Hawaii - Day 1

This morning we headed out to see Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona Memorial. It was pretty amazing to see but I have to say was pretty small in comparison to what I had imagined after seeing it on television all of these years. Regardless, it was still very interesting to visit.

What is amazing is that after 60+ years there is still oil leaking from the sunken ship. When we first arrived at the memorial there were quite a few oil spots as well as the sheen left in the water.

It is hard to believe that after all of these years there is still an active oil leak. However, over 1100 lives were lost when the USS Arizona sank on December 7, 1941 so I have to wonder if it is a good thing that the oil is still leaking to remind us that while it is a part of history it wasn't really all that long ago.

After leaving the USS Arizona Memorial we went on a tour of the USS Bowfin. The Bowfin was a WWII era submarine. It was quite small to what the current day nuclear submarines are in size but was still interesting to tour.

From there we headed over to the USS Missouri which was the battleship that the Japanese surrendered to the US to put an end to WWII. What is interesting is that it was decommissioned and then put back into service during the first Iraq War. Both Alan and I thought it odd that they put it back into service and after having toured it you could tell it was ready to be docked. It was fun to tour a battleship (my first time) but realized that they are quite different to what the Navy uses these days.
I was amazed at the size of the guns on the ship. These things could shoot ammunition up to 23 miles. Holy cow! Can you just imagine the noise it made when they fired??? The people on the ship surely would have known when they were at combat. After being put back in service the USS Missouri was the first ship to fire upon a vessel in the first Iraq War.

After touring these WWII memorials we headed back up the coast from Waikiki. We drove past the lighthouse at Diamond Head but realized it was a private house so didn't stop. We then headed up the coast and stopped at a couple of lookout points to see the views of the water. Our primary stop was at the Makapu'u Point Lighthouse. The guidebook says it is an uphill, not difficult, mile long walk to see the lighthouse. It seemed far longer than a mile.

To be fair to Alan, I should probably take a moment to point out that no matter where we go on vacation I tend to choose at least one thing that is a vertical climb. It happens on every vacation and Alan always humors me but it is not always the easiest climb. Today it was more than 650 feet up but have to admit it was worth the climb...when we finally made it to the top. It is hard to see in the picture below, but if you double click on it you can see the faint rainbow in the upper right hand corner.
When we finally made it to the top it was totally worth it because it is one of the best lighthouses we have seen in awhile.