We started the day with a swim – well we are on Waikiki beach and it would be rude not to! Then around 10.30am we headed off to walk about 45 minutes to the Honolulu Museum of Art. I suspect it would come as a surprise to many tourists to Hawaii that this place even exists as, from what we have seen, this is not high on their list of priorities. However, we really enjoyed it. As well as Hawaiian art and an exhibition of the work of 20th Century women artists, there were also a small impressionist collection. With works by Van Gogh, Monet, Gauguin and Pisarro, this made for a nice insight into the styles and techniques employed by these artists.
We then headed back to town and once again to the beach to watch the surfers off the island shore. Americans, as what might be politely described as a patriotic nation, like their flags. Surprisingly though, we have also seen around the Hawaiian flag. This is surprising as it features the Union Jack in the top corner.
The first European visitor to the islands is generally considered to have been Captain Cook, though this is contested by some. Cook visited the Hawaiian Islands twice. On the second occasion in 1779 a quarrel broke out as Cook took temple idols and fencing as “firewood”. In retaliation a chief and his men stole a boat from his ship. A textbook escalation ensued as Cook abducted the King of Hawaiʻi Island, Kalaniʻōpuʻu, and held him for ransom aboard his ship to try and get his boat back. This tactic had worked for him on Tahiti in the past. The supporters of Kalaniʻōpuʻu though had not read the textbook and instead attacked, killing Cook and four sailors as his party retreated along the beach trying to get back to their ship. They left without the boat!
Following Cook’s visit, various European visitors started to come including explorers, traders and whalers. It is this early British influence which can be seen in the flag. The irony of this recognition is that early visitors (including the British) introduced various diseases to the islands, causing the native Hawaiian population to drop precipitously.