As a US Navy Captain (Retired) Harry arranged for us to go on a private tour of Pearl Harbor (yes US spelling) and the USS Arizona Memorial. Skipping the queues we had a couple of Navy Chiefs give us the history of the attack on Pearl Harbor and then a boat tour of the Navy base before visiting the memorial.
Our tour boat;
Ours was the one on the left. The big one is the Admirals barge.
USS Arizona Memorial;
The ship is sitting on the bottom just under the waterline and is still leaks a little oil and fuel - "The tears of the Arizona" as the ship weeps for her dead.
Leaving the memorial with USS Missouri in the background;
On our way round the island we caught a glimpse of the Aircraft Carrier USS John C. Stennis preparing to leave port and salute the Arizona Memorial as she passed it.
We really can't thank Harry enough for arranging this tour for us.
In the time honored tradition of all first time Hawaiian tourists we went to a Luau. "A luau (Hawaiian: lū‘au) is a traditional Hawaiian party or feast that is usually accompanied by entertainment."
Along with the traditional dancing the luau told the story and history of Hawai'i.
Very entertaining and worth seeing (once).
Some of our pictures of the dramatic scenery in Oahu.
Intrepid explorers setting off to climb Diamond Head - a volcanic crater;
Stairs to get to the summit (it used to be used as a military look-out post);
View from the top - looking back to Waikiki;
Jakki with the rim of the crater in the background;
More views of the crater;
Diamond Head from the air;
Other views of Oahu;
Honolulu from the air;
Our hotel on Waikiki beach (it's the tall tower behind the lagoon in the left foreground);
We arrived in Hawaii to be met by Harry (our friend from Texas) and Tracey a friend of his from their high-school days. Harry was hosting us on the first part of our 2 week trip to Hawaii, staying in Waikiki beach, Honolulu, near to where he grew-up (the second week was spent in Maui - but that's for another post or two).
As we've taken several hundred photo's whilst in Hawaii I'm not going to try to post a day-by-day list of everything we did, but, will try to group some photo's together and highlight some the things we've done whilst in Hawaii.
Arriving at the airport and getting our first Lei's;
Harry & Tracey at 'The Room with No Key';
Sippin' Mai Tai's & Champagne;
As Harry knows the place we let him take us to places the tourists don't find, places he used to go to as a child and the cheesy tourist traps so we could say we've been there.
One of our lasting memories will be Harry insisting we have a traditional Hawaiian 'Plate Lunch' everyday. I've included a link to some google images as none of our photos do it justice. Simply it's a mound of fresh meet or fish, usually fried with 2 large scoops of rice (sometimes fried) and a large helping of 'mac salad' (macaroni pasta salad). It's enough food to feed a family or one large Samoan.
Hawaiian Band and Hula Dancer;
Testing the water - it's colder than it looks;
Harry teaching me to surf;
- I'm the one on the left - honest ;-)
Our last day in San Diego we found Balboa Park. We weren't sure what to expect but it was a 'must visit' in all the guide books. They were right, the park is full of museum, art galleries, botanical exhibitions and much more.
Close to downtown SD.
Some of the great looking buildings;
The Botanical Garden building;
and even a copy of the Globe Theater;
It would be easy to spend several days trying to see everything Balboa Park has to offer, we had about 3 hours. Maybe we'll have some more time next time we visit.
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