Maui: A day on Oahu

Our second day here on Maui was actually spent on the Island of Oahu. We wanted to see Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona Memorial and I had read on the internet that there are a limited number of tickets (2000) distributed every day. Pearl Harbor is on the Island of Oahu. After reading several different ways to visit Pearl Harbor, we decided that we were better off just doing our own thing and making our own agenda so we booked a flight on Hawaiian Airlines over to Honolulu on the Island of Oahu and rented a car. I knew we had to arrive when the Memorial opened to have the best chance of securing a ticket. Unfortunately for us this meant departing from Maui by air around 6 in the morning. This means you have to be at the airport by 5 and the airport is about 45 minutes away from our hotel which means we had a really really early morning this morning!

taking Hawaiian Airlines to Oahu for the day

We were glad that we arrived early and secured our tickets as another couple told Andy that they had been there at Christmas and the tickets were gone really quickly so they had to come back. The person handing out the tickets (which are free) is required to place them in the hand of the person who will use it. This way a big tour bus cannot just collect a bunch to take back to the bus. We only had to wait about 20 minutes for our tour to start.

the outskirts of Honolulu

We were taken into a theater and watched a short but really good film about the attack on Pearl Harbor. We then boarded a boat and were driven out to the memorial.

taking a boat out to the Arizona Memorial

The memorial structure sits directly on top of the sunken USS Arizona. Some parts of the ship sit above the waterline but most of it is below the water. The USS Arizona still holds the bodies of the men that went down with their ship. It was a very sobering thing to see and I was pleased that the crowd there honored the request to speak quietly and reverently while in the memorial building.

U.S.S. Arizona Memorial

There is a wall at the back of the memorial that lists the names of those killed as well as the survivors that later died and were interned with their shipmates. Divers carry their remains down in urns and place them in the ship.

remains beneath the surface

After our visit, we hopped in the rental car and went looking for some brunch. We ended up eating lunch at Whole Foods, an organic grocery store located at the local mall. We drove along the coast under bluebird skies dotted with fluffy white clouds headed north and stopped at overlooks and walked down onto beaches.

Andy, Danny and Laurie stepping out to get a closer look

Laurie

Enjoying the sunshine

Every beach was different and the further north we went, the harder the surf pounded and the waves got bigger and bigger. We saw a few surfers out braving the waves and passed by a surf competition that was causing a traffic jam.

We drove until late afternoon when we needed to return to the airport and catch our flight back to Maui. The flight is actually less than a half an hour and we arrived back near our hotel in time for dinner at Lulu’s, a local bar and grill. The food was good but we were too tired to even consider dessert. We are back at the hotel considering our plans for tomorrow and ready to go to bed a little early. Until tomorrow….