Got and went out for breakfast at about 8am. Our plan was to go to the IHOP which is joined to the hotel. Got down there and there was a big queue with a long wait time just to be seated. Went for a walk to try and fine somewhere else to eat. Everywhere was the same. Eventually gave up and came back to our room and ate whatever we had lying around.
We were planning to catch the bus to travel but decided it was a lot simpler to get an Uber. A good decision as we got to Pearl Harbour in seventeen minutes rather than an hour. We had to dramatically reduce what we had with us for the day as, for security reasons, you are not allowed any bags when you enter, so you were reduced to what could fit in your pockets. This meant we could just walk in when we got there. A bit odd as I'm pretty sure I could fit a gun in my pocket but no one checked.
We had purchased a pass that covered all the exhibits so set about seeing them all. First up we needed to take a shuttle bus to Ford Island. It is still a live military base so the bus is the only way to get on it. Got off at the first stop, the USS Missouri, a rather large battleship. Got onboard and had the guided tour, which wasn't really a tour. The guide called Ford basically told us about the ship and we moved to just three places. We had to guide ourselves around the actual ship.
The ship was not at Pearl Harbour when it was attacked because it wasn't commissioned until 1944. It played a part at Iwo Jima and most famously was where Japan officially surrendered in 1945 bringing an end to WWII. That is, of course, unless you count it being the star of the Cher 'Turn back time' video or where Steven Seagal was Under Siege in the movie.
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| Ship |
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| Guns |
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| Where is Cher? |
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| The exact spot of surrender |
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| 80s computers |
Eventually we had seen everything so we caught the shuttle bus to the next stop, The Pearl Harbour Aviation Museum. Immediately we went to the café and got lunch as we were starving. We then went around the museum. It mainly focussed on the attack on the base and the air response, plus about the USAF bases on the islands. There were some other bits of info and some modern planes too.
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| Style of Japanese aircraft that carried out the attack |
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| Where they flew |
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| This civilian plane was out flying when the planes appeared |
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| Tower |
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| F15 |
Ann wanted us to stop by the Bob Hope exhibit. Not sure why. The final part was outside and it was hot, so we soon decided we had had enough. Caught the shuttle back to the mainland.
Next up was the Pacific Fleet Submarine Museum and the USS Bowfin, a WWII submarine. Went on the sub first.
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| Sub |
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| Deck |
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| Twat with a gun |
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| Torpedo tubes |
Decided that I would have struggled as a submariner.
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| Tight fit |
Next was the the sub museum. It had a lot of info. We were starting to flag by now.
When we finished we moved onto our final thing which was an audio tour of the Visitor centre which had a few different exhibitions about the attack and its impact on the island. Of course this was narrated by Jamie Lee Curtis.
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| Memorial to all those killed that day |
The only thing we didn't get to do was visit the USS Arizona memorial. This was a free trip by boat but needs to pre booked really early on which we hadn't done. The memorial sits over the ship where it has laid since being sunk during the attack. 1107 crew lost their lives when it was destroyed, 900 of which are still on the ship below the water. A lot of the survivors have since had their remains interred with their shipmates.
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| USS Arizona memorial |
Having completed everything in about seven and a half hours, 'museum back' was setting in so we decided to head back. Got an Uber. Our driver was great. She gave us a tour as she drove. We discussed Hawaii as it is now and how the cost of everything has soared and that lots of Islanders have left for the west coast of the mainland. She is the only member of her family left. Also her grandparents/parents lived in the hills during WWII and watched the attack happen. They thought the planes were US ones until the explosions happened. Disappointingly we eventually got back to the hotel so had to finish the tour.
Recovered in the room for a while before we headed for Waikiki beach. Swam in the Pacific whilst the sun was setting. It was unbelievably warm.
After heading back and getting changed, we then went out for dinner at tropicswaikiki.com There was a quiz going on. Seemed to be the world's slowest quiz. One question then a song. Most of the things in it we had never heard of. I had a Cheesy Pie. Ann had something. I recklessly ordered a Mai Tai cocktail. Ann asked me why I had done so. My answer was simply that we are very unlikely to ever be back here and therefore we needed to be able to say we had a cocktail whilst we were in a tropical paradise.
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| My Tie |
We trudged back to the hotel weary from a long day. Ann has fallen asleep a long time ago.
States visited - 3
