A Swim, A Palace: Honolulu

I wade out into the sea, and all the city noise fades away. Waikiki is a loud place, the din obliterating most of the aspects of what I have come here for:  warmth, loveliness, serenity. 

The water is cool at first, impulses of currents moving against my legs and hips, sand under my feet. This is the lagoon at Ala Moana Beach Park. It’s a place where noise disperses and waves are held at bay by a distant manmade reef. Swimmers move away  from the beach and then parallel to the long shoreline, taking steady rhythmic strokes to the distant buoys and flags that serve as guideposts. It’s a relief to be in the water. I dip into the cool liquid up to my shoulders and then begin to swim. It’s very easy swimming, the salt water makes me more buoyant than usual. The trade winds ruffle the surface to a tiny chop, but there are essentially no swells.

I set out, swimming in the general direction of the first buoy. I feel good again, but it takes some warmup time to get my mind focused on the swimming, and I begin a workout of sorts, recalling drill patterns and pace I’ve done many times in my masters swimming workouts. 

Ala Moana is north of Waikiki by a mile or so and offers an oasis that I crave, a respite from the city roar and bustle. It’s good to visit other towns to see what they have to offer, but the sounds get to me. I need this swim, and I’m very grateful to the city planners back in the day who carved out this peaceful gem for its citizens.

Being used to a freshwater swimming pool, I have to adapt to the murky opacity and no line to follow on the bottom. I’m can sight by the buoys to keep from meandering in every direction.  

I reach the last red flag posted far from my starting point. I’ve seen several other swimmers including one who, despite the buoys to guide him, is swimming straight for me. I swim to my right to avoid his course, but he swims to his left even more as if a homing device is beaming him toward me. I stroke pretty hard to keep out of his way, but he keeps on toward me. Eventually, he rushes past my left shoulder about four feet away, and I feel tempted to look around to see if he is going to make another rush toward me again, like a bull heading for a red cape. Odd.

The water has a nice swelling lift to it every so often, just a tiny one, but I feel like I’m cradled in a swaying embrace. I swim on back to the starting point where all the families are playing in the water, children yelling happily. Their voices are muffled by the air and sun and ocean. 

Later, after I’ve showered and dressed, we drive over to the Iolani Palace in the middle of Honolulu, a historical treasure I’ve missed on past trips. As the docents will tell you, it’s the only royal palace in the United States. After the Hawaiian Islands were discovered by yankees, a relatively systematic takeover by Christian missionaries and their descendants began. Eventually - and I am skipping a very long series of events - the queen Iolani was imprisoned for eight months within her own palace, and Hawaii was declared property of the United States.  Read Unfamiliar Fishes by Sarah Vowel, a good read with both humor and pathos underlining the whole story. 

The palace has been carefully restored and can be toured, led by a guide or by taking an audio tour ($14.95). There is an especially beautiful grand staircase that leads from the main hall where you begin the tour, up to the sleeping and living quarters of the king and queen. Many exquisite treasures furnish the rooms. A few unique features exemplify the forward-thinking sensibility of the royals of the day including electrical fixtures, flush toilets and a pleasing overall design of the structure itself. 

The colonial island esthetic always strikes me as harmonious with the islands’ colors and sensations. In early times, buildings were oriented in a direction declared sacred by the kahunas and used the beautiful island woods, especially koa, for doors and framing. Because King Kalakaua had traveled abroad and was well versed in his contemporary sciences and languages, he helped craftsmen design and create features of the palace. The light fixtures are striking in both their simplicity and graceful shapes. There are large brass hinges on all the koa wood doorways, and the staircase itself is koa and walnut with other woods used in the fine details of carving and overall form. 

The palace tour finished, we drove back to Waikiki where we are staying for a few more days. This, like other visits, requires me to go find the quiet Oahu that lies beyond Waikiki. The North Shore still calls, as do hikes, more swimming, and, of course, time with my family.