Hawaii Day 4 - Pearl Harbor & the Swap Meet

The next morning we headed back to Pearl Harbor. I had tried to get us reserved seats the day before, but even though I signed in at the exact time they became available, they sold out before we could get them. So we got there right when they opened and waited in the standby line.

While we waited, David and Jalen went to see the USS Bowfin submarine. The ship was used in the Pacific during World War II, but was not in Pearl Harbor when it was bombed. We should have thought of it earlier because they ended up having to rush through. Jalen still loved it.

We ended up waiting three hours before we finally made it onto a ship. It was worth the wait. The National Park Service operates Pearl Harbor, but the boats that take visitors out to the Arizona Memorial are operated by Navy sailors.

View of the flag through the top of the memorial.

The Arizona

Sea Turtle

Needlefish?

A total of 1,177 sailors and marines died on the Arizona. Over 900 of the bodies could not be reclaimed and were left entombed on the ship. Since then, 44 sailors who died after the war have chosen to have their remains buried on the Arizona with their former crewmates. (There are three buried on the Utah and one more wants to be interred there.)

After dying, they are cremated and the urn is placed on the ship. The final sailor was added last December. He was 98 years old. There are only three survivors left, but the others have chosen to be buried with their families rather than on the Arizona.

One dive team member said, “It’s a large hole and we place the urn through and then you can kind of feel it release…I tell the family, when I feel that pull, it’s the ship accepting one of its own back.”

The mooring quays in Battleship Row show where the ships were anchored on the day of the attack. They were used to secure the ships. There used to be 16 of them, but most have been destroyed over time. 

Oil still leaks out of the ship - about two quarts a day.

The USS Utah and the USS Arizona are the only battleships remaining in Pearl Harbor. The wreckage of the other ships has been removed. The USS Arizona is visited by over 1.7 million visitors each year.

The memorial straddles the wreckage of the USS Arizona.

We met up with Taryn and went to the swap meet in Aloha Stadium. I wanted to buy everything.

Baylie loved these shell fixtures and bought a little purple one for her bedroom.

Some of them were very intricut.

I bough sarongs for Yasmin and April to thank them for driving us to the airport and watching Tashi. I also got one for me. They were so pretty - and cheap!

Our final stop was the Dole Plantation. I had a pineapple float and it was delicious!

Chili fries

Hot dog with chili and pineapple.

Dole Whip!

Pineapple fields

It was another fun,but crazy day!