Free morning in Honolulu

We had the morning free so we took the shuttle bus to Waikiki area. They dropped us off in front of a Ross store. So what does any woman do? We shopped, of course. We both found a couple flowered shirts for our tropical evenings to come. We then went 2 doors down the street to the ABC store, which is the Hawaiian equivalent of 7/11. I bought some macadamias and Red Hawaiian sea salt. Then we were off on our third quest of the day. We asked in several shops and finally found a kiosk selling what we wanted-shaved ice. It was delicious. We soon realized we should have gotten the kids size. It was huge and melting very quickly. We managed to eat most of it. We were at the Sheraton Hotel, so we walked through a beautiful garden, into the hotel shopping arcade and to the ocean. There was no beach here, just an infinity pool. I got a photo of a cloudy Diamond Head and people enjoying the sun and pool. We had to scurry back to the shuttle stop to get the last shuttle back to the ship.

We went up on deck to watch the ship leave port. We had to do a 180 degree turn to get out of the harbor. Off to port we saw Waikiki and Diamond Head one more time. I had a nice talk with the art teacher. She is a glass artist and has worn some really nice pendants. We saw a whale come up for air very far away but then it must have dived because he didn’t return.

We ate in the Restaurant this evening. We always like to as to share a table so we can meet other people. We had a really nice dinner with the wildlife lecturer, a woman from Newport Beach, CA, and a couple from Canada. We were still talking at 8:30 and we went in to the dining room at 6:00. The lecturer is a Brit, so we had several different viewpoints about many things. The woman from Newport lost her husband in the last year. She was a property manager for South Coast Plaza, a huge shopping mall. She retired on Friday and boarded the ship on Tuesday. She said she decided it was her time to enjoy life. Then we went to the theater to see the assistant cruise director Michael put on a show of American standards. He is the same person who tortures us at Trivia.
It was a good day. Now we settle in for 5 more days at sea. Since they may all be the same, I might skip a day or two. It will all be a repeat. I’m looking forward to Tahiti-one of those places on my bucket list.

Photos:Diamond Head, garden at hotel, turtle sculpture in lobby, infinity pool, shaved ice. I couldn’t resist the picture of the tiny tugboat in front of the huge Coast Guard Cutter!