Our flight left this evening over the Pacific and we landed to find ourselves once again in this morning. Time travel accomplished!
We landed in Honolulu, Hawaii and with several hours to spare before our flight to Kona we decided to visit the historic Pearl Harbour.
Having studied Pearl Harbour a fair bit growing up it was absolutely surreal to be standing in the very place so many dreadful events took place back on December 7th, 1941. Today, the park has gone to great extents not only to preserve and honour the memory of those who fought there, but also to preserve the history of Naval History across the Pacific. We commenced our visit with a tour of the U.S.S. Bowfin, a World War II Submarine that you are now able to journey deep within and get an idea of what life in a Sub might have been like at that time.
Then we ventured across the harbour to visit the U.S.S. Missouri, an Iowa Class Battleship that served during the end of WWII and many years following. To be completely honest I was not expecting much, maybe an exhibit to show us what the Battle Ships were like during that era. But I was surprised by the historical significance of this ship. Turns out the U.S.S. Missouri was the vessel used for the signing of the Japanese surrender at the end of WWII, where all respective parties attended for the ceremony. Inside there were also endless halls of exhibits and recreations of quarters, offices, galleys and other vital aspects of the ship. Yet to add on top of it all, the Missouri was strategically placed bow to bow with the wreck of the U.S.S. Arizona to symbolize the beginning and end of the war.
Our final stop before venturing to Kona was to visit the Memorial of the U.S.S. Arizona. Taken out by ferry we were able to see the sunken battleship up close and many of the markers representing the other battleships present on Battleship row in 1941.
What a unique way to be able to interact with history.
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