Pearl Harbour

Are we loving Hawaii yet? Hell yes! Do we think we've come for long enough? Probably not. But heh, we'll cram a ton into the next few days and savour every second. Today we were on a guided tour that we booked in Canada with the E Noa group for Pearl Harbour. They picked us up in front of our apartment shortly after 9:00 and off we went. The first part of the tour was a city tour that stared with a drive up into the Punchbowl Crater to the Nationl Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, final resting place for 38000 servicemen and women. This is a military cemetery featuring, among others, the entire crew of the Battleship Oklahoma that was sunk on that day of Infamy. This cemetery is directly above President Roosevelt High School where Barack Obama attended, if he was born here. JOKE!! Bruno Mars also went to schools in the area. Following this we drove to the financial and commercial centre of Honolulu and stopped at the highlight of the trip for Dawn. This is of course the bronze statue of King Kamehameha in front of the Ali'iolani Hale, featured prominently in the opening credits of Hawaii Five O. Needless to say, the building behind is not the fictitious headquarters of Five O, but our bus driver's mother did work NCIS which does exist. Bus driver Brandon is shown below with a statue of General Nimitz. Brandon was Hawaiian and pointed out to us on the trip, the ridiculousness of naming Oahu's major highways as interstates. Sunday December 7, 1941 changed the way America looked at not only how to defend itself, but at the whole model of military might. The sea was no longer the key to strength. It was the air. And so, after two waves of a total of 350 Japanese planes flattened every military establishment in Hawaii, plus the naval presence in Pearl Harbour that had been only recently before the attack amassed in Hawaii, America knew it needed to head to the skies. And so with the knowledge that over 3500 lost their lives on a day that brought the US into World War 2, we started our tour of Pearl Harbour. The first part of the tour took us through a museum, movie and then by boat out to the Arizona Memorial. Only three ships attacked that day never returned to duty and the Arizona represented the largest loss of life with 1177 sailors killed when an aircraft launched torpedo hit its munitions. They are buried in their ship beneath the memorial. The only remaining part of the Arizona left above the surface was the barrette that allowed the gun turret to rotate, shown above. This photo of the Arizona Memorial shows a little better where the Arizona rests. Next part of our military experience was a visit to the battleship, Missouri, which wasn't built when Pearl Harbour happened but, because it was stationed at Okinawa late in the war, it was the place where Japan surrendered thus ending WW2. Enough of the military history! On the way back to the apartment, we asked to be let off a little early because we wanted to experience the Rum Fire Bar in the Sheraton hotel which is at the opposite end of Waikiki from us. On our walk to the Sheraton we passed surfboard alley, a Hulu lesson and a ukulele lesson. It was becoming another lovely evening on Waikiki - ho hum - as we walked barefoot along the beach and in front of the iconic Royal Hawaiian Hotel. By 5:30 no one was packing up and the surfers were still going at it. Another full day!!