Bassman's Blog: 03/01/2015

Pearl Harbour

Monday, March 30, 2015

Moe and I went to Pearl Harbour today while the girls went for some retail therapy!

This is a memorial for the crew of 52 subs that sunk during the war.

We went on the submarine Bowfin for a tour.

This is the bow torpedo section. There were also 14 bunks in this area.

I'm pretty sure that Moe (and I) would have been too tall for the "Silent Service"!

There are 26 bunks in this section. That would sleep 52 seamen (in shifts). And I thought the cabins at Weslemkoon get noisy!!

The main gun above ship.

And the expert gunner!

Can you see the sign to the left of the girl in red? It's in Japanese. Interesting to see Japanese language (and audios) available on an American Sub that was hunting them down during the war. The place is crawling with them.

We also went to the museum. Very interesting.

The main attraction for us was the memorial for the Arizona. Did you know that Elvis donated $64,000 towards the building of it?

993 sailors were burned and drowned in the Arizona when it went down in 6 minutes and remain in the hull to this day.

An additional 150 or so were killed, but did not go down with the ship.

Others who survived have had their ashes put down the 4th turret position hole to rejoin their comrades.

Here's a list of all those that gave the supreme sacrifice.

On our return to our hotel we saw several rainbows in the mountains. They are visible almost every day.

Lynn and I went for a walk and stopped at the mall to watch this excellent group perform. It's hard to tell if you're inside or out outside in some of these malls.

We rejoined Moe and Joe at the Sheraton Outrigger Reef Hotel at the Kani Ka Pila Grille for dinner.

Moe has been waiting to order his favourite, Loco Moco!!

Sean Naauao (the guy in the green shirt) we have been listening to on the Radio all week. Beautiful voices.

More great adventures tomorrow.

Stay tuned.........

The Oahu Coast.

Sunday, March 29, 2015

Today we toured the East and North coast of Oahu with Adam, a tour guide that MoJo have had before. We left Honolulu and drove East to Diamond Head and then up the East coast all the way to Kahuku and then West along the North shore to Haleiwa before heading south through the interior valley back to Honolulu.

First stop was Leonard's Bakery for some Malasadas. We drove to Diamond Head and sat and ate them while watching the surfers. Adam is an accomplished surfer, so was able to give us the technical details on how to stay safe on a board as we watched them. A beautiful view.

We drove a little further down the road to Hanama Bay.

Next stop was the Hālona Blowhole. These are caused by old volcano tubes that go to the ocean and part of their roof caved in allowing the incoming seawater to escape.

This is Sandy Beach also known as BreakNeck Beach from all the serious injuries caused here. This is where Barack Obama comes with his family when he vacations here.

They have filmed a few movies here. Pirates of the Carribean was one of them.

Byodo-In Temple was a beautiful and peaceful spot.

We stopped at a Macadamian Nut Farm where they had raw nuts that you could smash open.

You break the inner shell to get to the meat inside.

We drove further down the road to Chinaman's Hat.

While the water and mountains were awesome to see, the clouds were also some of the most beautiful that I've ever seen.

Just beautiful scenery all along the way.

We stopped at Ted's in Kaunala Beach for a plate lunch (meat, rice and macaroni).

A little further up the coast was The Pipeline, location of the World Surfing Championship and home to 30 foot waves (not today).

We made a stop in Haleiwa to sample some shaved ice (not a snow cone!!)

We returned to the resort and bid Adam farewell. An awesome guide and a cool person.

We went down to one of the bars afterwards and enjoyed the music of this kickass band (Acoustic Playground). The singer had an amazing voice (similar to Norah Jones) and the musicians were top notch!

Aloha!

Honolulu

Saturday, March 28, 2015

Today is a somewhat sad day as it was departure day from the ship. We enjoyed one last meal on the back deck.

.....before clearing out our stateroom.

Farewell Pride of America.....

.......Hellooooo Hilton Hawaian Village!!!!

We both have timeshares at the Hilton Grand Vacation Club.

We're on the 15th floor of the Kalia Suites and MoJo are on the 16th right above us.

Here's a look at our room:

http://youtu.be/LLFKaE37Fhk

We both have Ocean Views!!

That's Diamond Head behind us.

We met Aussie friends of Moe and Joanne at the Cheesecake Factory. They are boarding our ship today for the same cruise we just finished.

This is Aussie money.

2¢, 10¢, 20¢, 50¢, $1, $2 and plastic coloured money just like us. They have also done away with their pennies.

We had a great discussion about everything and anything.

Great folks!

They put on a great celebration for our arrival tonight!

The beginning of another great week!

Kauai - Day 2

The Friday, March 27, 2015

We left the ship this morning for a bus tour to Waimea Canyon.

This bay is where Captain Cooke first moored his ship. Kauai was the first island he visited.

We made our way up the winding road and stopped at the lookout for Waimea Canyon. It is a breathtaking place.

What is really cool about the islands (especially this one), is that so much is uninhabited. Still in its natural state and beauty.

Can you spot the chopper that we were in yesterday in this picture?

This dude was at the lookout. Giving chants and explaining about the Hawaian culture.

On the way back we stopped at the Kauai Coffee Plantation for a few samples. This and the Kona coffee I had the other day are the only coffee I've ever been able to drink black. Outstanding coffee!