Hawaii Part 2 - Pearl Harbour

Tony writes;

A day at the Pearl Harbour Memorial . We were not sure what to expect, was full of questions around why we were going and what went on there. A reasonably short drive with Annoying Annie helping out of course, beautiful sunny day, pity we forgot the hats.

On entry it takes a little while to work out which tour to take , it's written in English but sometimes the brain just gets so overwhelmed. Weather restricts the tour of the Arizona, so it's the submarine Bowfin and the Pacific Aviation Museum (PAM) for us .

The Bowfin was really something to see, the cramped space, beds above live torpedo's, even the officers quarters were tiny. I hope they were smaller than me,  it was a nightmare just trying to fit through the doorways let alone if you were in a rush. A magnificent feat of engineering to produce a desalination pump on board a small floating tin can so many years ago. Battery powered subs, with manual controls everywhere, children of the 1990's and beyond really didn't have a lot of experience with manual levers and controls. You could imagine a new sub would be all digital, and touch screens pads  now.   36 beds, 72 crew hot bed's and when you consider water for the shower was the last priority for the fresh water, yuck?

A very engaging Japaneese/ Hawaiian man was delivering his tour at PAM when we arrived, a true talent to deliver a tour with such passion, day in and day out. His voice commanded attention, he even had Emma mesmerized, Hamish was soon captured as well, a testament to the power of the tour guides speech. If my high school history teacher, actually any of my teachers, could have delivered their message with such passion I would have paid more attention. Probably would have had a better attention span as an adult as well. Some fascinating history, remarkable restorations of the planes and some great photos to come. 

Tracey writes;
The big Aussie, yes that would be Tony had his first faux pas driving on the wrong side of the road today, oddly it felt perfectly normal for us both. 2 more strikes and I take over.

Somehow, the Americans are able to draw you in to the big red, white &blue.  Everything is big from their pick up trucks, food portions, wine bottles and most of all their gorgeous personalities.  I Love It!

Emma writes;
The water was nice and blue, clear and shiny.  I loved swimming with the sea life and standing on the edge of Diamond Head.  I wish we could stay in Hawaii longer.

NYC here we come!!