Day 2: Honolulu, etc.

Today, as promised, we were up with the sun. I actually set the alarm one hour later before going to bed, to make sure I wasn't up before the sun. We found a bus (the Honolulu bus system is called TheBus...) going westbound, all the way to Pearl Harbor, and were rolling before 9 AM. It turns out there actually are people here who go to work, and so we sat in "rush hour" traffic for a bit.


Arrival at Pearl Harbor (USS Arizona exhibit) was about 10 AM, and they were handing out tickets for the 11:30 AM tour. That left some time to walk around and take lots of pictures, and also to take in the on-site museum. As if that weren't depressing enough, the tour starts with a 20 minute movie about the bombing of Pearl Harbor.







A ferry takes people across the harbor, to the actual memorial that straddles the (mostly) sunken ship. There was a pair of Navy divers examining/working/practicing (?) on the ship. As mentioned in the museum, the ship still has fuel oil, and occasional bubbles of oil would pop to the surface, leaving a shimmering ring and a strong smell.








Pearl Harbor itself is huge, and the Navy owns a large chunk of the western half of the island, but we only saw a small part of it. There are other exhibits nearby, including the USS Missouri and USS Bowfin (sub), but they didn't seem as popular, or as free.






After we left the USS Arizona exhibit, we snagged the first bus back towards downtown Honolulu. Thanks to "heightened security" at Pearl Harbor, we didn't have any bags with us, which meant no maps, no guidebook, no video camera. With the aid of the trusty Garmin, we found lunch near the Royal Palace. (Only state that has an official palace, apparently. Why is Hawaii a state, anyway...?)


We walked around downtown Honolulu for a while, stopping at the statue of king Kamehameha, famous, as you know, for uniting the Hawaiian islands. Sabrina took pictures of palm trees while I tried to figure out where we were going.






Another bus ride, back towards Waikiki. We de-bussed prematurely and walked the last mile or so, mostly on the beach. There are all sorts of odd things on the beach, like the guy who will arrange exotic birds on you and take your picture, or the shacks that rent everything from surfboards, snorkeling gear, and beach umbrellas to outrigger canoes, catamaran trips, and water bikes.






We arrived back at the Hyatt in time for a dip in the Pacific before dinner. Since we'd had a late lunch, we also had time for a drink in the hot tub and to update yesterdays blog with pictures while we watched the sun set before dinner.


Today's pictures are uploaded (starting at the battleship), but I need to get to bed, since we're flying to Maui tomorrow morning. I hope to have time at the airport to finish this post. Tomorrow promises to be interesting, since it involves driving across Maui to Hana, a trip which allegedly involves 54 bridges and 617 curves in less than 60 miles.