Hawaii - Part 2 - Oahu

Friday, 15 September 2017

We rented a car and are staying two nights on Waikiki Beach. Before boarding our cruise ship on tomorrow afternoon, we’ll be spending some time visiting Oahu.

Sunrise from overlook along the road up to Tantalus Lookout (which is closed at sunrise).

Immediately after viewing the sunrise, we drove over to the Pearl Harbor Historic Sites. We got there about 6:45 AM, by the time the park opened at 7 AM, the line was about 2 blocks long. We got tickets for the 7:45 tour of the USS Arizona Memorial. Tickets for the entire day are usually gone by 8 AM. Shown above are the USS Missouri Memorial (ship) and the USS Arizona Memorial (white structure), which is directly over the remains of the Arizona. 

The back wall of the chapel in the memorial lists the names of all who perished on the Arizona on 7 December 1941.

A view through the top of the memorial.

Oil is still leaking from the USS Arizona below the memorial.

Our next stop was a hike along the dirt road (closed to most traffic) out to the northwest point of Oahu -- Ka’ena Point. The first 2.5 miles are open to ATVs and the dunes are heavily damaged by the use.

Ka'ena Point. Almost 50 acres at the point are fenced off to keep predators and vehicles off the dunes for the protection of sea birds. The contrast with the part that is open to ATVs is astounding.

Looking down the western side of Oahu from Ka’ena Point.

We drove the north and east coasts of Oahu -- very developed. Mostly we saw lots of homes, hotels, and golf courses. Our last stop was the Tantalus Lookout. Above is Diamond Head as seen from the lookout.