Touring Historical Pearl Harbor
23 April 2018 | Ko Olina Marina, Oahu
Helen
Up early. Drove to the Valor in the Pacific National Monument at Pearl Harbor. It was sprinkling on the way. I think we got the last parking spot in their huge lot. Walked to entrance. No charge to get in. They showed a half hour movie recapping what happened on Dec. 7th, 1941. We were at the end of the huge group and found they were lacking enough seats, so we stood. Once the movie was over, we walked out to the dock where a boat was waiting to take us to the Arizona Memorial. It was a short ride over. The wind was howling to the point that a few people lost their caps. We saw one of the ship's crew save one using a fishing net and returned it to one of the tourists. We walked into the main area which is open at the top, with one cut out area, with a part of the Arizona ship below. We also saw some of the wreckage sunk below the water line. On the one side you could actually see pools of oil that are still escaping from the wreck. Then there was a walkway thru to a wall that listed all those who perished. It was not a long stop. I actually touched a piece of the ship that was sticking out of the water beside the memorial. When the boat returned, we walked over to the Bowfin Submarine and Museum and toured both. Also, took a lot of pictures. They did a wonderful job putting together all the displays from that fated day. We had head sets that described the different areas of the submarine. We headed back to the boat, stopping along the way for lunch at Outback. They had free wifi, so I sent out some pictures. We stopped at a post office which was in a nice building but we couldn't find the entrance. One door on either side led into the bank of post office boxes. But they put up a solid wall where the actual post office resided. You had to go outside and around the building to find the entrance. We waited in a long line since it was during the lunch hour. Also, this location didn't open until 10 a.m.! Drove back to the marina and picked up a couple of deliveries at the marina office. Then headed back to the boat. Mark worked on the wind instrument. There were mixed results. Mark thinks it's still an issue with the wiring. He climbed the mast twice, once to get the wind indicator off the top of our mast and again to return it. He tested it on deck using a test cable and it worked fine. However, when he re-attached it, it still fails to work. I was tired after he climbed the mast twice. We took a break and walked up to the showers. Came back and had a light dinner. I think we will be watching the rest of a Harry Potter movie. Mark may be making a pot of popcorn to go with it.