So today we docked early at Pier 2 in Honolulu. We all had to clear Customs and Immigration including the crew. Today also marks the first time back to a US Port for the Coral Princess so it is the US Coast Guard Inspection. Hopefully it does not include the CDC Inspection as well.
Now the problem is with all this is the number of Australians on board that require a Visa to enter the US. These all have to be checked, and then many other countries are required to get an ESTA. I remember one time it took until almost 2:00 before the ship fully cleared.
What many don’t know is Canadians can use the US Citizens line to clear whether at an airport or cruise terminal. The problem is the different cruise lines are not aware of this. This is my 6th time across the Pacific and it has been a PIA each time. My last Transpacific had the cruise lines wanting Canadians to get an ESTA. I kept explaining to the Pursers Office that this isn’t required for Canadians. The next is that we can use the US Line but they say otherwise. I have in the past just lined up in the US line against the Pursers wishes and breezed right through.
I have had them check with US Customs and after a brief wait an announcement is made that Canadians can use the US lineup.
I had talked to the Hotel Manager several days before our arrival to get this answered. She had no idea about this but said she would ask. I can say we breezed off the ship and I say well done Princess.
So the plan was to rent a car from HUI which is a ride share company that you can rent a car by the hour. The problem was I could not access the APP as it wanted double Authentication and the phone number was an old US Number I no longer had.
Plan B came into effect where we joined a couple of people from the cruise to UBER to the airport to rent a car. We managed to get a Budget Car for $42 for the day.
We headed out and went and picked up our friends from the cruise that had to get off the ship to fly home early back to Australia in a few days.
The Plan was to head to Costco on the east end of the island. I wanted to get a new Hawaii Shirt and see what other things we could get like Sushi. You see Costco in Hawaii has a Sushi counter that makes fresh Sushi right there. In this case it was made by a nice older Japanese Lady. They were giving out samples and they tasted as good as we had had in Japan.
Now many ask why Costco? Well I know from past visits that shirts can run you upwards of $50 USD and they are a mix of fabrics not 100% Cotton. Costco only charges $20 for 100% cotton and has a great selection. From here it was Macadamia Nuts which are cheaper than elsewhere including the factory.
Then you have the weird stuff like Salmon Skin Potato chips. No I did not buy them.
Our friends from Australia ate themselves around the warehouse and could not believe the samples.
Chips anyone?
Once we were done here then it was into Ross for Less store for a bit.
From here it was across the street for a Geocache that was in my favourite place a lamp skirt. I explained to Margret that you need to bang the lamp skirt to make sure there isn’t a bees nest or something else hiding. Well lifting it had a Gecko run across my hand then half a dozen cockroaches. Returning the cache to it’s hiding place proved to be exactly the same thing with a Gecko across the hand and more critters.
Once we had this done we headed off to the Punchbowl to visit the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. Margret and Kevin had wanted to visit this while in Honolulu so this was that time. I had been here many years ago but I thought it would be a great time to revisit this place as Veterans Day was tomorrow along with Remembrance Day in Canada.
The one thing we did notice was the same date of death that kept coming up on the markers. June 17 1945 was that date. It appears that those may have been those that fought in the Battle for Okinawa. This battle ended on June 22 1945 when the US took the island in the bloodiest battles of the Pacific.
What I have learned is Shuri Castle was reduced to ruins on May 29th 1945. This for me is interesting as about 7 years back I visited this castle in Okinawa that trip. I was on the understanding that this was the original castle at the time with no mention of what happened in 1945. A couple of years later after my visit the castle caught fire and was completely destroyed. It is currently being rebuilt.
Once we finished our visit it was off to drop our friends at a bus stop to head back to their hotel as they had an engagement at 5:00 PM.
From here Claudia and I headed off to the Dole Pineapple Factory then it was up to the north end of the island to see the wave action. From here we turned around and headed to the Historian Town of Haleiwa where we stopped and walked around for a bit. Visited the Historic Church here. Now this place is pretty much like most beach towns that you go into in California with the usual tourist trap shops.
Lili’uokalani Protestant Churc
Royal Palace
Once done here it was back to Waikiki to find some food. Claudia was looking for a Polynesian dish of pressed duck. She had thought she had found this place that may serve it called Golden Eagle Chinese Restaurant. Now finding this place was interesting and trying to find parking. You see this place is up a dark alley in a very nondescript part of town. I can say without question I have trusted Claudia and her choices this trip for food. Walking in the door I thought what the hell is this place. I mean boxes piled up in the corner and coke cases in places and a few tables. The good news was there were several families eating in this place. The number of people ordering pick-up was continuous.
I can say without a doubt I thought Claudia may have bombed on this one. Claudia said to me I looked like I was ready to leave and just staying to take one for the team.
I bowed to Claudia so she orderd the War Won Ton Soup along with Honey and Walnut Shrimp along with a bowl of rice.
War Won-Ton Soup
I have to say once the food arrived and I tasted it things soon started to change. The look of relief on my face was a obvious Claudia said. Now to rate this place would be a 1 for looks and 5 for food. I was very happy with what we ate here. I thought the soup was some of the best for the whole trip. We had to come to Hawaii for this soup despite having travelled through Asia.
On the way back to drop the rental car off we stopped by a Virtual Cache called The Eternal Flame that we were passing. Of course I found the hard way into this one. It was dark not very well lit. I started to walk in and make my first fatal move by not seeing the two stairs I had to go down. Then there was the walk around the hedge only have two homeless people scare the crap out of me. Picture in hand back I went and this time I did not see the chain fence that I walked into right at right height if you get my drift, I know I did. All I can say is I got it done!
The good news for the day was Claudia kept her record intact for this trip!