After a recent Asian business trip, I had the awesome opportunity to have almost a full day layover in Hawaii! I have two friends from college that are living there now. They were gracious enough to pick me up at the airport and run me all over the island of Oahu, showing me as much of this beautiful place as we could fit in. I had an AMAZING day, and can’t thank Consuelo and her family enough!!!
When I landed, the sun hadn’t risen yet (red-eye flight) so I didn’t get to see anything from the air. Once I could see something, I realized it was raining. :( I was a bit bummed, but was still committed to making the most out of the day. My friends picked me up and we headed over to the USS Arizona Memorial, most of which is under cover. Before our scheduled ferry out to the memorial, we had time to tour the USS Bowfin. This is a WWII era submarine that’s on display there in Pearl Harbor.
USS Bowfin Torpedo Room - I don't know how closely this resembles a current submarine, but in an age where I control 90%+ of my life from a keyboard....I'm blown away by the number of knobs and levers here!
USS Bowfin - I'm sure today these gauges are replaced by a single graphical display, that provides 5x the information in 1/5x the space.
USS Bowfin - Now THOSE are levers! These controlled the batteries/generators on the sub.
USS Bowfin - I need to read-up on this dual screw design. Obviously they rotate in opposite directions, and I suppose the torque balances to allow the torpedo to track more straight. What's not clear to me is how much more thrust you get.
USS Bowfin - This massive deck gun was designed to be fully submersible. You just leave the breach open and it drains when you surface. That thing'll put a world of hurt on ya! With a rifled barrel, I bet this thing had some impressive range & accuracy.
At 9:20 we were ushered into a theater to view a movie about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. We were all amazed at the amount of footage that they had compiled from the attack. It was truly devastating! After the movie was over, we were led out to a ferry which took us over to the memorial. The memorial building sits above the wreckage of the USS Arizona, and you can look down to see the ship below. I think it’s very well done.
USS Arizona Memorial - The captain of the ferry boat (a very young Marine) took us out front so we could take photos of the memorial. He even spun the boat around so people on both sides could get clear shots. How nice. :) On the far left is the gangway to get you off the ferry and onto the memorial. The closed left portion of the structure is a "gathering room" with flags, etc. The center portion is for general viewing. There was a cool map there that helped you understand which parts of the ship you're now seeing above water. The white buoy marks the bow. And the room on the right with the windows is the shrine.
USS Arizona Memorial - As you can see, the harbor is shallow enough that parts of the boat are still above the surface. The white block with "Arizona" on it was one of the mooring points. The round piece on the right is what's left of one of the main gun turrets. And you can see some oil floating on the water. They've done what they can to clean out the oil, but it continues to leak. A ranger said that one day the tank would finally rupture and there would be a bigger spill, but they're prepared for that.
USS Arizona Memorial - On the north end of the memorial is a shrine with the names of all 1,177 sailors and marines who lost their life on the Arizona that day.
USS Arizona Memorial - Also in the shrine is this separate memorial to those shipmates who survived the attack (many because they were off the boat for various reasons). These folks have since died, and have had their ashes unturned on the boat. It sounds like a very cool ceremony. First they gather in the main shrine for a memorial service with the chaplain. Then a Navy diver takes the ashes out and swims along the hull till they find a crack large enough to drop the container of ashes down into the hull. Wow.
I think the landscape here is just amazing! It had been raining this morning, so the air was pretty thick. It's hard to tell here, but the clouds hanging on the mountain tops were beautiful. That's the USS Bowfin in the foreground.
The USS Missouri was also sunk on 12/4, but it (along with many other sunk that day) was raised and put back into service. She now serves as a museum. Unfortunately I didn't have time to take the 2 hour tour. Next time for sure! (photo taken from USS Arizona Memorial)
After leaving the memorial sight, we drove up to the Pali Lookout, which provides stunning views of Kanoehe, the Kanoehe Bay, and the surrounding mountains.
View from the Pali Lookout. This is the island where they filmed Jurassic Park, and where they still film the TV show Lost. The terrain is just amazing.
View from the Pali Lookout. This is the definition of lush. Even the steepest, rockiest faces were covered with plant life. The low clouds looked cool, but are difficult to photograph.
By this point we were getting hungry, so we drove up to the north shore for lunch. I enjoyed some delicious Hawaiian pulled pork. Not sure what it was spiced with, but it was outstanding! Then we visited Weimea Bay, which is where many of the big surf competitions are held. Just a few weeks before my visit they were seeing 50-16′ waves here!!!
Me at Weimea Bay. This is where they hold some of the big surfing competitions every winter, when the waves are 50-60' tall!!! It was too late in the year for the big waves, though, so it made for a nice calm day.
Weimea Bay
I fully understand now why we call Hawaii “paradise”. It’s amazingly beautiful, and I can’t wait to get back!