With my Honolulu Mama

Saturday, Dec 18th...a wake up call for 7:05 & here we are in the Honolulu Harbor. We're all packed and ready to disembark, so off we go to breakie for the last time on this cruise & the rear deck is packed, as no other places are serving. They have to get the ship ready for the next cruise , which departs this eve at 7:00, with over 600 kids scheduled to be on board. (Merry Christmas! or Mele Kalikimaka!) We have to go up to the pool area to get a spot & Felesa even comes up. Back to the rooms to get our stuff & meet on deck 5 where we will depart. We're the last ones off the ship as we are in no hurry to get to our hotel, so we get in line for a taxi & eventually get two for a short ride to Waikiki, and our Aqua Wave Hotel. Not too bad, only 15 bucks to get there, but Felesa doesn't have her favorite room, so she begs & finally gets it..1505, on the top overlooking Kuhio St. All of the bags are taken there, after some other difficulties & off to the beach we go. Thru the International Market and some haggling, but I stop to see a local group sing a few Christmas songs & Hawaiian songs too. The guitarist is really good! (But a hula to White Christmas?) A few tunes and I head on to the beach & our favorite spot in front of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. Put on some serious sunscreen, go into the ocean, have a dog or two & just people watch. A little cloudy today but good waves & lots of boarders & surfers out in the blue Pacific. Back to the hotel to get into our room...913...and some serious blogging & e-mailing. Cleanup & head out to shop a little before ending up at Jimmy's Buffett's Margaritaville at the Beachcomber and some wings, drinks and a Cheeseburger in Paradise! About an hour later the rest of the crew shows up & it starts all over again and about 230 dollars later we're out of there. Out onto Kalakaua Ave to watch the mass of humanity and even a large group of Santas walking around drinking. We shopped a little, watched a little & ended up at the room about 10:30 & no wifi..yuk. No posting but I did write in my journal for later posting. See ya in the morning..not too early however.