Hawai'i - Part IV

Traveling south on Highway 99 from the North Shore, we really started noticing a significant military presence - more than before.

There are over 20 military installations on O'ahu - a smart strategy of the US government and also a result of dramatic military history of the island most notably Pearl Harbor.

We spent our last full day on O'ahu exploring the USS Arizona Memorial.
Over 1.4 million people visit Pearl Harbor a year.


It was a very smooth visit. We received a ticket (free, by the way) and we were instructed to meet at the theater at 9am for a 75-minute video on the history of Pearl Harbor. After the video, we boarded a boat (operated by the Navy) that ferried us to the USS Arizona Memorial.

The white structure can hold up to 200 visitors at a time, and with so many people interested in seeing the memorial, your time is limited to the next ferry (about 20 minutes). Unfortunately, this made us feel rushed and unable to truly appreciate the somber events that took place in these waters, but it we were glad to see so many people interested in recognizing the past.

The goose-bump moment during our visit was the arrival at the USS Arizona Memorial - witnessing a large Coast Guard vessel pass the memorial and seeing her members standing at attention and saluting the fallen. It was an honor to see.

Click on the picture above to get a closer look of Coast Guard members saluting.

I must admit this visit also left us frustrated - frustrated about the need for war and just how many lives are taken for greed and pride. Is it a necessary evil?


Read more about the USS Arizona Memorial here. The National Park Service does an excellent presentation and lists fascinating facts.


Afterward, we drove out to Sand Island. It is an old military facility with remains of lookout towers and bunkers from WWII. It is the entrance to Honolulu Harbor, so the US Coast Guard still runs operations from buildings nearby, but it is mostly a large state recreation area. We've heard this is an excellent spot for surfing, and a few locals said it was risky surfing because of the unprotected. Rumor has it there are sharks, too...


This is also a great spot to realize how the Hawaiian Islands survive out here... The shipping lanes are full of huge cargo shipped ready to stock O'ahu.


We read an article in the Hawaiian Airlines magazine - Hana Hou - on Pier 38, the heart of Hawai'i's commercial fishing industry. The state's Department of Transportation is attempting to make the piers more appealing to visitors by developing a Domestic Commercial Fishing Village. Fisherman and local business folks have really taken to the area. It's still sort of a secret and still in the beginning stages - but we saw a fish auction house, a boat supply shop, and fishing fleets. We decided to partake in the freshest fish at Nico's Pier 38, one of two restaurants on the pier. We picked Nico's because of the long line out the door and the overcrowded lanai (a veranda or porch). We figured local folks couldn't be wrong about good food.


We were surprised to see most of the fishing boats were from Seattle, WA!
This is quite an industry - and certainly one we don't know much about.


Saturday morning, we packed our bags and returned our mopeds - which we lovingly named Cain and Abel.

We had a great time exploring the island on the mopeds and would do it again in a heartbeat! Below we've listed the top 3 perks of renting a moped on O'ahu:

1. We didn't have to pay for parking anywhere, which saved us over $30 in parking fees for the week!
2. We were able to enter parking lots that were "full" and we sort of did fit in with the locals.
3. And we spent $14 in gas for the entire week - and that's for two mopeds each traveling over 200 miles.

And the final stop before our long flight to the mainland was Leonards Bakery where we spoiled ourselves with a half dozen masaladas (shared, of course). A masalada reminds me of a beignet but with sugar or cinnamon instead of powdered sugar, and they are bigger and less dense. But nonetheless, it was deep fried dough with sugar - - - you just can't go wrong!

We had a great time on O'ahu. We are glad to have traveled out of the tourist attractions and experience true Hawaii. Although we never really caught on to pronunciations, we did learn two very important Hawaiian words: Aloha (a blessed welcome or goodbye) and Mahalo (a sincere thank you).

We hope to one day return to visit the other islands - particularly Hawaii "The Big Island" and Moloka'i "The Friendly Isle."

Mahalo!