Our last full day in Waikiki, tomorrow we board the Pride of America. We had no activities planned for today so it was a chance for everybody to catch up on odds and ends. Rosa, John and Sandra went into downtown Waikiki to do some last minute shopping. After speaking to a number of musicians here I walked to Good Guys Music and Sound to have a look at the fabled locally made ukuleles. Hawaiian ukuleles, made from Koa wood are the best instruments in the world and Kamaka is considered to be the 'Stradivarius' of ukuleles. You can find them in some of the shinier shops on the tourist trail, but the prices are outrageous. I had been told by a few musicians that Good Guys was the place to go and so I trudged off there this morning to have a look. Some of the most famous musicians in the world (including George Harrison) bought Kamaka ukes here and I was pleased to find a handful of these legendary instruments in the shop. I already own a pretty good 'concert' size ukulele. The next size up is the 'tenor' which has a lovely deep and warm sound. Chatted with shop owner for a while - he was very helpful and pulled out a huge range of imported instrument which were all excellent, but then eventually he brought out a tenor size Kamaka complete with case. It was priced well below that of the 'main street' shops and when I took it out of its case I was a goner.
Everything, sound, feel, appearance about this little beauty is outstanding and I knew that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity to buy a very special instrument. So this will travel with me as hand luggage.
In the afternoon John and I went swimming at the beach just across the road from us, and this evening we had dinner at (you guessed it) The Cheese Cake Factory. Once again the food was excellent.
Tomorrow we pack and get ready for a 1 pm pick up at the hotel, for our short trip to Honolulu harbour.
No comments:
Post a Comment