US TRIP: Day Two in Hawaii

May 20, our second day in Hawaii. I woke up on a warm Honolulu morning. After a quick breakfast, we started on a very busy schedule.

We visited Pearl Harbor once again. Since we've already seen the USS Arizona Memorial when we first came in 2002, we skipped it this time and went to Ford Island which is connected to Pearl Harbor by a very long bridge. Private vehicles are not allowed on the island so we were brought there by a bus.

Ford Island was originally a plantation. It was acquaired by the American Military and used as a major air facility during the war. It figured prominently during the Pearl Harbor attack because of the number of ship moored there.

At present, it is home to the USS Missouri, the site of the Japanese surrender in World War II.



Big Mo or Mighty Mo as she is now called, was decommissioned in 1992. Its current position has a significance: its guns face the remnants of the USS Arizona guarding the remains of those who perished there so that they will rest in peace forever.




From the Mighty Mo, we took the bus once again to go to the Pacific Aviation Memorial. Upon arrival in the Museum’s lobby, we entered a 200-seat theater to view a 10-minute movie covering the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, including historic footage and accounts from servicemen who survived it.

Leaving the theater, we entered a corridor with photos, music and sound effects that made us experience what life was like in the islands before the attack in 1941.





The exhibit area features an authentic Japanese Zero, a light civilian plane that was shot during the attack, and also a P-40 fighter. There's also an exhibit that showed a Zero plana which crashed in one of the islands.

After the tour, we had lunch in the museum’s restaurant, “Lani Akea” (Blue Heaven). While waiting for the bus to come back, I bought a souvenir item, a shotglass.


We took the bus again and went back to the main island. This time, we visited the USS Bowfin Submarine Museum and Park. We were given an iPod-like device that guided as during our tour of this historic WWII submarine. The narration and dramatization helped us to imagine what life on board must have been like for Bowfin's crew.


After the tour of the submarine, we visited the Museum which houses an impressive collection of submarine-related artifacts such as submarine weapon systems, photographs, paintings, detailed submarine models related to the history of the U.S. Submarine Service.

Our tour ended here and we proceeded to the Aloha Auditorium where a weekly swap meet was taking place. This reminded me of a Filipino flea market called tiangge where goods are sold at really low prices. We bought some shirts and then went home to rest.

In the evening, we attended the birthday celebration of my brother-in-law's eldest brother. We also met my sister's in-laws during the party. Since the following day was Monday, the party also ended earlier.