Honor and Family

August 3, 2006

Waikiki travel tip: If you’re interested in seeing Pearl Harbor DO go as early as you can. We had read this piece of advice in several sources and only in one guidebook did it actually suggest that wait times may be shorter in the afternoon. Trust us, even if you show up at 11:30AM, note that it’s not even afternoon yet, you will be TOO late to catch a tour. This is just based on personal experience.

But don’t you worry your pretty little heads, we woke up at 5 so we would be ready for TheBus that would get us to Pearl Harbor a couple of minutes after 7:30 (when the visitor centre opens). We actually had a sit-down breakfast, which caused us to catch TheBus later than planned, so we got there at 8 instead. The line did not seem too long, it coiled around once on itself on the lawn. It was I would say 8:45 by the time we got into the centre and were handed our tour tickets. We would be on tour 11, 10:15am. This gave us plenty of time to take the audio tour through the museum before our boat to the USS Arizona Memorial.

I must admit, though I love the uniforms, that I’m not much for absorbing a lot of war knowledge. I really wished my dad was there with me, he would have loved it…I hope I’ll get to take him next time I’m there. They had a survivor from the USS Arizona sitting by the gift shop and a lot of people were sitting with him for a picture and asking him to sign reprints of the old newspaper headlines. It was really nice to see so many people giving him such great respect and actually thanking him for helping in the war. As much as I would have liked to say something, I was at a loss for words and felt like I would be sort of phoney since it wasn’t my country that he had fought for and the like. Nevertheless, I was happy that he was being honored so well.

The museum has some old letters from the sailors to their parents and pictures of their extra-curricular activities. Apparently the Arizona had a really good military band and they used to have friendly competitions against other crews. There was also a big model of the Arizona as well as one of the Japanese aircraft carriers which were advanced for their time. You could also see a recovered torpedo in it’s shockingly twisted state. One thing that stuck out in my mind, and I’m not even sure why, is how the Japanese adapted this new torpedo from an Italian one. It was surrounded by wood that would break off once it hit the water, breaking its dive into the water. This way the torpedo was ready for attack from a shorter distance since it would dive only 20ft into the water whereas the old ones dove 100ft and then had to work back up to the surface from that depth. When I was later trying to impress my dad with what I had learned, I blondely called them missiles. So much for impressing him; right off the bat I didn’t even use the correct equipment terminology. ? FYI: Apparently missiles did not even exist back in WWII. And that’s how I learned that what I actually saw was a torpedo, and not a missile. And now I know thanks to my daddy. Told you he should have been there with me.

Also in the museum is a miniature setup of the memorial so you can see how it is placed over the USS Arizona and what parts of the ship are still visible above the water. They also have this miniature setup on the memorial for referencing what you are seeing out there.

Before boarding the boat they have a short film about Pearl Harbor. I’m ashamed to say that despite the shortness of the movie I was nodding off in the dark. The jam-packed days of sightseeing were definitely wearing me out. The boat is manned by Navy people! Yay for more cute uniforms! Unfortunately, my boat ride back was driven by lady Navy people, but that’s ok.

It is a little eerie to think that so many men are entombed (I heard another person say “trapped”) beneath where you stand on the memorial. I tried to catch a glimpse, and hopefully a picture, of the drops of oil that still rise to the surface. They say 4-5 quarts of oil still seep to the surface daily. Some people refer to them as the “black tears” of the fallen, waiting for the day that the rest of their surviving crew members return to the Arizona so their remains may rest with their colleagues. And there is a portal, apparently, where the survivors’ remains can be lowered into the ship with the rest after their passing.

Once we got back to the visitor centre we finished what we had left of our audio tour and went to catch TheBus back to Waikiki. We left at 11:45 and there was no longer any lineup at the front, they were all out of tour tickets to hand out. Wow, the tours run every 15 minutes until the last one at 3pm and they were already full for the day. I was so glad that we went right away in the morning.

Originally I had wanted to go visit Punchbowl Crater and the National Cemetary but the beach was calling out to me (it was one of the hotter days we experienced while we were there) so I opted for some beachtime before our next engagement instead of further sightseeing. I’m sure I’ll be back, I had to cut out quite a few things I wanted to see…it gives me all the more reason to return.

Yes, Waikiki Beach. Leah the beach bunny, loving it. In the future it would be nice to go in a larger group than 2 people. That way there’s someone to play with in the water. While we were there we had to take turns watching our gear and then enjoying the ocean.

