Falls of Clyde is no longer with the Bishop Museum. On September 30, 2008, Bishop Museum and the Hawai‘i Maritime Center transferred ownership of the Falls of Clyde to a local community group. The ship is almost completely dismantled. In Sep. 2010 she was in a 2nd year of restoration work, outcome and duration unknown.
2017: Apparently Falls of Clyde is set to return to Schotland! (see the KITV Story)

More negative news: lots of the businesses around Aloha Tower have closed. In Sep. 2010 we saw what appeared to us over a 50% of the space upstairs abandoned and spooky. The description below dates from a "better time".

1) Maritime Museum, opened 1988.
2) Tall Ship "Falls of Clyde", a four mast ship, launched 1878, served Hawaii in the sugar trade.
3) Aloha Tower, built in 1926, the tower is one of the most recognized symbols of Hawaii.
4) Shopping and dining pier offers interesting shops and some wonderful dining. We sat alongside the channel, watching the ships go by while enjoying cool drinks and tasty snacks.

On the day we visited Maritime Museum a Hawaiian navigator held a talk on the 57' long Hawai`iloa, a sister voyaging canoe of the famous Hokule'a. (Another sister canoe of Hokule'a is E'ala, but we never saw it.)

The presentation was made by a newly certified Hawaiian navigator, who learned the art of ancient navigation from Satawelese navigator Mau Piailug. Because Hawaiians had lost the knowledge to navigate the oceans without using instruments, Mau Piailug was invited to lead the first voyages of Hokulea from Hawaii to Tahiti and back. See Polynesian Voyaging Society for detailed information.

We were able to go aboard Hawai`iloa, which is a replica of an ancient Hawaiian long distance voyaging canoe. It was incredibly interesting to talk with the navigator. We talked about sailing and he told us about the years of training he'd just finished. We had no idea what was involved!

We were later invited to visit two new exhibitions in the museum. They were not yet opened to the public, so we had the privilege of doing a "behind the scenes" tour. One of the images shows a replica of a sand dune on one of the tiny north Hawaiian islands.