11/12/12 - Learning to spell American

Up 0600 in order to take the tour to Pearl Harbour (note the ‘u’) today. Emotions were still running strong as the 71^st anniversary of the bombing by the Japanese was only was four days ago on December 7^th. We stood on line (in a queue) before being taken

on board and covering most of the decks on the USS Missouri (Mighty Mo) but we couldn’t find Cher. Did however find the dints in the upper deck where a Kamikaze struck the ship on the fateful morning in Okinawa. We stood on the surrender deck and the bridge and one can only imagine what it was like to fire a missile 26 miles out of the nine 16” guns not to mention the Desert Storm (1991) upgrade when 28 of the 32 tomahawk missiles were fired at the Iraqi invading forces in Kuwait over 1000miles away. Awesome power and a colourful (another ‘u’) career!

The boat trip to the USS Arizona Memorial was cancelled just as we were about to board due to high wind – so disappointed but the preceding movie easily conveyed the feelings held for the 1177 men still entombed there. The USS Arizona called the ‘ship that still weeps for her men’ as it is still leaking fuel oil into the harbour. It is amazing to think that all eight US battleships were there sitting neatly in a line moored on ‘Battleship Row’ just waiting to be picked off by the Japanese 1^st and 2^nd waves of bombers and submarines.

Who is the dominant racial group in Hawaii? Answer: Japanese 22%, followed by Caucasians 20% then Koreans, Vietnamese, Phillipinos, Portuguese and Hawaiians only 2% left after the arrival of Captain Cook and ‘white man diseases’ in 1778.

We also took in a tour of Honolulu and saw the statue of King Kamehameha (The Great), President Obama’s school (Punahou) and learned about the Kamehameha schools for native Hawaiians. Kamehameha Schools Foundation runs a network of private college-preparatory school in Hawaiʻi serving students from preschool to grade 12. It operates 31 preschools and three grade K–12 campuses in Kapālama, Oʻahu, Pukalani, Maui, and Keaʻau, Hawaiʻi.

Kamehameha was founded under the terms of the will of Bernice Pauahi Bishop, a direct descendant of Kamehameha the Great and the last living member of the House of Kamehameha. Bishop's will established a trust called the "Bernice Pauahi Bishop Estate" that is Hawaiʻi's largest private landowner. Originally established as an all-boys school on the grounds of the current Bishop Museum, Kamehameha opened its girls' school in 1894 and became coeducational in 1965. The 600-acre (2.4 km2) Kapālama campus opened in 1931, while the Maui and Hawaiʻi campuses opened in 1996 and 2001, respectively.

As of the 2011–12 school year, Kamehameha had an enrolment of 5,398 students at its three campuses and 1,317 children at its preschools, for a total enrolment of 6,715. Beyond its campuses, Kamehameha served an estimated 46,923 Hawaiians in 2011 through its support for public schools, charter schools, and families and caregivers throughout Hawaii.

Fact: At 0630 as we were travelling out to Pearl Harbour we saw long lines of Japanese tourists outside the ‘Eggs and Stuff’ restaurant trying to get a meal. Apparently this happens everyday because this restaurant is so famous in Japan that they are willing to stand in line for hours rather than get their breakfast anywhere else! 

Question: Why is Hawaii Five O called Hawaii Five O?

Answer: Show was released at the time of Hawaii becoming the 50^th state in the union.

ps The opening scene from Gilligan’s Island – on a three hour tour….was filmed out of the Honolulu harbour.

Caught the plane to ‘the big island’ (Hawaii) and drove rental car on the ‘wrong’ side of the road up to Becky and Barrow Emerson’s home in Volcano – yes Volcano! Can’t wait to see the lava flow.