Pearl Harbour and North Shore, Oahu

On Sunday, we headed over to the Aloha stadium in Honolulu for the Sunday Swap Meet, a huge market with both car boot type and general souvenir stalls. Cheap prices and I picked up a couple of bags, some jewellry and the obligatory flower hair clips.

Today (Monday) we drove up to Pearl Harbour, just a short trip up the coast from the city to visit the USS Arizona memorial.

The memorial marks the final resting place for many of the 1177 sailors killed on the USS Arizona during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour on 7 December 1941, the event that brought the US into World War II. It's an incredible structure, designed to sit on top (but not touching) the Arizona itself. Have a look here for the full effect and more details. There were 1.4 million gallons of fuel on the USS Arizona when she sank. Over 60 years later, approximately nine quarts still surfaces from the ship each day. Some Pearl Harbor survivors have referred to the oil droplets as 'Black Tears'. Many of the surviving sailors choose to have their remains scattered here with their shipmates.


A very moving experience, especially when back on land you read about the individuals who lost their lives here. The Arizona wasn't the only ship to be hit but accounted for the majority of the deaths; a total of 2402 were killed.


Then we headed up to the North Shore to see if we could spot some more Green Turtles. On the way we stopped at Haleiwa, the main town on that part of the island, for lunch and a wander. It's also the home of the famous Banzai Pipeline. There was meant to be a surf and culture museum there, but we didn't find it. I did have some shaved ice for the first time though. Not as good as the delicious watermelon juice in Thailand.






Back to Turtle Beach (aka the Lost crash beach) and sightings of lots more turtles. They come right up in the surf, but not out onto the beach during the day.







On the drive back down to Honolulu we stopped off at Kukaniloko, the Royal Birthing Stones. This is where royal women were brought to give birth, that must have been a lovely experience, surrounded by all the male members of the court! It was established in the 12th Century by an O'ahu chief for the birth of his son, Kapawa. It was used for childbirth for 700 years. Some of the stones were also used to map stars and mark seasonal changes. In 1925, Kukaniloko became the first ancient site on O'ahu to be officially recognized and preserved. It's a really peaceful place and was completely empty when we were there.