… was awesome
Part 4 - Pearl Harbour, Sunset Cruise and SOS 5/7
On Wednesday we arose very early to catch a bus to Pearl Harbour, where we would line up for tickets into the USS Arizona Memorial. The US Navy only allows 4,500 visitors each day, and apparently they can run out quick. Plus we don’t want to waste the day, so we were there as the gates opened at 7:30. We made it into group 9 out of 30 available groups.
While we waited for our trip to the Memorial we got to browse through the museum to get a feel for the events that took place on the 7th of December 1941. There was some very interesting exhibits on display, including a mis-fired airplane-dropped torpedo, which buried itself on the harbour floor for 50 years until it was found in dredging operations in 1991. In a famous picture of the day, you can actually see the torpedo’s motor frothing the surface as it was stuck on the bottom.
At 9:45 we got our turn to visit the USS Arizona. We piled on a Navy launch that took us from the Memorial Centre to the Memorial itself, located right on top of the Arizona, as it sits half-buried in the silty bottom of Pearl Harbour. It was an eerie feeling knowing that we were approaching the effective tombs for almost 1,200 men.
Part of the Arizona is still above the water’s surface, and most of the ship is visible from the Memorial itself. The ship was sunk after an enormous explosion from a torpedo that ripped through the ammunition magazines in the forward deck. The ship sank within nine minutes taking 1,177 men to their deaths. The ship still leaks a small amount of oil to this day, something that survivors say will continue until the last survivor passes.
The Shrine room contains a wall listing all the names of those who died on the ship, and I was surprised to learn that survivors of the attack had been laid to rest with their comrades on the ship.
After visiting the memorial, we split up from Mum and Nyssa and went across to Ford Island and to the Battleship Missouri. We got to climb all over and inside this ship, which was very impressive. The main guns are just enormous. They are capable of firing a 16in shell, weighing over one tonne, at a target 37 kilometers away! The rounds can penetrate almost 10m of reinforced concrete! That is just mind-boggling. The guns have almost half a meter of armour plating and weigh over 1700 tonnes!
Ahhh, military hardware!
While on the superstructure we saw a frigate and the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln leaving Pearl Harbour for training exercises we assumed.
After the totally fun Missouri, we got back to the Memorial centre to board the USS Bowfin, a WWII submarine. If the Missouri was cramped, the Bowfin was a coffin. Still not as bad as I would have thought. The submarine was interesting, but not as cool as the Missouri.
It took a long time to get back from Pearl Harbour to Waikiki than I thought. Partially because Dad freaked out about the time, and got the first bus that was going that way. The long bus, the stops all stops bus. We made it back in time to go on our …
… sunset cruise.
This was pretty ok, we had a bit of a tool as our tour guide. You know the one, where they go to the bus ‘Aloha!” and the bus gives a subdued one back. So they go ‘I said Alooo-ha’, and we give a pretty decent one back. That’s okay, but it didn’t stop there. It took several ‘Aloha’s’ and much screaming before he would move on the next order of business.
The cruise was pretty nice, we had some good food again, and met some Aussies from Newcastle, who were gay and my Mum really took to. We also got to see some more Polynesian dance, this time up close and personal. I’ll never get how they do that hip thing, bit I’ll tell you it’s hypnotic.
Phwoar.
Afterwards we continued a long day with a variety show called Society of Seven. They are sevenvery talented Hawaiian guys, who play a multitude of instruments and sing favourite songs by famous performers. They did songs from the 30’s right until today, and were just fantastic and very funny too. Some of my favourites were James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles and the Rat Pack.
They finished with some typical American songs, including their national anthem in amazing 7-part harmony and America the Beautiful. As much as Aussies like to pay out the Americans for their flags and their God Bless America’s, I’ll give them one thing; I love their patriotic songs. Their anthem is just so much better than Advance Australia Fair, and with these guys doing the seven voice makeover, even I was cheering when they finished.
The night ended quite early, which was good. We really looked forward to sleeping each night.
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