Day 15 : Honolulu, Hawaii

Day 15                                  7/19/06 An early day as we had be ready to go on the bus by 8:00. Breakfast was a Perry's Smorgy Restaurant, which I remember from four years ago. We got on the bus and rushed to the Pearl Harbor area to secure tickets for the Arizona Memorial and program. We got in line at 8:30 a.m. and managed to score a 12:30 p.m. show. There are 30 shows of 150 persons each. If you don't get there early, you might be out of luck. We got back on the bus and Kimo our bus driver/tour guide (different than our contact) gave us the tour of Honolulu. He was entertaining with typical tour guide jokes. Sadly, the group had a hard time dealing with the jet lag. Going on the bus in long distances was very irresistible to most of us to sleep. Some facts about Honolulu/Hawaii: There is a water shortage because of all the people in Honolulu. There is no water desalinization on the island. The descendents of the Hawaiians match the Native Americans in North and South America in body structure and blood type. In military terms, who ever controls Hawaii controls the Pacific Ocean in terms of naval power. That was one of the reasons Japan bombed the U.S. during World War II. We got to Pearl Harbor a little early and had lunch and bought things. The Pearl Harbor presentation was well done and took one hour fifteen minutes. The first part was the film using footage from both the U.S. and Japan. Then the navy took us out to the memorial.  An early day as we had be ready to go on the bus by 8:00. Breakfast was a Perry's Smorgy Restaurant, which I remember from four years ago. We got on the bus and rushed to the Pearl Harbor area to secure tickets for the Arizona Memorial and program. We got in line at 8:30 a.m. and managed to score a 12:30 p.m. show. There are 30 shows of 150 persons each. If you don't get there early, you might be out of luck. We got back on the bus and Kimo our bus driver/tour guide (different than our contact) gave us the tour of Honolulu. He was entertaining with typical tour guide jokes. Sadly, the group had a hard time dealing with the jet lag. Going on the bus in long distances was very irresistible to most of us to sleep. Some facts about Honolulu/Hawaii: There is a water shortage because of all the people in Honolulu. There is no water desalinization on the island. The descendents of the Hawaiians match the Native Americans in North and South America in body structure and blood type. In military terms, who ever controls Hawaii controls the Pacific Ocean in terms of naval power. That was one of the reasons Japan bombed the U.S. during World War II. We got to Pearl Harbor a little early and had lunch and bought things. The Pearl Harbor presentation was well done and took one hour fifteen minutes. The first part was the film using footage from both the U.S. and Japan. Then the navy took us out to the memorial. The U.S.S Arizona and the Saranac Travel Club Our tour was done after that and so we went to the hotel for a break. The luau bus left about an hour later and five of us went to it. Sam and Alex went to the beach to learn how to surf. Alex even made it up a few times. The luau was just like I had remembered from 2002. There were shopping, games like throw the spear and lei making. It was mixed up with tree climbing, Polynesian tattoo painting, and showing Hawaiian customs. The all you can eat buffet was good. The show was very good also, complete with hula dancing and songs. The pork was even tasty and not dry. I was surprised at how nice a time I had at my second luau. We got back around 9:00 and had to get our stuff ready for going back home. Our last night in Hawaii was done.  Tim throwing a spear  The girls practicing their hula dance Stephanie creating a lei necklace