On January 28th the Pacific Princess departed San Diego, CA en route to Honolulu, Hawaii some 2273 miles away. The passage took 5 days. We arrived in Honolulu at around 8:00am local time. The weather couldn’t have been any better. The temperature was 70 degrees upon arrival and reached 80+ during the day. The ship docked adjacent to the Aloha Tower. Home to the Iolani Palace which is the only former royal palace on U.S. soil, Honolulu is the Hawaiian state capitol.
Since this wasn’t our first trip here, we knew our way around the city pretty well. We always take the Hilo Hattie shuttle to their nearby store. This trip we had heard that the store now has FREE wifi in the coffee shop. With IPad and Netbook in hand, we spent the next 2 hours catching up on our email, Facebook, and all the other websites we hadn’t been able to visit during the passage across the Pacific. We had several cups of wonderful Kona coffee as we browsed the Internet. Hilo Hattie’s can’t be beat because of the FREE transportation they also provide. We caught their trolley from the store to the stop at Hilton Hawaiian Village and then walked the short distance to the Hale Koa Military Hotel for a little shopping and lunch. Afterward we walked Waikiki Beach near the hotel and through the grounds of the Hilton Hawaiian Village. To our surprise we noticed an area of Penguins, birds and a koi pond. Back on the Hilo Hattie trolley, we got a good tour of the Waikiki shopping ad beach area and then headed back to the ship.
Our sail away from Honolulu was at 11:00pm. Tomorrow’s port will be Nawiliwili, Kauai, Hawaii.
Saturday, February 4th at about 8:00am we arrived at Hawaii’s Garden Isle, Kauai. The ship docked at Nawiliwili Harbor which is about one mile from Lihue, Kauai’s county seat. Kauai is the oldest of the eight Hawaiian Islands and probably the most densely vegetated with plant life and lush landscapes. It is well known for movie production such as Jurassic Park, Six Days/Seven Nights, Blue Hawaii, South Pacific, and the mini-series the Thorn Birds.
We spent our day dolphin and whale watching.
The Pacific Princess departed Kauai at 5:00pm for our long 5-day passage to Pago Pago, American Samoa.
