August 28, 2012
August 28, 2012
We are up early today. Our Molokai adventure has come to an end. We drop the rental car off at the airport lot and board the little prop plane for the short flight back to Oahu. The nice thing about this plane is we are each guaranteed both a window and aisle seat. It is like a scenic flight giving us great views of the Hawaiian landscape. Oh what a difference between Molokai and Oahu. Molokai is nearly deserted while Oahu has houses on every available plot of land. Molokai’s water issues make me wonder where Oahu gets all their water.
Once on the ground we check our bags into our flight this evening. We now have the whole day to re-explore Honolulu. We catch the city bus to nearby Pearl Harbor. It is almost 25 years to the day that we last visited it on our honeymoon.
At the National Park Visitor Center I get the next available USS Arizona tour ticket, 12:30pm. That gives us an hour to tour the new museum. We only get thru the first half about the lead up to war with Japan. At our appointed time we watch the kickoff movie and then load the Navy boat that shuttles us across the harbor to the USS Arizona Memorial. The gleaming white structure straddles the sunken ruins. During the attack on Pearl Harbor a bomb penetrated the Arizona's deck, hit the ammo storage, setting off a massive explosion and fire. 1170 men were lost immediately, almost half the total losses that day. A list of all the names is inscribed on the far marble wall. These men are entombed in the ship below. If you watch close, you can still see a burp of leaking oil break the surface twice a minute. Back on shore we finish the second half of the museum about the attack itself.
Since our last visit, the USS Arizona Memorial has been renamed the Valor in the Pacific National Monument and now includes a submarine, an Air Museum, and the battleship USS Missouri. Unlike the USS Arizona, the others all have a fee. Since we are short on time, we purchase the USS Missouri tour and board the bus that takes us onto Ford Island sitting in the center of Pearl Harbor. It is an active military base. The USS Missouri is hands down the most historic battleship. Started in January 1941, it was the last battleship the US built. She was heavily involved in the battle for Okinawa and survived a Kamikaze attack. The peace treaty with Japan ending WWII was signed on her deck in Tokyo Harbor. During the Gulf War she fired tomahawk missiles into Iraq.
We board the “Might MO” and take a thirty minute guided tour. She is a huge ship with nine massive 16-inch guns in three turrets. In battle they packed a wallop tossing car-sized shells over 23 miles. After the tour we very quickly walked around a couple of the decks. It was too rushed for me especially since every time we poked our head out we were met with a misty rain, making photography difficult. On the bright side we were serenaded with a double rainbow over Honolulu.
It is little known, but besides the USS Arizona there are two more memorials at Pearl. The Missouri is moored where the USS Oklahoma was sunk. Just onshore is a new memorial to the 429 men lost. On the other side of Ford Island are the rusting half-submerged ruins of the USS Utah with her 54 men. Unfortunately access is restricted to active military.
We took the bus back to Honolulu airport and boarded our evening flight to LA. Going east is a pain. It is a long flight, made longer with the 3-hour time difference. It didn’t help that this segment was operated by American Airlines, who unlike Qantas no longer provides food service.
Once on the ground we check our bags into our flight this evening. We now have the whole day to re-explore Honolulu. We catch the city bus to nearby Pearl Harbor. It is almost 25 years to the day that we last visited it on our honeymoon.
At the National Park Visitor Center I get the next available USS Arizona tour ticket, 12:30pm. That gives us an hour to tour the new museum. We only get thru the first half about the lead up to war with Japan. At our appointed time we watch the kickoff movie and then load the Navy boat that shuttles us across the harbor to the USS Arizona Memorial. The gleaming white structure straddles the sunken ruins. During the attack on Pearl Harbor a bomb penetrated the Arizona's deck, hit the ammo storage, setting off a massive explosion and fire. 1170 men were lost immediately, almost half the total losses that day. A list of all the names is inscribed on the far marble wall. These men are entombed in the ship below. If you watch close, you can still see a burp of leaking oil break the surface twice a minute. Back on shore we finish the second half of the museum about the attack itself.
We board the “Might MO” and take a thirty minute guided tour. She is a huge ship with nine massive 16-inch guns in three turrets. In battle they packed a wallop tossing car-sized shells over 23 miles. After the tour we very quickly walked around a couple of the decks. It was too rushed for me especially since every time we poked our head out we were met with a misty rain, making photography difficult. On the bright side we were serenaded with a double rainbow over Honolulu.
It is little known, but besides the USS Arizona there are two more memorials at Pearl. The Missouri is moored where the USS Oklahoma was sunk. Just onshore is a new memorial to the 429 men lost. On the other side of Ford Island are the rusting half-submerged ruins of the USS Utah with her 54 men. Unfortunately access is restricted to active military.
We took the bus back to Honolulu airport and boarded our evening flight to LA. Going east is a pain. It is a long flight, made longer with the 3-hour time difference. It didn’t help that this segment was operated by American Airlines, who unlike Qantas no longer provides food service.
posted by Mike and Aimee at 10:39 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home