Honolulu, 22 December

I have titled this "Honolulu" because I found out from the bus driver that the Ala Wai boat harbor and Waikiki are all considered part of Honolulu. I had thought that Honolulu was "over there" somewhere but in fact we are in Honolulu and within walking distance of the Honolulu CBD.

This day's task was to find a bus to take us to Costco and Home Depot about 5 or 6 km away. We got to the main drag and I asked two ladies waiting to cross the street about the bus to Home Depot. They started to tell us to cross the street and take a bus but Arnold pointed out that Home Depot was the other way. Fortunately a man heard us talking and told us that we needed to take the no. 19 or 20 bus which we could catch at that bus stop. He pointed to the bus stop and there was a no. 19 bus ready to pull out. We rushed to it and boarded it. 45 minutes after leaving the boat we were walking into Costco, courtesy of Arnold's membership card. There I was able to purchase 6 pairs of 2.25 reading glasses and 3 pairs of 1.25 distance glasses. These are good quality glasses and a remarkably low price and it appears that I am "glassed up" perhaps all of the way back to Australia. I also picked up a toaster.

Our main mission was to go to Home Depot and get a long extension cord, and power board so that I could supply power to my laptop, the toaster, and an electric kettle on the boat. We got 100 ft of heavy guage lead and a 20-amp connector which Arnold would fit at one end. We did not get a battery charger because Arnold had been told by Jerome that there are serious side currents running between the boats and his anodes have been lasting only 3 months. So we have set it up so that we are getting shore power but keeping it totally separate from the boat's electrical system. We returned to the boat with these and other items then after a refreshing beer I set off for the Ala Moana shopping center, about a 20 minute walk away, to get an electric kettle.

The Ala Moana center is seriously huge: about 5 levels and what must be hundreds of shops. Arnold said that it was the biggest shopping complex in Hawaii when he lived here in the 1970's and has a world-wide reputation. Anyway, I found my way to Sears and got a plastic electric kettle. On the way back I stopped at McDonald's and got a hamburger meal for myself (i.e. burger, chips, cool drink) and a chicken McNugget meal for Arnold. (Confession time: two days previously we visited a Burger King and I wolfed down a triple burger with cheese, plus chips and a drink. Feel guilty? Nope. It was delicious!) By the end of the night we had power on the boat with a toaster and kettle. Having these appliances will save our cylinder gas. We are still running on the same cylinder that we used on the passage from Tahiti and if I have trouble filling up the Australian-standard cylinder it will be good if we are able to set off for Seattle with the second cylinder intact.

Honolulu is a beautiful city: modern, spacious, clean, plenty of open public space, and extremely well landscaped. I know that there are other great cities such as Sydney but Honolulu must rank up there with the best in the world. The bus system is extremely good and well patronized.