On the walk back to our hotel we talked about how none of our friends would ever believe that Daisy was wandering around Hawaii in tank tops (she does not like showing her arms for some boil-to-death reason) and that I was walking here and there in a bikini top. It is undoubtedly casual all around, people walk everywhere in a swimsuit and no one questions it. And just as Nat made that observation about the dress code, as if to prove her point, my towel fell from around my waist. After that I couldn’t be bothered tying it back on so I walked the rest of the way (it wasn’t long) through the hotel onto the elevator.

After that we had to prettify ourselves for the evening. We were finally going to attend a luau! Germaine’s Luau, to be more specific. I had heard people grumble about how it’s in the middle of an industrial area blah blah blah. Let me tell you, we still had a blast. There was still a beach and ocean right by the luau site, so it’s not as if you were surrounded by industrial buildings all around. Daisy was able to take a picture of an amazing sunset while I kept our place in line for our food. I finally got to try kalua pork (that’s the pig they roast underground all day. It is soooo fantastic.) and mahi mahi (fish), poi (taro paste), long rice (short glass noodles), and haupia (a coconut dessert). There was so much food, even if you only took a little bit of everything onto your tray (yes, it’s more of a tray than it is a plate) it was still more than enough food. I felt pretty bad that I did not finish it all, but it looked to me as if noone was able to finish their trays. So much for a buffet, I would have been in shock if anyone went up for seconds! They heap so much kalua pork onto your plate after you’ve already loaded it with the rest that it’s unmanageable.

And if you can believe it, Daisy and I -- the two singletons who still like to go out and drink, only managed to get two of our three drinks for the night. I didn’t want to get up halfway through the performances to go grab my third drink.

Sure the performance was a bit kitschy, but that’s what tourists come to see. I’d like to learn the hula someday. I’m all about cultural dances.

Once our tour bus dropped us back off in Waikiki we still weren’t ready to call it a night. Might as well fit in a Hawaiian clubbing experience. I changed out of my dress as I did not want to get it all smoky. I didn’t really bring any club clothes so I just put on my denim shorts and a racer back tank. I wasn’t sure about the dress code at Zanzabar and Fashion 45 but surely we would be able to find somewhere to dance. When we walked by Scruples there was a lot of hooting coming from inside. A banner above the door let us know that Thursdays were their famous bikini contests….so obviously we passed on that.

A couple of nights before I had noted that there were at least two clubs along Kalakaua Ave. One was at the Hyatt Regency and the other was a few blocks down. We could not find that other one at all, and I was a bit concerned about a club at a Hyatt having some sort of dress code as well. Turns out it was no problem since the bouncer even solicited us to join in the fun downstairs, we didn’t even have to pay cover. For future reference, the club was called Deep Blue. I hope it was just ‘cuz we were there on a Thursday but we soon learned why the guy waived our cover charge. The place was dead. I’d say there were 10 people in the joint, at the most. Four of the said 10 people were on the floor dancing really lamely. The server asked us what we were having to drink and Daisy, wanting to experience more of the local brews, asked for a Long Board Lager which they did not have. We may as well have been in a club back home ‘cuz we ended up drinking Coronas. We sat at our table drinking and taking in what there was to take in of the place (it IS a nice setup, it was just dead dead dead that night) and I amused myself with the foursome on the dance floor. Finishing our drinks we were at a loss as to what to do next so I told Daisy “If they play Promiscuous Girl, we’ll dance, and then we can go somewhere else or something.” I could not have set it up better ‘cuz, lo and behold, the beginning beats of “my song” came on and I gleefully dragged Daisy to the dance floor. After the song had ended a remix of Shakira’s Hips Don’t Lie came on and we danced to that. I can’t remember if we danced to the song after that, but at any rate we soon just grabbed our purses and left. And as if we needed any further proof that it was slow down there: the bouncer was no longer anywhere in sight. It wasn’t even midnight, yet. Back home things would just be getting busy at about that time.

At that point we figured there wouldn’t be anything significantly better in the general area. I had heard things about Moose McGillicuddy’s, but I was not quite sure where to find it). We ended the evening the way we did most of our evenings in Waikiki, just walking around amongst the other vacationers/partiers. The next morning was going to be our “free day” but that did not necessarily mean we wouldn’t need our energy…so it was back to our room for some rest.