Day 13 - Pearl Harbor and Diamondhead

We were up about 7:30 and got showered.  We weren't in any hurry to leave, so sat around until after 10:00.  We worked on our journals, watched the news, drank coffee, and generally stayed cool.  Part of what we were doing was planning our day.  Finally, we decided to visit the Pearl Harbor monument.

Pearl Harbor Entrance

When we left the hotel, we punched in Pearl Harbor Memorial, and off we went. Well, once we got there, the GPS took us to the entrance to the Military Base.  There was a very nice young woman who called me Sir, and seemed quite friendly.  However, she wouldn't let us in.  Apparently, GPS's indicate that people are to go there, but that is not really the place.  She said she got this all the time, and directed us to turn around and go to the next light before turning.  It worked, and we finally got there.

The entrance was much like the Kennedy Space Center, with large parking lots, clean grounds, and lots of directions.  We had to do some thinking and figuring out where to go, and then went to ask an employee about how to do things there.  She sent us to get tickets to the Arizona Memorial first, because that one is free, but there are limited tickets available, and when you get the tickets, you are given a time to go.

Walking to the Missouri

Looking Toward the Stern

Our time was 1:45, so the next stop was to the ticket booth for visiting the Missouri battleship.  This one required a shuttle to get to it, and we had to go back to the Military Base to get there.  Once there, we could board the ship (was it ever huge) and get guided tours.  There were quite a few stairs to get onto the ship, which was a bit of a problem for Dawn (she always worries about holding up those who are behind us).

Looking Toward the Bow

The first stop on the tour was towards the bow of the ship.  We stopped under the huge 16 inch guns so she could tell us about the history of this amazing vessel.  She also spoke about the strength of the guns on this ship.  It was re-fitted to add more modern equipment for "Desert Storm" - tomahawk missles and air conditioning were two of them.  Apparently the first shots fired in that war were from this ship, as a decoy as to where the actual attack was going to take place.

Then it was on to the deck where the Japanese surrender took place, and we learned about this ceremony.  It was quite interesting, and the politics of it were something else.  We were given a few minutes to look around, and view the quarters of the Admiral - very fancy and much bigger than our cabin aboard our cruise ship.

Then it was time to climb some more steps.  Dawn declined to continue, but told me to go ahead.  We moved to the "fantail", towards the stern of the ship, where she talked about a few other things about this ship.  While she was talking, off in the mountains behind her there was a big lightning bolt and a long roll of thunder.  She said this was very rare in Hawaii.  We heard later that there were monumental rains in the mountains that day, but nothing where we were.  Then, she pointed out where we could go down into the interior of the ship.  We were on our own for that, so I took a few photos from the stern area, and then went inside.

Baking Donuts

It was really interesting to see the mess and galley, walk down the hallways, and see various offices.  I was able to see some of the sleeping racks of the enlisted men.  They were small bunks, in crowded corridors.  It must have been very hot and smelly most of the time.

Dental Chairs

The farther I moved towards the bow of the ship, there were tons of these sleeping areas.  Then, the rooms started to get larger, with single beds and desks inside.  I assumed these were for some of the officers.  There were classrooms, places to watch TV, a dentist's office (two dental chairs in there) where they took care of the teeth of the men on board, and a machine shop.

Officers Mess

Then we came to a sign that said "Officer Country" and if the men wanted to go there, they had to have an appointment or a good reason.  These were much better rooms.  They had their own galley (smaller, but well equipped), and then into the mess.  Here the tables had tablecloths, the chairs were individual and looked to be far more comfortable than the enlisted men's chairs, and it was a fairly large room.  I think I would have wanted to be a Senior Officer, rather than an enlisted Seaman.

After that, it was back out to the deck to find Dawn.  She had gone up another level, and when I came out on deck, she was right above me.  We had a laugh and I joined her.  By this time, it was getting close to when we had to board the shuttle to go back for our tour of the Arizona Monument.  I had wanted to go up onto the bridge to have a look, but didn't think I had enough time, so we left.

It turns out that there would have been enough time.  I had the wrong time that we needed to be back on the shuttle.  However, we were hungry (no breakfast) and thirsty, so went to the snack bar.  Things didn't look too great there (mostly pre-made sandwiches, bagged snacks, and drinks), so we just got an ice cream bar and some water.

After we finished those, we moved toward where we had to board the boat to get to the Arizona memorial.  There was a museum on the way, so we went in.  It was more an exhibit of photos and maps than a museum, but we walked through much of it.  One part was the American side, another part was the Japanese side, so it was interesting to read how the Americans were prepared, and how the Japanese got around those preparations.

Then, we went across to wait for the Arizona Memorial tour.  First, there was a 15 minute movie to give the background and history of the Pearl Harbor attack.  There were lots of photos showing the carnage, and it was quite a solemn beginning to this trip across the bay to the memorial.

Arizona Memorial

Arizona Gun Turret and Oil Slick

Then, we boarded the ferry (along with 200 or so other folks) and went across to the memorial (a 5 minute trip).  Once there, we went inside.  It was very plain and very well done, built across the sunken hull of the Battleship Arizona.  Through the openings, we could see some of the outline of the ship, where the turret of one of the big guns was sticking up through the water, and an oil slick which was still leaking from the ship.  There was also a listing of the men who were lost in the ship that day, but it must have been having some updating work done, as half of it was behind tarps.  An interesting practice is that members of the Arizona who were not killed that day, had their ashes interred inside the ship, after their death, if they wished.

After that, it was back to shore, into our car, and we decided to drive to Diamondhead.  That was an interesting drive, but easy for the GPS.  There were lots of different places we could have gone to, none of them looking like they were beaches, so we punched in a Memorial Park.  Well, she got us there, although we thought she was off because it looked like we were in a residential area.  Then, as we rounded a corner, there was a turn to go into the park, which we took.

Looking Down from Diamondhead

It was a narrow winding road that went up the hill.  Then we went through a tunnel, and there was another park that didn't look to exciting, although we could have gotten out and climber another 1000 feet to a viewing area up there.  Nope, we decided not to go, so turned around and headed back down.  Just after we exited the tunnel, there was a viewing area, so we pulled in to look down on the breakers coming in to the beach.  It was quite spectacular to see, but it was hot so we just took a couple photos and moved on.

Lifeguard Station

We decided to continue on the way we were going when we arrived, and got into some very expensive looking places (the cars parked outside the fences were Mercedes type cars).  When we could see between the houses, the view was amazing.  Huge breakers coming in on the beach.  The farther we went, the closer we got to the water, and the waves looked pretty big.  We came to a park where we finally found a place to park, and we walked over to the beach area.  There were certainly lots of people lying in the sun, but it was too hot for us, so we took a few photos and then continued on.  

It appeared that we were close to the beach at Waikiki and when we punched in our hotel, we were pretty close.  Amazing.

Middle School

By then, we were beat, so we went back to the hotel and took the rest of the evening off.  We watched the wildcard game between Oakland and Kansas City.  When we turned it on, Oakland was up 7-3, 

but the Royals kept coming back.  In extra innings, they finally won.  It was a pretty exciting game, and a real downer for Oakland.

eal downer for Oakland.