Our last port of HAWAII !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was really excited about Hawaii because it was a break right in the middle of our two-week sail back to San Diego. It was breather before our final exams, and just a nice day to relax at the beach. One of my friends had the winning bid at the auction we had so that she could be the first one to debark in Hawaii. This was a big deal because we only had one day in Hawaii, and those hours were going to go by fast. On the first day we arrive in any port it takes a long time to get off the ship…sometimes it takes until noon….so I was excited that she got to invite a few friends to get off with her.

So the morning we pulled into Hawaii we all had to go through customs because this was our first port back on US soil. That process took a while and then finally we had our names announced to get off first! It was exciting and the camera guy was filming our departure from the ship … one of the boys kissed the ground when he got off the ship.

The other thrilling thing was that was that we got to use our cell phones. When we pulled into port there were about 700 people out on the decks calling their family … it was a funny sight … you would have thought we had not talked to anyone in years! But I had to ration my cell phone battery time during the day because I was not going back to the ship … so that was interesting.

The night before arriving we had a cultural pre-port on Hawaii. I participated in a dance where we preformed some of the traditional hula dances. It was a lot of fun to learn the dances and then to show off what I learned in front of the ship community!

We also learned a few interesting facts about Hawaii … it is the most isolated population center on the face of the earth. Hawaii is 2,390 miles from California; 3,850 miles from Japan; 4,900 miles from China; and 5,280 miles from the Philippines. Hawaii is the southern-most state, and the fourth smallest state in the US. We were docking in Honolulu, which is the capital of Hawaii. It is on the island of Oahu, which is the most visited island by tourists coming to Hawaii. Seventy percent of the population lives on this island. It is also interesting that Hawaii has its own time zone.

I got off the ship and got a taxi to Waikiki beach. The beach is right in the center of downtown Honolulu and it is the main tourist area. I enjoyed walking around the area for several hours by myself. I also got to make some phone calls home which was very nice. I had forgotten how nice it was to be able to talk to my family on the phone and not feel pressured with a phone card or a completely big time difference when I was calling in the middle of the night.

By the middle of the afternoon I met up with some friends who had visited Pearl Harbor in the morning. (I had visited Pearl Harbor with my family a few years ago). We ate a delicious lunch of good American food! Plus we were all fantasizing about the food we missed the most from back home and what our first meal was going to be. One of the girls who got off early headed straight for IHOP because she was craving some pancakes … it really made me laugh! It was nice to be back in the United States, but it was also a realization that the trip was coming to a close.

It was strange to be able to read all the street signs, look at prices in American dollars, not have to speak slowly, and use hand motions if you had a question. When I stepped off the ship and looked at the traffic it seemed so orderly, with cars abiding the laws . And the cars seemed so large. There were SUVs all over the city … compared to rickshaws this was quite a contrast.

Also, we were back in the majority and surrounded by people of our ethnicity. In almost all of the other counties, if I saw a white person it was obvious they were part of SAS….we stood out in the countries so much - it was like we had a big sign around our neck that read “TOURIST!” But back in Hawaii you weren’t so sure … they could be on the trip or just other local visitors … it was a strange feeling … and one that reassured me that we had almost completed our trip around the globe.

The rest of the afternoon we walked around, talked on our cell phones, did some last minute souvenir shopping, and then relaxed on the beach. We took turns watching our stuff and playing in the ocean for a while. Actually, the water was very warm and we all got in the water to jump the waves. We acted like five-year-olds and splashed around for several hours. We saw the sun set over the ocean and eventually could see the stars. Then we knew we needed to start heading back to the ship.

We got a taxi ride back and enjoyed a quick snack before boarding the ship for the last time. It was definitely a disappointing feeling … back on the ship for our arrival home. I wished I did not have to think about it. It was a relaxing day and one that was well spent with friends. Hawaii will always be beautiful!


“Here I am, safely returned over those peaks from a journey far more beautiful and strange than anything I had hoped for or imagined - how is it that this safe return brings such regret?” -- Peter Mathissen