Yesterday, I asked my husband if we needed any special tickets for Pearl Harbor.  He said we didn’t.  Entry is free and you only have to pay for parking ($7). Then he looked online and realized that if we wanted to take the boat out to view the remains of the USS Arizona, we did need a special ticket. They only cost $1 online and standby are free.  There were none available online for the day we wanted to go, but we read that you can get standby tickets at the park and if there is room on the boat, you can go.  It reminded us of how you get a number online at Disney for a ride. Sometimes the number is low and you get on the ride and sometimes it’s too high and the day ends before you can get on.  We got there around 8am and we were called for the 8:15 boat. 

They bring you into a theater space and a woman from the National Park talks about the solemnity of the area.  She tells you how many people died on the USS Arizona and that there were 38 sets of brothers and one father and son serving on board.  The quiet way she spoke about how these were regular people and that essentially we were visiting the grave of over 1700 servicemen made my eyes well with tears.   She asked that we respect the site and those men and talk quietly. We were allowed to take pictures on the boat, but not as we entered the area. 

The boat ride was manned by people in uniform.  It was only about 10-15 minutes.  We got off the boat and went straight back to the wall of names.  There a volunteer told us again about the brothers and pointed out some names on the wall. She also told the story about how 45 of the surviving men requested to be interred with their comrades.  The men needed to be cremated and put in a waterproof urn.  The family would take the boat over to the memorial, have a service, then the navy divers would take the urn into the ocean, they would hold it up as Taps was played and the family could say their last goodbyes, then they would dive under and place the urn near the gun turret.  All of the men who served on the USS Arizona have passed away and the last man interred there was in 2021.  I thought it sounded like a beautiful ceremony. 

It was definitely a somber place to visit.  There are posters with information all along the water so you can read about what happened that day. There is a half circle in the middle that lists all the people who died including civilians and where they were located at the time of their death.  It reminded me a lot of 9/11.  There were only a few hundred less people who were killed at Pearl Harbor.  After going through the two museums that they have, I really got the sense that it was as chaotic as 9/11. The only difference was that the survivors could fight back against an enemy that they could see.  

The two museums are very interesting.  I was fascinated to read all about Hawaii during that time and what lead up to Pearl Harbor.  I’m not a huge history buff, but this really fascinated me.  I overheard a woman talking about a man she knew who was in the harbor during the battle and how he swallowed the oil slick water and it burned him.  She couldn’t remember what boat he was on and I told her about the circle outside with the names.  It made me think about all the people who were visiting and their connections to what happened. 

There is a submarine and a submarine museum next to Pearl Harbor.  You have to pay about $25 per person.  We thought it was well worth it because you get so go through the entire submarine.  Even though we have been on one before, I still think it is fascinating to walk through one and think about those men who lived on it.  There were 80 men who served on the sub, USS Bowfin.  There were not enough beds for all of them, so they rotated the bed use.  They worked four hours and had eight hours off. There were eight compartments to go through. 

The first compartment is the Forward Torpedo Room.  There are 16 torpedoes-six in the tubes and 10 on the racks.  There is space for 14 beds and a spot for sonar in the back of the compartment.  

The next compartment is the officers’ area.  There are bunk areas, a table to eat or play games, and an office area.  It is also called the forward battery room because below deck are 126 lead batteries, which powers everything on the sub. 

The control room is the next area.  It’s amazing to me how well they have maintained this equipment.  The sub was active in 1945.  I took a picture of the Conning Tower, which is where the captain would be during battle stations.  It has all the most important controls.  

If you don’t like small spaces or you are a big person, this may not be the place for you to visit.  My husband is 6’2 and he had to be super careful going through the doorways and watching his head as he walked through each comportment.  

The main sleeping area has 36 bunks.  There are two toilets and two showers. There are two other toilets on the sub for a grand total of four for 80 people.  

There are two engine compartments, one of which I have a picture, a maneuvering room and the aft torpedo room, which looks very similar to the forward torpedo room.  The sub fought both above and below water, so you can see the guns on the topside of the submarine. 

The submarine museum had some neat displays.  You could listen to sonar and gauge how far away an object was in the water and there was an exhibit that allowed you to make the same decisions that USS Bowfin made during battle and find out the results. There was also information on the USS Bowfin’s battles as well as other submarines during WWII. 

