After our adventures on the Big Island, we did a stop in Kauai but didn’t do much there – so no blog post for that stop. Our final destination in Hawaii was Honolulu on the island of Oahu.

The first thing we did was to walk to Iolani Palace. Built in 1882 by King Kalakaua, Iolani Palace was the home of Hawaii’s last reigning monarchs and served as the official royal residence and the residence of the Kingdom’s political and social life until the overthrow of the monarchy in 1893. It became registered as a National Historic Landmark in 1962 and is the only official royal residence in the United States.

Across from the Iolani Palace is Aliʻiōlani Hale. In the Hawaiian language, Aliʻiōlani Hale means “House of Heavenly Kings”. The name “Aliʻiōlani” was also one of the given names of Kamehameha V. Not surprisingly, then, in the courtyard, is the most famous statue of King Kamehameha, who was known for uniting the Hawaiian Islands into one royal kingdom in 1810. Another cool fact is that the building was originally designed to be a palace. However, Kamehameha V realized that the Hawaiian government desperately needed a government building. At that time, the buildings in Honolulu used by the government were very small and cramped, clearly inadequate for the growing Hawaiian government. As a result, when Kamehameha V ordered construction of Aliʻiōlani Hale, he commissioned it as a government office building instead of a palace.

After quick stops at the palace and Aliʻiōlani Hale, we headed for Waikiki. Our first stop was to the bronze statue of Duke Kahanamoku on Kūhiō Beach. Duke is a Hawaiian icon who broke the world record in the 100-yard freestyle during his very first competition. He then went on to win Olympic gold in the 100-meter freestyle and silver in the relay in 1912. He also won two gold medals in 1920 and won a silver medal at age 34 in the 1924 Olympics. He has the nickname “the father of modern surfing.” Duke was one of the pioneers of the Waikīkī Beach Boys, watermen who earned their livings teaching visitors how to surf and canoe at Waikīkī Beach.

From the statue, we walked along the beach to the Waikīkī Aquarium. The boys and I went in while John went to a nearby Starbucks to work a little. The aquarium was small and some exhibits (such as the one with monk seals) were closed, but what we saw was cool. Some of our favorite creatures were the sharks, sea horses, and sea dragons.

Also, it was here that Ryan had his first Diet Pepsi in close to a month (the ship has Diet Coke). Knowing I’m a Diet Pepsi gal, he gave me a tiny sip, but mostly kept it for himself. 😊

After the aquarium, we decided to just relax and spend some time downloading games, movies, and music onto our devices in preparation for our next long segment at sea. We hung out at Maui Brewing Company, where we had a pizza, some drinks, and an amazing banana bread dessert. Cheers!

Once we recharged and re-downloaded, we headed back to the ship. Another beautiful day in Hawaii!