Travelling again - part three

You are lucky, another postcard. 

In 1896, when artist D. Howard Hitchcock painted ‘The Beach at Waikiki’, canoes were for fishing not tourists. 

But early postcards meant change. Why else print postcards but for the then very privileged travellers to purchase and quickly scribble ‘wish you were here’? And that eventually led to even more arrivals. 

And why fish for fish when, as this 1920s card shows, visitors are an easier and more profitable catch?

A really profitable catch. By the post-war 1950s, an increasing number of visitors could arrive by plane, not only ship.

And, bar the pandemic, it never stopped, although Northwest Orient Airlines did.

And so in 2022 I discover before breakfast is best for finding an outrigger on sand not yet covered with sunbathers.

But it’s surfers for which Hawaii is perhaps best known. There’ll be no surfing pictures in this blog. My compact point-and-shoot camera is simply not up to the task.

Still, the following gives an idea.

And if surfing’s not up your street or down your wave (awful, I know), one of Waikiki’s convenience stores can sell you a tube. 

Note one dollar more if you won’t want to blow it up yourself.

It isn't until after taking this photograph I realize the lady with a tube was wearing a mask, extremely rare in Waikiki. 

Still, I do try to keep my distance.

More to come.