uploaded with what was excellent signals it was then off to the Cheesecake
Factory for a well-deserved lunch.

No matter where we go, the Cheesecake Factory has it nailed. The food is always great,
the quantities are way more than any one human should eat and the price is right. We’ll be back.

After seven days and approximately 145 hours of sailing straight south west we travelled a total of 2,977 MILES (2,569 nautical miles) and we’re just glad to be walking the streets in Honolulu. The forecast for today is sunny (is that a surprise) with temperatures of 85 degrees F. We wanted to watch the sun do down so we planted ourselves at a beach table at the Moana Hotel Beach Bar and ordered two margaritas, in the end finding out that they were $25.00US per – ouch.

Deborah got some mean blisters on one of here feet so
she had to source out some flip-flops before we boarded the bus home. While waiting at the bus stop, I heard a voice from behind me asking me if I was from Tennessee. It was a young couple from Quebec City and Nashville, TN who recognized my MTSU (Middle Tennessee State University) Blue Raiders T-Shirt.

Back on the bus – in the dark – we needed to stay focused for getting off at the right stop for Pier 10. While on the bus, which was VERY crowded, I had a chance encounter with a toothless, homeless, I guess lady of-the-night who stood over me while I sat in the senior/disabled section of the bus. She went on to tell me that she loved me and wanted to know where I was staying. Once she realized that it would have been a threesome, she seemed to cool her jets and moved along further down the bus. I kept looking at Deb, eyebrows raised – but I received no help from her – just smiles from ear-to-ear.

Back on board we rolled into bed to get ready for day 2 in this South Pacific paradise. Next stop will be five more days at sea before we get to Pago Pago, Tutuila (Pango Pango) in American Samoa on October 7th.

Stay tuned for the for further adventures of Bob & Deborah and thanks for following us on the blog.