Exploring Hawaii: Oahu

Going from Maui to the commercialized capitol island of Oahu was a bit of whiplash, but we were forewarned. The whole purpose of us spending time in Oahu was to visit Pearl Harbor National Memorial, and it was certainly the highlight of our 4-day trip. 

It used to be that people just came to the USS Arizona memorial and saw all the things around the grounds, but as with everything, the attraction has gotten so popular that you need reservations for the 45-minute tour of the USS Arizona wreckage. There are plenty of times slots everyday, but they become available 2 months in advance and do disappear quickly, so a little flexibility in booking is important.

There’s also a 90-minute Ford Island NPS Tour, which is new as of 2021 and requires special permission from the military since it is an active base. It is only offered 3 times per week, and those tickets become available 2 weeks beforehand. They sold out in less than a minute! Ford Island is where you can see the USS Utah sunken wreckage and the USS Oklahoma memorial, which the individual states paid to have memorialized, as well as the USS Missouri floating ship, which was the site of the treaty signing to end the war.

With our USS Arizona and Ford Island tour tickets clinched, we spent a full day at the park. In our opinion, every American should visit Pearl Harbor if they have the chance. It’s a living history of the 1941 event. I don’t know about you, but my school history classes hardly explained anything, so let me share what I learned from all the somber exhibits and tours. 

The bombing was a brilliantly planned and executed surprise attack by the Japanese Navy Air Service on a U.S. naval base that didn’t see much “action.” The Japanese military forces not only specifically designed torpedos that could navigate the shallow Pearl Harbor, but they also kept radio silence on the journey to Hawai’i. In total, 21 vessels were damaged or sunk. Because it was early morning, many soldiers were still in the battleships sleeping. It’s awful to think about, but most didn’t know what hit them and got stuck. For example, the USS Oklahoma sunk within minutes, and some soldiers were in airtight cabins, so were tapping on the metal for WEEKS to get out. They eventually resurrected the Oklahoma and pulled out and buried 429 bodies, and moved the boat. For the USS Utah, that vessel sunk and entombed about 50 people. The USS Arizona caused the most deaths (1,177 lives), as a bomb directly hit it, simultaneously igniting and sinking the battleship. Very few bodies were recovered and obviously it was a quicker death than on the Oklahoma because of the fire. The underwater boats will eventually erode away, so to see them in person is eerie and humbling. Meanwhile, the still-floating USS Missouri that ended the war is stationed next to the submerged USS Arizona, purposely (you can tour it as well, but we did not). 

Other than Pearl Harbor, we didn’t “plan” much on Oahu. Which means we missed out on a few recommended restaurants and trails where you had to make reservations in advance (like Diamondhead State Monument, Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve and Duke’s on Waikiki). Also, it turned out that “The Eddie” fell on the exact day we were planning to drive to the North Shore. For those that don’t know, the Eddie is a big wave surfing competition, which isn’t scheduled until they know the ocean swells will reach a minimum of 30 feet. Well, after a multi-year hiatus, that so happened to fall right in line with our trip. So instead of battling traffic amongst 50,000 spectators on the North Shore, we battled maybe a quarter as much exploring the East Shore, but the reward were those infinite coastal views juxtaposed by the verdant green hills.

Gosh, it seems like I’m poo poo-ing Oahu. There were definitely some very good parts despite the throngs of tourists and the 400,000 people that actually live on the island! We enjoyed staying in the humming mecca of Waikiki, where walking so many miles around the action was fun in itself. Plus, we can’t complain about being a block from the beach to catch those sorbet sunsets every night.

You can’t go to the Hawaiian islands without indulging in 2 food staples. During the total 8 days in Hawai’i, we probably had ahi poke bowls 5 times and shave ice 6 times! There are different varieties seemingly everywhere, and I am salivating just thinking about them …