Postcard from Hawaii - IX - Pearl Harbor & The End of Paradise

At the entrance to Pearl Harbor

The inevitable day of departure had finally arrived. We had one more day in Paradise and then it would be a big silver bird back home - jobs to go to, laundry to do, groceries to buy, bills to pay, and a yard in desperate need of mowing.  But that silver bird would not be leaving until late afternoon, just enough time to tour Pearl Harbor and pay our respects to the men who gave their lives there.

After Trip Report - Was it expensive? For a middle-class family of 3 staying in upper-class hotels right on the beach with ocean view rooms, with the helicopter and submarine tours and the nice souvenirs we brought back, sure it was relatively expensive, but we used frequent-flyer miles and hotel loyalty points to help reduce the cost. Was it worth it? Absolutely! Would we do it again? Absolutely! It was a fabulous trip, we have wonderful memories, and our daughter will cherish the memories of our family vacation to Hawaii for the rest of her life. You only live once and you can't put a price on the good feelings and cherished memories that will always bring a smile to your face. In my humble opinion, that, my friend, is more valuable than gold!


On the grounds of Pearl Harbor



The Arizona Memorial is positioned over the sunken remains
of the Battleship Arizona. The memorial straddles the ship,
but does not touch it. The high ends and the depression in the
middle of the structure signify the high American pride before
the war, the depression of America after the attack on Pearl
Harbor and the rise of American power after the war. There
are 7 windows or openings in the middle to commemorate the
date of the attack.  

 

To get to the memorial, you have to take a water taxi. Over
1 million people visit the memorial every year. 

1,102 men are still entombed under the water in the wreck of
the U.S.S. Arizona, almost 1/2 of all fatalities from the attack.
All 21 members of the ship's band were killed and remain buried
within the ship. Upon their death, survivors stationed on the ship
that day are allowed to have their cremated  remains entombed
with their fellow crewmen. As of 2012, there are 31 urns which
have been  placed on the ship below the water by Navy divers.  

Youngest-daughter reading the marble shrine where names of
the sailors and marines killed on the Arizona are inscribed.
There were 37 pairs or trios of brothers who were stationed
on the Arizona. Of those 77 men, 62 were killed. 23 sets of
brothers died. Only 1 set of brothers survived. Ken Wariner
was in San Diego attending flight school that day. His brother
Russell Wariner was severely wounded, but lived. 1 father
and son pair were stationed on the ship. Both the father
and son died.

Gun turret of the U.S.S. Arizona. The day before the attack,
the ship took on a full load of fuel, 1.5 million gallons. An
estimated 1 million gallons was lost due to ruptured tanks
and fires on the day of the attack. There is still almost 1/2
million gallons left. About 8 - 9 quarts still escape every day.
The oil that floats on the surface of the water around the ship
is referred to as "the tears of the Arizona" or "black tears."
 

We had just finished our visit to the memorial and returned
to land when a modern Navy aircraft carrier pulled into port.
It was a reminder to me of the 3 years I served on a carrier
and the times my ship pulled into Pearl. It was interesting
to see the process from this point of view for a change!  

At the airport waiting for our homeward-bound plane. Getting
snacks for the flight, Youngest-daughter (jokingly) decided she
wanted a package of Mentos candy to drop into her coke to see
if it would shoot fiz into the air like the rumors say. I told her
she might better re-think that. Funny girl.

 

Postcard from Hawaii - VIII

After 5 short days and nights on the "Big Island" paradise of Hawaii, it was time to head back to Oahu for our last hours in the islands. Hawaiian Airlines took us and our luggage back to Honolulu Airport right on schedule and for whatever reason, this time Avis was a bit friendlier and much faster so we only waited about 20 minutes for our rental car.

We had arrived before check-in time for our hotel, the Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort, so we decided to cruise around Honolulu for a couple of hours of site-seeing and lunch somewhere on the beach. While researching Hawaii before our trip, Youngest-daughter and I had started watching a few Hawaii-based TV shows. One of these was "Dog The Bounty Hunter" so of course we had to find the Da Kine Bail Bonds office. We had little trouble locating it, but didn't see anybody inside. The area of town where it is located isn't exactly the greatest, but not bad like a lot of bail bond offices. The parking lot where they are seen in the show leaving for a bounty hunt is a lot smaller than you would think. There's also a small souvenir shop right around the corner which sells overpriced t-shirts, coffee mugs and other show-themed items. We didn't see Dog or Beth or anybody else, but it was still kinda cool seeing the place in person.

The Mama-woman and Youngest-daughter in front of Dog
The Bounty Hunter's bail bonds office

After driving around town for a while and sometimes finding places we remembered seeing on Hawaii Five-O, it was check-in time at the hotel so we gratefully (being the driver of the car, that is how I felt anyway) headed toward Waikiki Beach. Even on a Sunday, Honolulu is very crowded and busy just like any other large tourist city. You'll need a good amount of patience and a laid-back attitude if you plan to drive in it.

Hilton Hawaiian Village on Waikiki Beach

Checking in at the Hilton Hawaiian was a bit of a challenge. It is a very popular destination, for good reason, but that made it a patience-trying affair driving the car along narrow streets lined to the edges with shops and what seemed like thousands of people running around willy-nilly anxious to spend their money. I finally just stopped the car near the check-in entrance, unloaded our luggage onto the hotel property and dropped off the girls to get us checked in while I found a parking place. After about 20 minutes, I was able to get a parking spot and return to the check-in line to find the Mama-woman 2 people from the front of the line. Fortunately, check-in went smooth and we were in our room a few minutes later.

Youngest-daughter in our Hilton Hawaiian Village 
hotel room 

We were not disappointed with our room. It was huge! Very clean, the decor was nice, the beds comfortable and it had 2 nice balconies with good views and cushioned patio furniture. We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing in the room, sitting on the balcony with a cold drink enjoying the surroundings, exploring the hotel property and walking on the famous Waikiki Beach.

View from one of our balconies

The next morning we were scheduled to see what was beneath us under the water in a submarine! The Oahu Atlantis Submarine Tour is rather expensive, about $125 per person, for a 45 minute dive, but who knows when we will be able to return to Hawaii, plus it's a pretty cool thing for the Mama-woman and Youngest-daughter to see and say they did so I broke out the credit card. It was actually pretty darn neat so I think it was worth it.



The Atlantis submarine rising from beneath the waves

The sub waiting for us to climb aboard!

Sunken ship

Tons of fish swimming around that sunken ship

 

Turtle, turtle!

Depth gauge - we went on down another 10 feet beyond this



After a particularly inquisitive fish came up to 
Youngest-daughter's window and stared at her for a while, I
asked her what it looked like.

Back on the ocean's surface, we cruised by Diamond Head
on the way back to the beach

Waikiki Beach

The rest of the day was again spent relaxing, shopping the many, many interesting stores and hanging around the pool and Waikiki Beach. It was to be our last full day and night in Paradise as the big iron bird taking us back home would be leaving the next afternoon. That night from our balcony, we watched a great luau show below us. We had perhaps the best seats around to watch the announcer telling jokes, performing tricks, embarrassing some of the paying tourists, Hawaiian musicians playing "authentic traditional" Hawaiian tunes, hunky Hawaiian guys swallowing fire and beautiful Hawaiian maidens doing the hula. When the show was over at midnight, we went to bed and let the sound of the waves lull us to sleep one more time.