After a great morning at Hanauma Bay and a quick stop back at the hotel to change, a group of us heads for Pearl Harbor. Fortunately, the next time slot where there are still a number of tickets left is only 1.5 hours away. We spend that next bit of time exploring the Pearl Harbor Museum.

Looking out over Pearl Harbor, you can see the Arizona Memorial and the U.S.S. Missouri across the short water's distance.

I won't bother with the history lessons of that December morning, as you can find that anywhere... but physically being here, I could really get a sense of how chaotic it must have been as the enemy planes swooped and bombed the ships and men. It was, overall, a very sobering moment for Andrew and me.

When it was our turn, we saw a short movie on the history of 7 December 1941, then boarded the ferry over to the Memorial. I'm really glad that it's done in small groups, as the respect is maintained by smaller groups than by a free-flow of tourists...

Once onboard, getting our first view of the submerged Arizona and realizing there are still 1100 men buried below us brings an appropriate awe-filled silence to the group. The most photographed site is the foundation of the #3 Gun Turret that sticks prominently out of the water.

Walking from side to side, you can see barely submerged pieces of Arizona just under the water's surface:

The inscription on the memorial wall says it all:

Oil, trapped but slowly leaking from Arizona, still rises to the surface...

I'll never forget my visit here.

Andrew and I next went over to the battleship U.S.S. Missouri... but that's the next journal.