We traveled to the Green World Coffee Farm to get our daily coffee.  I got an iced latte, my husband got a regular iced coffee and some freshly squeezed pineapple juice. They also had samples of other coffee they had for sale.  I tried a couple and it was so flavorful that we bought beans to bring home. 

We had tickets to tour Queen Emma’s Summer Palace at 2:15.  We got stuck in traffic.  There is A LOT of traffic on this island.  Even though we were a little late, it didn’t seem to matter. We were the only people touring the palace.  We got a laminated guide in the gift shop and were asked to take off our shoes before entering the house as well as the normal rules of not touching anything inside. 

The house itself was a pretty basic set up to keep all the rooms cool.  The furniture inside was actual pieces from the family made with wood from Hawaii.  I also appreciated viewing all the feather decorations.  The cape was made with feathers from birds that were not killed.  They painstakingly captured and released birds after taking some feathers.  I found that very impressive. 

The story of King Alexander and Queen Emma seemed a bit of a fairy tale to me.  They met in school and Alexander’s father did not want him to marry her.  It is told as a love story.  They had a child that they loved very much, but were nervous that he was often ill.  The story they told about the child made him seem disarming.  Sadly, he died when he was four years old. They didn’t know that he had appendicitis.  Even sadder, his father passed away 16 months later.  I felt so sad for Queen Emma.  After her husband passed away, she was in the running to rule the country, but lost to another candidate. 

Continuing on with sad stories, we traveled to the Punchbowl.  It is like Arlington cemetery, except there are no standing tombstones.  There is a wonderful monument overlooking the whole area.  I wandered through the gravestones for a bit. All of them are servicemen or women or couples.  At the memorial, they have these beautiful renderings of different battles. I thought it was an interesting way to educate people on what happened to those in the cemetery. 

Our last event of the day was our first luau.  It cost about $120 per person. We could have paid more which would have given us more drink coupons, a closer seat, and a different necklace, but we were happy with what we purchased. Our seats were in the “rear”, we received shell necklaces when we entered, and we each had a drink coupon.  We entered the luau area at 5pm.  They had a variety of activities for us to do before we even ate dinner. 

There were several vendors (one was carving some bowls when we walked by) including desserts, shave ice, and souvenirs.  We went to check out the coconut frond headbands and the guy asked if we wanted to make our own.  It was like braiding, but you had to twist it first, which was a bit confusing.  I finished mine, but my husband gave up.  

They gave the women a flower bracelet that was very pretty, but annoying to have on your arm because it slid around. We also checked out the traditional kitchen. They had a pig cooking, but they could not serve it to the guests.  The people working there would eat it. 

We stood in a short line to get a tattoo.  They did it with tattoo markers.  Some tattoos I saw were pretty amazing.  Mine was basic because the woman was new at doing them.  I liked it.  It lasted two days after the luau.  I would never put a real tattoo on my forearm.  It was too much. 

We got our drinks from our drink tickets. We each tried one of the mixed drinks.  It was poured into the glasses in an already pre mixed bottle (never a good sign).  They were way too sweet and tasted like they had no alcohol.  We watched them teach a hula dance on stage (which anyone can join) and then wandered over to watch the cooking demonstration.  The men are in charge of the food.  

We returned to have our pictures taken with some spears.  We got three pictures sent to us for free.  Then we sat and listened to the band playing while we waited for our table to be called to get in line for the buffet. 

The food was ok.  I can’t eat pork and that is the traditional food to eat at a luau.  I did have some pineapple chicken, which was tasty and a bunch of rice, both fried and regular. Our favorite thing to eat was the taro rolls. They were purple and fluffy and delicious.  The show started soon after. 

I really enjoyed the fact that they had different dances by both the men and the women for different islands.  You learned a bit about each place through the dances.  

It started to rain after a few dances and they brought out ponchos to give to everyone.  I was impressed.  They had a few things in which they asked people to go up on stage.  It was our anniversary and when we told the guy at the headband making station he said we should go up on stage and then we would dance.  Nope.  I was not dancing on stage in front of everyone.  No, thanks!  

I had a good time at the luau. They did an excellent job of keeping you busy, learning new things, and having a good time.  I don’t know if all luaus are like this one, but it does have a super high 4.9 rating on Google.  It’s called Mauka Warriors.  I thought it was definitely worth what we paid with all the extra things that they did.