Honolulu

This was to be a long day, with two shore excursions. Up early for our trip to Pearl Harbor. The bus took up to the park where you have timed tickets for your ride over to the Arizona Memorial. We had a little less than an hour until our turn, so we had time to wander the grounds. In front of the bookshop there were 4 Pearl Harbor survivors that were signing items and posing for pictures. We stopped in the gift shop for some souveniers and headed over to the museum. We both wished we had more time there as it was quite interesting, but we had to be in line to see the 25 minute movie (quite good) before getting on the ferry and going over to the Memorial.

It's best if you've seen a picture from the air, so you can really see the memorial over the center of the ship. It puts it all in perspective. You get about 20 minutes at the memorial until the next ferry comes along. The big white markers show where other ships went down.

You can still see the oil bubbling up little by little. I heard estimates of 50 to 100 years more for it all to be gone.

At the far end of the memorial is a little alcove where all the names of the men who died on the Arizona are inscribed:

It is also interesting to know that any survivor of the Arizona is entitled to have his cremains entombed with his shipmates. The ranger said 19 survivors are left. One has chosen to be buried with his wife, so that leaves 18 possible men that can be left there. It seems a fairly large percentage of survivors chose this option.

Then it was on the bus and off for a tour of Honolulu. We were able to drive through the National Cemetary which had been closed earlier that morning for an official function.

Then back to the ship for a short break (and lunch) before our luau later that afternoon and evening. Unfortunately, this was the most disappointing part of the trip. We were picked up a little after 4, taken to the luau location by 5, had three hours of free time there (to do what?), didn't eat until 8 and the food wasn't very good, and the show didn't start until 830 or so. The show was good, but only lasted 40 minutes. So for us, it was a wasted $300. We did get the shot of us on the beach at sunset though...

Pearl Harbor was a moving experience and we both highly recommend it. We would have been better off staying on the ship for their luau by the pool and watching the entertainment (hula show) in the lounge.