Hawaii, O'ahu

4/15/2024 05:13:00 PM

Hawaii, O'ahu

Location: Waikiki
When: March
Miles driven: 0
Price of gas: 4.57
Interest: Culture
High point: Hostel and Plumerias-->
Low point: Mosquitos
One thing learned: Three ships remain under water, the 18 others were raised up, repaired, and rejoined the fleet.

Part of Hawaii's airport

After Missouri, I drove home, and then got on an airplane to Hawaii! I arrived to sunny 80° weather! For 8 days, I explored the island of O'ahu on foot, bike, bus, and under water. I visited Pearl Harbor National Memorial, Polynesian Cultural Center, Dole Pineapple Plantation, biked around Diamond Head, snorkeled Magic Island Lagoon, experienced hula shows (every large shopping mall gives performances weekly and local groups also host larger shows), The Hawaiian Festival, fireworks (held every Friday since 1988), and ate poke (raw fish), mochi (Japanese rice cakes), garlic shrimp, kalua pork (cooked in a ground pit), and met people from Italy, Germany, Australia, Philippines, Argentina, Switzerland, California, Illinois, Ohio, and Philadelphia (probably Hawaii too)! After 8 days in O'ahu, I island hopped to Hawai'i Island (aka. the big island) for 11 days. Adventures on Hawai'i Island will be described in the next blog post.

U.S.S Arizona Memorial

From my hostel in Waikiki, (where I met a bunch of international travelers and learned about the fireworks) transportation by bus to Pearl Harbor NM took an hour on #42. Exhibitions near the visitor center explain in detail the events leading up to, the day of, and the days following December 7, 1941. A short boat ride (must buy tickets the day before, the minute tickets are released) takes visitors to U.S.S Arizona Memorial. The most interesting thing I learned was that of the 185 vessels anchored in Pearl harbor, 21 ships were sunk/damaged, and 18 of the 21 were repaired and rejoined the Navy fleet. Pearl harbor is only ~40 feet deep, which made it possible for the vessels to be recovered. (Though this depth is also part of what made the military believe the fleet was safe from torpedoes.) The Utah, Oklahoma, and Arizona are the three ships that still rest on the seabed of Pearl harbor.

USS Arizona model

Sea cucumber

On another day, I had a beginners snorkeling lesson. We swam in Magic Island Lagoon, a lagoon with man-made coral reefs that was built for a luxury hotel which no longer exists. Now the area is a popular public park. The class instructors provided all the gear and gave us a tour around the reefs. It felt weird to use the snorkels. All my life I have known not to breathe in when I'm under water. But when snorkeling (and scuba diving), I was supposed to keep breathing while swimming under water! The time I needed to adjust and get comfortable with this change was shorter when I was snorkeling than when I was scuba diving (will talk about scuba diving in next post). We saw a lot of fish including Humuhumunukunukuāpuaʻa (HI state fish, also called reef triggerfish), and the instructor brought up a Brittle starfish, sea cucumber, and a sea urchin from the reef for us to hold! I thought it was a good introductory class! It's easy to buy snorkeling gear and explore a beach on one's own, but the guides know where reefs are, are knowledgeable, take videos, and made the experience more fun than snorkeling by yourself while half worried about ocean waves.

The last place I'll talk about is the Polynesian Cultural Center. Open from 12:30pm to 5:30pm, to fully experience everything they have to offer, visiting multiple days is advised. One's admission ticket is good for four days in a row, which is great if you are staying on that side of the island. The PCC is an hour drive by shuttle from Waikiki. I was only able to visit for one day. As I understand it, PCC is staffed mainly by young men and women who grew up on the represented islands and study at the nearby University. They maintain, improve, and share their cultural traditions while working at PCC and receive college grant money from the Center. PCC's main area is called the Village and has seven areas exploring the Polynesian island cultures of Samoa, Aotearoa, Fiji, Hawai'i, Tahiti, Tonga, and a mini area representing Rapa Nui. Each area shared that culture's food, traditional way of cooking, music, dance, games, and architecture with presentations and hand-on activities.

At Samoa I watched men climb a coconut tree, I wove a toy fish from coconut leaves, made wood smoke by rubbing two sticks together (I did not persist long enough to start a fire, but had watched two people race to do that very thing during a presentation), and tried to spin a fire stick. At Aotearoa I learned to twirl a Poi Waeroa (soft ball on a string), and played a game where everyone in a circle held a walking stick in front of them and when one person called out left or right, everyone would leave the stick behind, move left/right and grab that stick before it could fall. If the stick you were moving to fell onto the ground, then you were out of the game. Play continued till only one person remained. In Tahiti I tried underhand spear throwing and watched a traditional wedding ceremony, their main question was, "Will you ever leave this person [you are marrying]?" The response, "No". The performers invited couples in the audience to renew their vows with the main question. Thankfully the audience practiced doing this, because the first time the question was asked, many forgot the switch and said "Yes", as in yes I will leave you. I walked through the other areas but did not have enough time to fully explore what they offered.

That evening, I attended PCC's HA Breath of Life show. Essentially, it was the same music and dancing from the Village's six islands (Rapa Nui not included) rolled into one performance. It was nice, but I think I enjoyed the individual island performances better. Though, at the HA show I was able to see the dances of the cultures I did not have time to visit during the day. If you go to PCC and are able to visit the Village multiple days, I think that would be better than paying for a ticket to HA Breath of Life.

Aotearoa music and dancing

I greatly enjoyed my time in Waikiki, and wouldn't mind returning. The bus is helpful for traveling near and far on the island if you're not in a hurry. Short term rental bikes are abundant in Waikiki. The weather was wonderfully warm during the day and cool at night, and flowers were everywhere! Pineapple Dole whip (soft serve ice cream/sherbet) is delicious and there were many new foods to try. I had a great time on O'ahu.