Sunday, Day 9 - Jan 14 - 9am to 7pm, Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii, USA

Honolulu is both the capital and most populated city of Hawaii. In the Hawaiian language, Honolulu means “sheltered bay ”or place of shelter”. The city was originally settled by Polynesian migrants, but it is not known when they first made the area their home.

The turbulent late 19th century and early 20th century saw the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy, Hawaii's subsequent annexation by the United States, and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. 

We first visited Honolulu for a few days on the way to the far East in 2005. In 2010 we cruised to Hawaii for the first time on a HAL South Pacific cruise and again in 2015 on a segment of the Queen Elizabeth World Cruise. We have always either rented a car or hired a taxi and explored the Island. Today we are doing a free ship’s tour.

We meet in the theater for the Atlantis Submarine Adventure at 10AM. It is scheduled to last three hours. According to the write up we will experience the marvelous underwater world of Oahu from the comfort of an Atlantis Submarine, the world's largest fleet of hi-tech, passenger submarines! 

Our adventure begins with a transfer from the ship to Waikiki's Hilton Hawaiian Village and then to the Atlantis Pier. The tour runs like clock work. We are driven to the hotel in an open air Atlantis bus. At the hotel we walk by an beach side church service and listen to a lady singing. The beach is crowded with both church and sun worshipers.

There are about 80 people from the ship split between the two submarines. We are actually down underwater about 40 minutes going as deep as 128 feet. There are no reefs, but an airplane and two ships were sunk some time ago to form artificial reefs and there is a good bit of marine life to see: sea turtles, various tropical fish, scuba divers and a school of Eagle rays. We enjoy the tour. We used to scuba dive, but no longer do so. It is good to be able to still see some of the underwater life.

                                                                            Inside Sub

                                                                     Diver with scooter

                                                           School of fish in airplane hull

                                                              Diver on wreck of ship              

                                           Corals beginning to grow on deck of ship wreck

                                                Large fish hanging out near ship's bow

                                                          Diamond Head in distance
Back on the ship we have lunch, a coke float and a hot dog, on the Pool Deck then take the shuttle bus to Walmart for some snacks. The bus runs every 30 minutes until 5PM.

At 5 :15PM Carolyn goes to see a troupe of local dancers who have come on board. They are young girls through teenagers and put on a nice show. Then we meet for the deck party around the pool at 6PM, a private event for the world cruisers. We visit with some Australian friends from the Gala night and decide to go to Setti Mare together for dinner. We luck out with a table out back and have a pleasant dinner as we watch the last of the sunset sailing away from Honolulu.

It is popcorn and a movie tonight so three of us head to the theater at 8:30PM. Dick stays and enjoys a cappuccino before turning into a pumpkin.