My first time in Hawai’i and visiting Pearl Harbour is absolutely the top item on the agenda. Hubby has been before but 40 years ago so he’s also keen to revisit.
We take Seabourn’s “behind the scenes“ tour which promises exclusive, not available to the general public, segments.
Our driver is prompt and we’re off 5 minutes early, out of the city of Honolulu and heading towards the still working Naval Base, passing through lip-service security and on towards the pontoon bridge with takes us across to Ford Island in the harbour. The “proper” Naval Base is enormous but we’re restricted to this one island.
At our first stop we’re greeted by the two guides and two supervisors who are going to look after us. We gather under the protective wing of a C-47 which is also known as a DC-3 in civilian service and a Dakota in Blighty. This was the workhorse of the war effort and even now continues in use in some parts of the world.
We split into to groups of nine and ours goes to Hangar 37 the main part of the museum. We are taken around many incredible planes from the era of the attack on Pearl Harbour, complete with detailed stories, particularly the Japanese pilot who crash landed on a nearby island after the attack.
After the museum we swap guides and ascend the beautiful art-deco control tower, this being the “exclusive” part of our tour. Here we are afforded the most incredible view over the harbour, directed which bits we are not allowed to photograph and what the important things are we can.
Both our guides are fabulous – their knowledge and delivery is perfect, friendly and intimate. We are honoured to have such incredible young men explaining in minutiae their understanding of the events that took place here.
After lunch back in Hangar 37 we move across the island to the USS Missouri, one of the “bookends” to the American war story. On one side is the Arizona, sadly destroyed in the initial sortie, and on the other sits Missouri where the Japanese surrender was signed.
This ship has seen many moments in history, from entering WWII towards the end of the campaign, being retired shortly afterwards, and then in the 1980s under Reagan being un-mothballed and updated in order to enter service into the Iraq Desert Storm campaign. Serious thirty year upgrades include technology and changes to the munitions profile. The big guns remain.
In the 90s she is retired for the second time, moved to Pearl Harbour and turned into a museum which is maintaining by a charitable organisation.
We take a fascinating official tour of the main areas which includes the deck space where the official Japanese surrender was signed by all parties. We hear the story of a kamikaze and his respectful burial at sea with full honours. We learn about the nine 16” guns and their 23 mile range.
We then continue with a tour below decks of the living space these 3000 crew shared, albeit reduced to 1700 after the 80s refit.
We quickly head up four levels to visit the open bridge and the Phalanx guns that look like R2-D2 – these guns can fire between 3000 and 4500 rounds per minute!
There’s not enough time to do this magnificent ship justice, but we’ve managed a flavour before we have to return to Odyssey.
In sharp contrast we walk down to Waikiki afterwards. This is the beach area close to Honolulu which is just a busy resort now, alongside the beautiful beach. We have an outrageously expensive ice cream but we are right next to Tiffany so I suppose that’s to be expected!!
On our return we feel we’ve earned a beer in the pool, before evening preparations.
Dinner al fresco is excellent, with pasta and burrata, shrimp, salmon and beef-tip and finally lava cake and tarte tatin! After the Hawaiian dancers we waddle home!
