Hawaii Trip Day 3, Schaffer Photography (Roanoke, VA photographer)

Day three of our  Hawaii trip!  We got up that morning and headed out at 9 am to Pearl City to go to see Pearl Harbor.  I have to admit, this is a very touristy thing to do.  But Pearl Harbor is one of the most historically significant events in the history of the United States.  

If you don’t know much about Pearl Harbor, I will briefly explain what happened and why it has been so important to our history.  The attack on Pearl Harbor began on the island of Oahu early in the morning on December 7, 1941 by the Japanese Imperial navy.  Pearl Harbor was attacked with over 350 airplanes carrying bombs and torpedoes that eventually sank four and damaged four U.S. Battleships.  When the attack began, most of the soldiers actually thought that it was a drill.  The attack was such a huge surprise not only to the soldiers stationed on Oahu but to everyone in America.  The attack on Pearl Harbor marked the entry of the United States into World War II where we declared war on Japan. 

My husband and I got to Pearl Harbor around 9:30 am, but our tour wasn’t until 1:00 pm that afternoon.  There were lots of people there that morning!  So, this left us with a lot of time to walk around many of the interesting Pearl Harbor museums before we took our tour of one of the sunken battleships, the U.S.S Arizona, which still remains underwater at Pearl Harbor.  But more about the U.S.S Arizona later.

Torpedo on the USS Bowfin

 

The first tour we went on was the submarine, the U.S.S Bowfin.  It was neat to walk through the Bowfin.  It was remarkably small inside and I can’t believe that soldiers lived in there for weeks at a time.  Every time I went through a doorway, I had to duck and I’m short!  I can’t imagine how it must have felt to be a tall guy walking though the submarine hallways.  All of the bunks were stacked one on top of the other with only about 3 feet of space in each bedroom to move around.  It was cool to be able to see the torpedo tubes and look up the periscope.  Once we finished the tour of the inside of the submarine, we headed for the deck.  On top of the deck was a massive anti-aircraft gun.  If you look down the barrel of the gun, you see a proud and waving American flag at the end of the deck.  Simply amazing.  

Torpedo recovered from the Pearl Harbor attacks

Poster some of the sailors kept onboard the USS Bowfin

Control pannel inside the USS Bowfin

At one of the museums there was a photography display!  Cool old camera equipment!!

My husband and I at Pearl Harbor

Palm tree!

After several hours of walking though museums, we finally got to go on the tour of the U.S.S Arizona.  Yay!  It was hot and I was ready for some air conditioning!  As I said above, this battleship was sunk during the attack on Pearl Harbor.  Tragically, 1,177 men were still on board and died when it sank.   After the movie about Pearl Harbor, we got on a ferry and were taken out the memorial site in the water that is built right over the sunken ship.  Once we were on the memorial site, I could look straight down and see the sunken ship below me.  I could see the rusted remains of the ship that now has a rainbow of colored algae growing on it now.   I stared in awe realizing that over 1,000 soldiers gave their lives for my freedom right where I was standing and their bodies were still underwater, right below where I was standing.  It is eerily quiet while you are on the memorial.  We also got to see the giant marble wall with all of the names of the men that died etched in the stone.  It’s a very powerful sight to see an entire wall etched with all of the names of the heroic men that passed away that day.  

Part of the sunken ship USS Arizona



Part of the sunken ship USS Arizona



View up from the Arizona Memorial

After we left the memorial of Pearl Harbor, we headed back to the house.  We were excited for the cookout that night.  The cookout was to welcome back our friends Steve and Supriya who were arriving from the mainland that afternoon and to say goodbye to several friends of pastor Frank who had been staying with him. 

Me and Supriya

My handsome husband at the cookout

The food at this cookout was amazing!  This was my first of my many experiences eating poke (pr. Poe-kay)!  Poke is amazing.  It is raw Ahi Tuna covered in various spices and herbs.  My favorite poke was Wasabi Poke that was topped with rho.  If you love sushi, you would love poke!  We also got to try and traditional Hawaiian dish called Pipi Kaula (pee-pee-ka-oo-la).  Pipi kaula is a beef dish that is marinated in vinegar and onions.  It has a jerky like consistency and has a very strong and savory flavor.  I loved pipi kaula and ate so much of it!  I had such a great time at this cookout, meeting everyone at the church and kicking the soccer ball around! 



Poke!



Pipi Kaula


Stay tuned for day 4 and beach pictures!!