Pearl - A visit to Pearl Harbour

USS Arizona Memorial - Pearl Harbour

Pearl

I'm sure since we came to Hawai'i that people who have been following the blog knew for certain that one of the elements/minerals I would be using is this one. Pearl, for Pearl City and its famous Harbour, is so right for today when we visited the memorial to the events of December the 7th 1941 in Pearl Harbour, O'ahu.

Pearls, like the egg shells of two days ago, are made of calcium carbonate, they can occur naturally or be farmed. There beauty has made them precious in many cultures. 

Here on O'ahu Pearl City is named based on the Hawaiian name - Wai Momi - which is translated Water of Pearls. So today we visit the water of pearls and its famous harbour.

Breakfast

The day began gently with a lie-in until 6.00am, the latest I have awoken this holiday. Still with the next two days running in to one it was nice to wake up refreshed.

When I woke I got showered etc and began to pack, then Drew did the same. 

We left the room for breakfast at 6:30 and had our usual treat at the lovely breakfast bar here at the Holiday Inn Express, Waikiki.

Haydn's Breakfast

Drew's Breakfast

We went back to the room at 7.00am, blogged and finished our packing before checking out at 9:15am. 

We left our luggage (both main luggage and hand luggage) with Sebastian, the Bell Man, he asked where we were from and when we said Wales he told us he had gone to Roath Park Primary School when his Dad, who was a marine, was stationed in Wales. Small world!

Pearl Harbour

We were picked up at the hotel for our Pearl Harbour tour at 9:35am. We had booked the tour on Saturday, when we realised we would cover everything else we wanted to see on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and didn't want to waste our last day. 

We were in a very comfortable 22 seat Executive Coach with our driver called Eddie. (He asked us to remember his name so we could say how good he was on our Trip Advisor Review😀)

When we had picked up the others who were travelling with us (we were second on) we headed to Pearl Harbour arriving at 11:00am. Pearl City is the other side of Honolulu from Waikiki along the busiest roads on the island. 

Golden Plover

Eddie began by pointing out a Golden Plover to us. It migrates between Hawaii and Alaska, which seemed relevant to us today as we planned to do the opposite. 

Welcome to the Pearl Harbour National Museam

There is so much to see at Pearl Harbour that the time went past quickly with a submarine, torpedoes, planes and other historical sites. As ever you would be better looking at the photos on Flickr starting here, than me going into a long explanation of events which are well documented elsewhere. 

USS Arizona

USS Arizona Memorial

Perhaps the most iconic images of Pearl Harbour is the USS Arizona. The Arizona, and three other battleships, were permanently destroyed on December 7th 1941 and it lays as a grave for the many men who lost their lives on that day. 

Before we travel out into the bay we are invited to a 22 minutes of live action film from the day. Taken by a local medical doctor who was on the edge of the base and others. It makes the events very real. 

USS Tennessee

We then travel out on to the bay past the Arizona memorial via the other ships which were bombed on that day, but subsequently were recovered and repaired for the battle ahead. 

USS MIssouri

We then went past the USS Missouri, the ship where the Japanese surrender was signed on September 2nd 1945. The ship is now a memorial here, so that it and the Arizona form the beginning and end of the US' involvement in the Second World War.

Back to Land

Tora, Tora, Tora

When we returned to land we had a chance to visit some of the on-site museums. I was particularly interested to see the speech of President F D Roosevelt  on that day in December when America declared war on Japan. The original text of his speech writer says: "A day that will go down in world history" which he then scribbles out so the the famous phrase. "A day that will do down in Infamy" replaces it in his own handwriting. 

Another change he is seen to make is from the generic - bombing in Hawaii to bombing of O'ahu - making it more personal. 

On reflection I'm glad Drew got me to watch Tora, Tora, Tora before coming here, as it set so many things in context. <<Co-pilot's note: It should, dear readers, be noted that I got him to watch that film not because we were coming here per se, that was coincidental. Instead it just happens to be a very good film, which does a really good of demonstrating Yamamoto's conflict over the attack.>>

As we walked away I wondered about the whole Pearl Harbour experience and felt that it was almost un-American, without the belacouse over the top treatment that is often part of this country's nature. Perhaps in not being over the top it is more poignant. In that it marks an event which shocked a nation and influences its culture and life still. 

Back to Honolulu

We leave the Pearl Harbour site and gather with the others on our trip for the next part of our journey. By now the temperature had raised to 91°F, it was nice to find some shade. We got on the bus and left at 1:30pm.

Lady Columbia - National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific

On the way we called at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific to remember all those who died. The Hawaii FIve-0 fans among my readers will know this site as the main monument formed part of the opening sequence of the original FIve-0 series. 

Lunch

We arrived back at the hotel at 2:50pm and walked straight to a place we had seen last night, that seemed like a good lunch stop, being unsure what, and at what time, we would eat on the plane tonight. We got to Eggs and Things at 3:00pm.

Pork Chop and Pineapple with Eggs 

I had a Pork Chop and Pineapple with Eggs (over hard) with potatoes. It had a pork gravy pooling inside the pineapple, which tasted a lot nicer than it sounded. The meat was cooked very well, a perfect lunchtime snack.

Portuguese sausage and eggs

Drew opted for Portuguese sausage and eggs (over easy)  with rice. The Portuguese sausage, which we would call Chorizo, for the Spanish version, wasn't as spicy as its Spanish equivalent. Drew decided to have rice as it seemed like an odd combination (mind you the choice was rice, potatoes or pancakes, I think the latter would be the really radical choice.) Drew enjoyed his rice, with some tabasco on it, as it provided a nice way of soaking up the yolk and was itself tasty. He says: "Perhaps having rice with sausage and egg is something to try at home."

Last Hours in Waikiki

A second world war tank

From Egg and Things we walked down to the U.S. Army Museum of Hawaiʻi which has some interesting World War Two artillery outside. Again for all the pictures see Flickr. 

Waikiki Beach

We then went for our final visit to Waikiki Beach. We've not been here long, but we have enjoyed every moment of it. 

We went back to the hotel at 5:00pm, made use of their facilities and picked up our bags from the Bell Man. He then called us a Taxi and at 5:20pm we headed to the airport.

Honolulu Airport

Agriculture Check Point

We arrived at the airport at 5:50pm and our check on luggage had to go through an Agriculture Check before we can leave the island. They don't want us taking any flora or fauna with us back to the mainland.

We checked in and went through security by 6:30pm (8:30pm Alaska Time). 

Inside the airport we saw that our flight - scheduled for 9:40pm was delayed to 10:39pm. This is somewhat amusing as our original booking was for 10:40pm, but that plane was pulled due to low bookings and we were transferred to the 9:40pm.

The airport is nice and airy and gave us time to upload photos from the day and write this blog post. So at 9:30pm I'll sign off, see you when we are in Alaska. 

(Updated on 13th August to correct my error in the president's name. It was FDR of course, not Eisenhower as my tired brain typed - thanks for noticing Robin)