Aloha also means goodbye, and it is time for me to say goodbye to the beautiful islands of Hawai’i. 

Before heading to the airport, I disembarked the Norwegian Pride of America and embarked upon a “Grand Circle of Oahu” bus excursion. Early in the journey, we passed Wheeler Field Army Air Base, where some of the first attacks on Dec 7 1941 were launched.  After reading about it in the Pearl Harbor book I finished on this cruise, it was interesting to see from afar. 

Our first stop was the Dole Pineapple Plantation.  James Dole started the plantation in the early 1900s – his family being of some controversy as his cousin Sanford Dole governed Hawai’i after the overthrow of Queen Lili’oukalni. In any case, the plantation is now a tourist attraction with all manner of Dole merchandise and very tasty pineapple whip soft-serve ice cream. 

Continuing on, we drove along the North Shore of Oahu, the home of big wave surfing. Some tasty waves were rolling in at Sunset Beach, where a big surfing competition was held earlier this week. 

Heading down Oahu’s East Shore, we stopped for some delicious huli huli chicken for lunch and saw the more tropical windward side of the island. 

Wrapping around to the South Shore, we stopped at the Halona Blow Hole which is also the beach filmed for From Here to Eternity, finishing up at Honolulu’s Daniel K Inouye airport for my journey home. 

I couldn’t have asked for more from my first visit to Hawai’i. From the first couple days exploring Honolulu to the cruise encompassing Maui, the Big Island and Kauai, it was an incredible introduction. 

I’ve really been taken by the culture, language and history of Hawai’i. On my travels, I picked up the last queen’s memoir, “Hawaii’s Story” by Liliuokalani – her plea to the United States to return Hawaii’s sovereignty written in 1898. Like many places around the world at that time, colonial diplomacy was conducted at the point of a bayonet and civilizations going back centuries had no choice but to accept. I’m very glad to see that Hawaiians have embraced their culture and language – it’s impossible to leave here without learning a bit of vocabulary. 

So I’ll close my visit to Hawaii with this – “a hui hou”. Not goodbye – “see you later.” 🥰