Pearl Harbour

Its warm in O'ahu. I'm sitting here in shorts and t-shirt drinking a nice cold beer, and not a small one either its 710mls - lovely and light beer so half the calories (which means I can drink double the amount!!!!).

Anyway back to the blogging. We visited Pearl Harbour this morning which was a short minibus ride from Waikiki to Honolulu. Five of us from the hostel went, me and 4 lads. When we got there we had the opportunity to look around the museum and look at the memorial from the harbourside. To be completely honest, after we had looked around the museum I still had no idea why the Japanese decided to bomb Pearl Harbour. Neil ( one of the guys from our little group) started to inform me but then it was time to go in for the theatre presentation.

Well as it turns out, the Japanese were as bad as the Nazi's during the second world war. They too wanted world domination, but they wanted control over Asia and the U.S. It was a very powerful and emotional film, whole families (well, husbands, sons and brothers) were killed in this quick and brutal attack. It focussed around the sinking of the USS Arizona and the memorial has been built over what remains rusting at the bottom of the harbour.

We got the opportunity to go by boat to the memorial site. It was very windy. As a mark of respect we were asked to speak in hushed tones and only if necessary, as this is a mass grave. Hundreds of men still remain entombed in the USS Arizona and their names are engraved on the wall of the memorial. When we looked over the side, you can still see oil on the surface of the water - it is still seeping out from the Arizona to this day.

On a more cheery note - I am LOVIN' O'ahu! It's warm, it only rains on the mountains but the winds are so strong that it sometimes carries the rain to Waikiki and showers us like a sprinkler. It is over so quick that people don't even move from the beach - in fact its very refreshing when you're sunbathing.
We are off to the big island tomorrow (Hawaii itself), to look at Volcanos and maybe do some snorkelling. Well Alan will snorkel and I'll splash about a bit and try not to get my hair wet. Oh and try not to drown.